Dominik Mysterio reflects on being John Cena’s final PLE opponent
Dominik Mysterio recently shared insight on being John Cena’s last PLE opponent.
Mysterio appeared on The Collection with Brad Gilmore and discussed several moments from his career, including beating Cena at Survivor Series to regain the Intercontinental Championship.
He said:
“Super, super surreal. Not only was it John Cena’s last PLE, last Survivor Series, it was the first wrestling event ever held at Petco Park in San Diego. Bro, I’m born and raised in San Diego. I’ve gone to (San Diego) Padres games my whole life. I lived there. Did a bunch of sh*t I shouldn’t have done downtown San Diego as well, but, got some great stories I can’t tell. But man, that was just so surreal for me. Walking in, in the city where I’m from, walking out as a double champion, beating John Cena, that sh*t’s insane. You can’t write it. Stuff like that, it just writes itself. It’s like a fairytale ending for me.”
Mysterio also discussed fan reactions he has received throughout his career and said his AAA debut last year produced the loudest response.
“You want to know something crazy? I think the wildest one for me was showing up in AAA for the first time in Juan de la Barrera. Obviously, winning my I.C. Championship at WrestleMania, insane. Beating John Cena at Survivor Series, insane. WrestleMania against my deadbeat dad, two hours from San Diego in L.A., insane. But the reaction, the thing is all of those were very large, open stadiums. Like, massive, massive crowds. Juan de la Barrera, AAA, people weren’t expecting me. I showed up, I think that show was on a Saturday. The show started at 8. I got to the arena at like 8:15. So, no one knew I was coming, and I showed up, it was insane” said Mysterio.
What I was told, this could all be bullsh*t, but I was told this. Allegedly, when they were recording, the speakers, it was so loud that the speakers blew out of the cameras. They couldn’t capture the full audio of it because it was so loud, and it gave me goosebumps and for me, it was just something that I always wanted to do and it was like wrestle in Mexico with AAA, and getting that reaction, showing up randomly, out of nowhere, nobody knew about it. It was f*cking insane, and showing up with the I.C. Championship too, of all things.”
Mysterio dropped the Intercontinental Championship to Penta on the March 2, 2026 edition of WWE Raw. It was his second reign with the title. His first began at WrestleMania 41, where he took it off Bron Breakker in a four-way match that also included Balor and Penta. Mysterio later lost the belt to Cena on the November 10 edition of WWE Raw in Boston. He regained it from Cena at Survivor Series: WarGames later that month in San Diego.
Rosanne Raphael is a wrestling writer with over three and a half years of experience covering all things related to the industry. From a kindergarten teacher to PR Associate to turning her lifelong passion for the industry into a career, Rosanne is currently writing for F4W Online where she focuses on wrestling news, analysis, and storytelling.
Rosanne previously contributed to Sportskeeda as an Assistant Content Manager.
When not consumed by wrestling, Rosanne is a musician and an aspiring artist.