Dominik Mysterio On Survivor Series WarGames Match Against John Cena & Lids Partnership: ‘It’s A Huge Deal’

Dominik Mysterio will be looking to regain his IC title in a Survivor Series match against John Cena in his hometown in San Diego, California. (Photo by Rich Freeda/WWE via Getty Images)

WWE via Getty Images

Dominik Mysterio knows how big of an opportunity it is to face John Cena at Survivor Series: WarGames in one of his last-ever matches.

The 28-year-old will have the opportunity to regain his Intercontinental Championship, facing off against the record 17-time World Champion John Cena in the former’s hometown of San Diego, California. Mysterio lost the title to Cena a couple weeks prior on an episode of Monday Night Raw, which made the latter a Grand Slam champion with his first IC Title reign.

Mysterio is matching up with Cena in three of his final four matches, with his last match taking place at Saturday Night’s Main Event in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, Dec. 13. In other words, Mysterio is Cena’s last big feud before he rides off into the sunset.

“It’s a huge deal, especially the fact that it’s his retirement tour,” says Mysterio in a one-on-one interview. “He’s never coming back after this. I’m getting three out of his last four. I got him in Boston, TD Garden. I got him in Madison Square Garden, and I’m gonna have to finish it off in Survivor Series at Petco Park. It’s a huge honor, and I’m happy to be part of that journey. Because at the end of the day, if nothing ever gets done by John Cena again – his last feud ever – and three out of his last four matches were against me. It’s a little clear that he needed me more than I needed him.”

Mysterio has grown into arguably the hottest character in the WWE today with the “Dirty Dom” character. He elicits loud boos from a hot crowd and has been going toe-to-toe with Cena on the mic as of late, more than holding his own with one of the greatest mic workers in the history of the business.

Although he just made his debut five years prior, he’s already grown into one of the top names in the business, recently holding the IC Title for 204 days, winning the NXT North American Championship and currently holding the AAA Mega Championship in Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide.

The “Dirty Dom” character became a thing once he broke off from his dad, Rey Mysterio, and joined the Judgment Day stable. Since turning on his father, the younger Mysterio has been one of the hottest heels in the WWE.

He definitely cites the late great Eddie Guererro as an influence along with a few other notable lucha libres for the “Dirty Dom” character. Mysterio was actually involved in a storyline with Guerrero when he was eight years old back in 2005.

“Definitely a lot to do with Eddie Guerrero,” says Mysterio of the “Dirty Dom” character. “The fact that I got the mullet, the mustache, I’m basically doing everything I can to not steal absolutely everything from him. But at the end of the day, it’s just long-term borrowing. He’s my biological father at the end of the day, right? It doesn’t hurt, but it’s just super, super surreal. Because I grew up around this business, watching it my whole life. So everything I do, whether it’s part of my gear or anything I try, (it’s) wrestling history. The shirt I wear, the tassels, Jerry Estrada, Perro Aguayo Sr., the gear La Parka.

“For me, being able to represent my culture and the history within that, it’s just the development of it, just trying to do everything possible to try to make it work,” Mysterio continues to say. “I feel like a lot of people don’t like getting booed. You just got to accept it. You just got to live in it, man. You got to live in those boo’s, get comfortable in the uncomfortable. It’s the best way I could put it.”

Mysterio says it’s the “comfort level” that makes it easier for him to be a heel than a babyface. He describes the psychology of being the “Dirty Dom” character.

“It’s the comfort level,” says Mysterio. “I don’t want to say the comfort of being closer to who you really are, but for me personally, I don’t like being out and about if I can stay home. I’m very home-bodied, so it’s very easy for me to go out there and be like, ‘Nah, stay away from me. If you ain’t part of the fam, if you ain’t part of the Judgment Day, we want nothing to do with you.’”

“It goes back to like you said, that Randy Orton style, that ’09 Orton,” says Mysterio. ”In my head, I’m just trying to do everything I wanted to do as a kid that I wasn’t allowed to do. I would get in trouble for it. But now I’m just doing it because I know there’s nobody that can tell me anything. It’s clicking. You have to be comfortable with it. That’s the only way I can explain it.”

When asked if he believes he’ll get cheered in his hometown of San Diego for his Survivor Series match against Cena, Mysterio says he hopes they recognize that “greatness is among them.”

“I like to think so, but then at the same time, I don’t want to get ahead of myself,” says Mysterio of if he’ll be cheered in San Diego. “I was there for Day 1, I want to say two years ago, maybe almost three now. I came out and the crowd booed me in San Diego. I hope they understand that now, greatness is among them – they got a San Diego legend. I’m representing the city as best as I can. They better not throw hate on me, and if they do, I’m gonna beat the (expletive) out of John Cena even more.”

Dominik Mysterio Teams Up With Lids And Host Of Other Notable Names For ‘All CAPS’ Campaign

While Mysterio will be concentrated on beating Cena at Survivor Series, he’s partnering with Lids for their “ALL CAPS” campaign along with WWE staples such as Liv Morgan and Peter Rosenberg. Mysterio is seen sporting his San Diego Padres gear in the commercials.

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith is the host of the commercials, which also features a number of other celebrities involved in the campaign such as Quavo, and Chase B.

“It’s been really fun being able to partner up with Lids, especially with the long hair, I love having my mullet,” says Mysterio. “But at the same time, I kind of like covering it, because when I’m out and about, people don’t just have a mullet and a mustache. So Liv came in clutch, helping me out, just to cover up the mullet. All I wear is an SD across my forehead, you don’t see anything else, unless it’s a San Diego hat.

“It’s been super awesome, especially with this time around, getting to do it with Liv, and having the commercials with Stephen A and Liv, and then doing some with Peter Rosenberg as well,” Mysterio continues to say. “It’s just been really fun. I’m really excited about it, even including the new stuff with John Geiger that Lids came out with. I’m a big fan of his triple logo collabs and his shoes. I’m a fan of Geiger’s in general, so it’s really cool to be part of this collaboration.”

Mysterio says he did some social stuff for Lids for their holiday campaign last year, but this year it was “bigger.” He says he’s a big fan of designer John Geiger, who has became a staple in creating WWE designs for their apparel.

“It’s just different,” says Mysterio of why he likes Geiger’s designs. “Most of the time you see a logo, you see the one logo. With him, he does the triple logos. He has a couple of WWE hats where he has the old school W, and it’s one, two and three. Same with the two old school WWE logos. The old W, and then the older W, like the original one from from back in the day. It’s really cool.”

Mysterio makes sure to take one last barb at his “deadbeat” dad, but says he’s a fan of the DX and NWO logos that Geiger has designed.

“I’m not a big fan of his Rey Mysterio shirt that he has with the triple masks,” says Mysterio. “But all the other ones are super dope, Stone cold and DX stuff, the NWO, all that stuff’s really cool. But he needs to change the Rey Mysterio stuff.”