Dominik Mysterio has risen to prominence following his heel turn and joining The Judgment Day. After debuting in 2020, he initially teamed up with his father, WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio.
Early in his career, Dominik achieved success alongside his father, making history as the first father-and-son duo to win the Tag Team Championship. However, despite their achievements, fans struggled to connect with him. Everything changed when he turned heel and joined The Judgment Day in 2022.
This shocking decision revealed a new, darker side of Dominik Mysterio, allowing him to resonate with fans. While he began to enjoy success in his career, he recently explained that this transformation was not the key to earning respect from WWE peers. Instead, he credited working on WWE RAW, NXT, and SmackDown last year for helping him gain the respect of his peers.
Dominik Mysterio reflects on earning respect from WWE stars
Recently, WWE RAW Superstar Dominik Mysterio appeared on Insights with Chris Van Vliet, where he discussed how he began to earn the respect of his peers during his demanding old-school schedule.
He stated, “I think it slowly started to happen when I went down to NXT and I was doing NXT, I was doing Raw, I was doing all the live events, and I was also doing SmackDown dark matches, occasionally SmackDown TV,” Dominik responded. The WWE Superstar further added that he was actually practicing the “old-school schedule,” which included having proper means every single day.
He continued, “So I think that got a lot of respect from the boys for me. I mean, I assume so, because they would see me everywhere, and they’d just look at me and be like, ‘Dude, do you not get a break?’ I’m like, ‘You know, I’m just here.’ Again, I could be wrong, they could all hate me. But I assume — because, like I said, a lot of the boys would come up to me and be like, ‘You got that old-school schedule.'”
Dominik Mysterio not only earned respect from his peers through his grueling old-school schedule. He came second to have the most matches in 2023, following Cody Rhodes. After winning the NXT North American Championship last year, Dirty Dom appeared on RAW and NXT while also participating in dark matches on SmackDown.
