Dominik Mysterio has been applying skills taught to him by John Cena long before the WWE icon joined him in turning to the dark side.
‘Dirty Dom’ has one of the greatest luchadors of all time as a father but some of Rey’s teachings ironically were passed down via Cena.
Mysterio has been the resident WWE oik since turning on his legendary dad at Clash at the Castle in Cardiff in 2022.
Aligning himself with the Judgement Day, the 27-year-old has since established himself as one of wrestling’s most detestable characters.
However, Mysterio has now been usurped as WWE’s top heel by Cena, who shockingly shed his long-time face role at Elimination Chamber.
The 16-time world champion and longtime face of the organisation is on a year-long farewell tour in 2025 before he retires in December.
His last PLE event as WWE’s top good guy came at the Royal Rumble, where talkSPORT sat down for an exclusive chat with Dominik.
When asked if he would like to share a ring one last time with Cena, Mysterio replied: “I hope not.
“So I can take the same four moves he does? I hate John Cena. We don’t have to go through this again.”
Mysterio also took aim at his dad Rey for the umpteenth time during our interview as part of the part’s long-running rivalry on screen.
He added to talkSPORT: “Dude wears a mask because he’s ugly, right? He has no hair. He shaved his head when he was what, 21? S*** never grew back.
“I shaved my head when I was like what, 22? People didn’t see this, but I shaved my head and it grew back, I grew a beautiful mullet. So, I mean, I don’t have any… Yeah, I think he’s a deadbeat. He’s a terrible guy.”
Dominik’s comments on camera are ironically the subject of lessons taught to him by Cena – who he in turn learned from Rey Mysterio.
A year before the Mysterios split during ‘The Summer Of Cena’, the eponymous wrestler-turned-Hollywood star teamed with the father-and-son duo in several WWE live events against Roman Reigns and The Usos.
Rey Mysterio has since revealed he asked Cena to coach Dominik during their time tagging together.
Speaking to Steven Muehlhausen of DAZN, he said: “To hear Cena coaching him in the corner, and he just stayed quiet.
“What he learned from Cena is completely different than what he’s going to learn from me. So I asked Cena to coach my son as much as he can. He’s all yours.”
Cena has since revealed what exactly those lessons entailed, and in a unique turn of events, put the credit back on Mysterio for passing down the knowledge.
During a WWE documentary, the Peacemaker actor explained: “Rey was instrumental in working with me very early on in my career.
“Performers like Rey really moulded the way that I perform today, which is extremely improvisational and a lot based on how you feel. I think all of his teachings kind of came full circle in the summer of Cena when I got to work about 20 live events with Rey and his son, they kind of let me, from the apron, kind of coach and improvise.
“Rey, certainly having the seniority of the group, really just kind of listened. And I remember, you know, talking to his son about options he should choose in the ring and what he should do and how he should act – and Rey is right across from me on the corner.
“Rey is like, “Man, why didn’t you teach me any of this stuff?” And without a second of hesitation, I said, “Rey, because you taught me this.” He taught that to me, and was so grateful that I was teaching it to his son.
“It was really cool to be able to not only digest his advice but apply it to another generation of WWE superstars behind myself.”
Dominik’s rapid rise to the top has been proof of Cena’s coaching being put to good use.
Evidence of how to act was also on show during a different stage of our interview, with a square-up with Penta derailing the chat.
Dominik Mysterio was speaking to talkSPORT with WWE 2K25, which is out on March 14th.
