A new report has revealed that one of WWE’s most-improved stars was almost sent to NXT before being heavily featured on Raw.
Dominik Mysterio is something of an anomaly with regard to WWE’s younger performers as he never spent time in NXT.
After making appearances on WWE television as a child, Dominik began training seriously in 2018 and getting involved in his father’s matches a year later. By May 2020, Dominik became a regular on WWE TV and wrestled his first match at SummerSlam against Seth Rollins.
For almost the next two years, Rey Mysterio and Dominik became a permanent tag team and won the SmackDown Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania Backlash in 2021. In the process, they became the first father-and-son team to win WWE tag team gold.
However, by the summer of 2022, there were cracks forming in the relationship and Dominik turned on his father to join the Judgment Day at Clash At The Castle. This sparked an intense feud between the pair, that saw Rey defeat Dominik at WrestleMania 39. During this period, Dominik was widely praised for his performances and dramatic improvement.
Although, things were almost very different. Writing in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer prior to his feud with Rey Mysterio starting, WWE gave “serious thought” to sending him to NXT.
“While there is no chance of this happening now, before the decision to start the Rey vs. Dominik program, there was serious thought given to sending Dominik to NXT.”
Bad Bunny Returns To WWE
Following WrestleMania the feud between Dominik and his father has continued, while also dragging in Bad Bunny. On the April 3rd episode of Raw, Dominik’s stablemate Damian Priest Chokeslammed the Hip Hop star through the announce table.
It is believed that the angle will set up a match between Damian Priest & Dominik and Rey Mysterio & Bad Bunny at Backlash in Puerto Rico.