Matt Hardy thinks Dominik Mysterio has solved the problem every second-generation wrestler runs into, and that he did it by refusing to be a smaller version of his father.
Hardy was talking about nepotism in wrestling on the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, and named Mysterio as the example everybody else should be studying.
“I’ve got to really commend Dom, because his dad will probably go down as the greatest luchador of all time. For him to come in and start as he started, but to get into his own thing and to choose a character and go definitively in a direction like, no, you’re my bum dad, my real dad is Eddie Guerrero, playing off an old storyline that was going, and kind of mold himself after Eddie and play into that.”
The distance between what people expected and what they got is the part he rates.
“Especially, you think Dominik Mysterio, oh, he’s this cute little babyface, he’s going to be such a sweetheart and a great underdog. To turn into a real s***heel like he is, is amazing, and I can’t tell you how much I love it.”
His argument is that the character is now durable in a way most acts never become.
“Dom has built a rep for himself where he’s so over he can get beat, he can be put in a sh*ty situation, but he’s still going to be okay, because he has heat and people are emotionally invested in him. Most people want to see him get his a kicked.”
He credited the personal storylines specifically.
“The whole thing with him and Liv has been fantastic, and especially how he was with Rhea, and then he cheated, and he was with Liv. All that stuff’s been great, and that has really accentuated his character and built it up so much.”
The wider point Hardy draws from it is one he thinks applies to everybody in the same position.
“He has done a great job at picking a different lane and a different direction from his father, to go in with a different identity and establish himself and get himself over. Even when you start, you’re going to have the name of your father, or whoever you are coming from. It could be the female parent. But you’re going to have that name, and it is going to be tricky.”
“You have to find a way to make yourself authentic on your own. You have to find your original identity and roll with it in that lane. You have to be a little different than what preceded you.”
“One thing that really stands out was just David Flair, because his dad is just so legendary, and he was iconic as far as being one of the greatest workers of all time. When he came up, it was hard for him to follow up because he wasn’t very smooth. He didn’t have the crisp flow and the athleticism that his dad did, so that was challenging on him.”
“Someone else that comes to mind, who I just saw again recently at the Gathering and got to have a long conversation with, was Eric Watts. I think Eric Watts had a pretty tough time, because his dad was so legendary too, not only as a worker, Cowboy Bill Watts, but also as a promoter. I think it was kind of hard for him to find a way to live up to him.”
Hardy also pointed to a more recent example of the same problem being solved by a name change. Brian Pillman Jr. now works as Lexis King, which Hardy thinks was the right call.
“I think it was a good thing that he changed his name to Lexis King, because it was so much pressure. When people hear Brian Pillman, you think about the Loose Cannon, you think about all the crazy stuff he did, and the unique standout character he was. It’s hard to fill those shoes in many ways.”
Dominik Mysterio has been the AAA Mega Champion since September 2025 and is a two-time Intercontinental Champion. He beat John Cena at Survivor Series last winter, and is scheduled to defend the Mega Championship against El Grande Americano at Triplemania 34 next month. He lost the Human Monies on a Pole match to Danhausen on night two of SummerSlam, the finish to a months-long story over $100,000 that Danhausen had taken from the Judgment Day.
