Rey Mysterio proud to win tag titles with son Dominik: “Eddie was there with me at all times”
By Ryan Satin
FOX Sports WWE Analyst
WWE legend Rey Mysterio is a family man.
For most of his adult life, his dedication to family usually played out at home (with a few notable exceptions).
Over the past couple of years, though, it has carried over to work in a much bigger way – and Mysterio delved into what that has been like for him on the latest episode of "Out of Character."
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It all began a few years ago, when Dominik Mysterio decided to join the family business. Rey then put a team of coaches together to lead his son in the right direction, and together they formed a plan for his future.
"I had to make sure that [Dominik] had proper people to guide him and help him evolve," Rey explained on the podcast. "I couldn’t have picked better coaches or teachers for him. Lance Storm, Jay Lethal, Konnan, myself, Damian [666], who is a wrestler from Tijuana – and everybody’s kind of given another piece of advice for his growth."
The next phase of this plan was for Dominik to join the WWE Performance Center and learn the additional fundamentals he’d need to one day become a WWE Superstar.
That plan changed, though, when the idea was presented for Dominik to wrestle in a singles match against Seth Rollins last year at SummerSlam.
"Everything just kind of evolved so quickly, and he was given the opportunity to debut on SummerSlam. I, personally, didn’t think he was ready," Rey confessed. "So I let him make his choice. I said, ‘Dom, this is what they want to happen. Are you good? Or do you want to say no?’ He was like, ‘Naw, dad. I’m ready. I’ll do it.’ I was like, ‘Whoaaa!’ So you can only imagine the level of nerves and stress I had during that time."
That included a moment during the build to the match in which Rollins brutalized his son with 30 kendo stick shots on Raw.
According to Rey, his wife couldn’t watch the video and was brought to tears when they tried. He, on the other hand, had a different reaction. "There was a part of me that was a father and was hurting," he said, "but another part was like, ‘Welcome to the business, son.’"
Dominik ultimately impressed in his debut and continued to improve over the past year in both singles action and tag matches alongside his father.
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That led to a huge opportunity at WrestleMania Backlash a few weeks ago, when the duo earned a shot at the SmackDown tag-team titles against Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode.
"Still to this day, it’s nerve-wrecking for me to hit the ring," Rey noted. "Now I have double stress because I’m not only worried about me.
"I just couldn’t wait for the finale of that match to happen."
When the ending occurred, Mysterio and Dominik stood tall as the first father-son tag-team champions in WWE history.
"To be able to share these moments [with Dominik] and say that this is going down in history – it will be talked about for the rest of life when they talk about wrestling, the first ever – so it’s really, really cool to have my stamp … er, OUR stamp, the Mysterio stamp on wrestling history."
Rey also believes they had a third teammate in their corner who was helping from beyond: Eddie Guerrero.
"Eddie was there with me at all times," Mysterio said with certainty. "He’s very proud of this moment that happened. I always feels like there’s a presence of Eddie in the ring with me. I was so energetic [at WrestleMania Backlash], and I did feel a very incredible vibe. Without a doubt, he’s been by my side, and he was smiling upon us and enjoying that moment next to us. No doubt in my mind."
Now, as he and his son look to the future, Rey is focused on helping Dominik grow as an in-ring performer so that he can carry on the Mysterio family name for decades to come.
Just like you’d expect with any father-son relationship, though, theirs isn’t without a few disagreements.
"Every time he wrestles, I go back, and we sit down, and we kinda critique the match. So I told him, ‘Son, you gotta pick up your speed on the 619, man. You’re going too slow.’ He said, ‘Pops, I’m going at your speed.’ I said, ‘Bulls---! You’re not going at my speed! I’m going at your speed, so we’re running together.’ He replied, ‘Wait and see me do it in singles next time.'
"I’ve seen him in training, and he runs pretty fast when he throws himself at the ropes – but still, no one does it like his pops."
Watch or listen to the full interview for more with Rey on WCW, the No Limit Soldiers, moving to WWE, current cruiserweights and his huge mask collection.
Ryan Satin is a WWE analyst for FOX Sports. Satin previously appeared on FS1's "WWE Backstage" and founded Pro Wrestling Sheet, where he broke countless news stories as editor-in-chief.