Dominik Mysterio Discusses Not Joining WWE NXT Before Main Roster Debut

Later on tonight, "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio will be defending his "NXT" North American Championship title at the WWE Premium Live Event, The Great American Bash. He won the North American title on the July 18 episode of "WWE NXT," where he ended Wes Lee's 269-day reign. Before that, the Judgment Day member never set foot in the developmental brand. In a recent interview with Metro.co.uk, Mysterio spoke about jumping over the brand and going straight to the main roster. 

"I think there's definitely pros and cons to it, depending on how you look at it," he revealed to Metro.co.uk. "I was blessed and very fortunate to be in the position that I'm in." He added, "I think just the way that I came about it, and the people that I was surrounded with, I just don't think it made sense [to go to NXT], especially with who I was gonna learn from."

Mysterio's first professional wrestling match was against the current World Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins, and it happened on August 23, 2020, at SummerSlam. He ended up losing the Street Fight match to Rollins. The "Raw" Superstar also noted in the interview that after he first worked with Rollins, he later got a chance to work with such names as WWE Hall of Famer Edge, John Cena, Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, and Sami Zayn, and working with them multiple times in house shows and on "SmackDown," meant that he couldn't get any better teaching than from those "top guys."