Cody Rhodes is offering high praise for one of WWE’s most polarizing young stars.
And it comes with an interesting take on how he developed.
Speaking on the latest episode of What Do You Wanna Talk About with special guest Liv Morgan (see video below), Rhodes opened up about Dominik Mysterio’s growth in WWE, both on-screen and behind the scenes.
While Mysterio often draws intense reactions from fans, Rhodes made it clear that there’s more to “Dirty Dom” than meets the eye.
One word stood out above the rest.
Charisma.
Rhodes admitted that Mysterio has a natural presence that even catches him off guard, especially when it comes to how he carries himself around the locker room and in public.
“It’s weird because he’ll say something so mean about Punk in the media and I’m thinking ‘Oh, all of us are, all of us babyfaces are screwed. He’s coming for us all,'” Rhodes said. “And then he’ll be like ‘Oh, Cody’s really cool guy’. So, I don’t know what I did, but Dom is that one guy, he’s the one, I’m trying to think if there’s another one but Dom is the one guy at work that I feel not cool around. I’ll have a new watch or something and I’ll be like, ‘Hey Dom’ and he’s got a giant sky dweller on, which is a very nice fancy watch. He just oozes charisma.”
That dynamic, equal parts admiration and intimidation, paints a unique picture of Mysterio’s personality behind the curtain.
Rhodes didn’t stop there, though. He also pointed out that Mysterio’s path to becoming a well-rounded performer hasn’t exactly followed the traditional blueprint.
In fact, it’s been flipped.
“And I also love the fact that Dom is training backwards. He knows psychology, he knows how to engage with fans, he knows how (to work) a live crowd. But the fundamentals have come after all of that, which is a little bit of how I was trained.”
It’s a rare perspective, especially in an industry where in-ring fundamentals typically come first. But according to Rhodes, that unconventional approach may actually be one of Mysterio’s greatest strengths as he continues to evolve into a top-tier WWE performer.
