Brawlin’ Buddies, Part 2 – Wrestler Rey Mysterio Gives His Best Fatherly Advice and Puts Me in a Headlock (Not Really)

Daniel Kunka
September 10, 2012

Daniel Kunka

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If you were asked to come up with an image of a typical professional wrestler, chances are you wouldn’t think of five foot, six inch, a hundred seventy-five pound Rey Mysterio. You might think of a yellow-clad Hulk Hogan or a larger-than-life John Cena, but in a world of big and beefy, Rey Mysterio doesn’t necessarily fit the bill.

That’s what makes Rey Mysterio’s run as one of the WWE’s top performers all the more impressive. For the past decade, this high-flying luchador has wowed audiences across the globe. Rey has climbed the WWE’s highest ladder against some massive competition to win both the coveted World Heavyweight Championship twice and the WWE Championship once, as well as numerous other titles. He has had his likeness used in video games and made into action figures, and is included in Mattel’s new Brawlin’ Buddies line that my son so dearly loves (complete with actual recordings of Rey’s voice).

One can’t help but think of this hugely popular, masked superstar as an actual, real-life superhero. But that’s just one aspect of Rey Mysterio – he is also a loving father and husband with a son, Dominik, who’s fifteen and a daughter, Aalyah, who’s eleven. It was at Mattel’s SummerSlam event where I had a chance to sit down and talk with Rey about being both a WWE superstar and a WWE Dad.

DK: You play such a larger than life superhero in the ring and on television – how do you manage that aspect when you’re at home with your kids?

RM: To them I’m just Dad. I try to disconnect myself as soon as I step into my house or I’m around my family. Sometimes that’s hard to do, especially when I’m out in public and I get recognized and I have to sign autographs and take pictures. That’s just part of the business, but most of the time, I try to leave my job and my work on the road and be a dad, and husband, at home.

DK: With so many younger superstars on the roster, are you finding more and more fathers in the locker room?

RM: Definitely. There happens to be a lot who have just become fathers not too long ago. You see a lot more family men or family superstars that have gotten married and have had a child within the last two or three years.

DK: So it’s a different culture than the stories you hear about Ric Flair or some of the older guys partying on the road all the time? It’s more of a family aspect?

RM: To a certain degree, yeah. I remember sharing pictures of my kids — oh, here we are in Cancun or throwing the ball around or whatever the case might be. But I think talking about the Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan days, once they were more established, their kids were already starting to grow, seven or eight years old. So fame was hitting them, it was a littler harder. They had a little more freedom.

DK: How would you feel if your kids wanted to be a professional wrestler?

RM: Really I have no problem with them following their dad’s footsteps, but I always try to push that priority number one is an education. So I would love for them to get through high school and college, and then if this is something they want to do, go ahead and step in the ring. But I do push for their education more than anything else in the world.

DK: You are known for wearing a mask inside the ring – does that provide you a certain level of anonymity outside the ring when you’re with your family?

RM: It does, but I think, and I never thought about this before I had them done, the tattoos have definitely put me out there. [Rey has distinct sleeve tattoos on both his arms.] So mask or no mask, I do get recognized, and it’s definitely because of the tattoos. It depends, we try to go to Hawaii once a year and I hardly ever get recognized. Maybe there’s one or two people out there that kind of puts two and two together and says, “Hey, Rey, can I get a picture?” But Puerto Vallarta was a flop, like, “Oh, we can’t go back there again.”

DK: Is that because you’re more popular in Mexico?

RM: I think it’s just the fact that I’m Mexican and the fans there love their people so much and they express their love to a certain degree. We thought this Cancun trip was going to be okay, but then once one person finds out and the word spreads, within ten minutes everyone wants a picture. But it’s part of our lifestyle.

DK: So being a superstar and a dad, what’s your go to advice on being a father?

RM: I enjoy to the fullest the time that I spend with my children, and I take advantage of it. If I’m on the road and I come home tired, I’ll take that one day to rest up, and then I wake up the next day dedicated to my kids to the fullest. If we’re gonna go to Disneyland, we’re gonna go all out. If it’s playtime, it’s playtime. If it’s giving advice, it’s giving advice. I’ve learned from my wife how to be very open with my kids when you speak about drugs and sex and everything, that’s the one thing I would love to put out there for all the parents. You have to make sure there isn’t that communication barrier, that there’s nothing that separates them from you or doesn’t make them feel comfortable for them to come up to speak to you about. I didn’t have that with my parents, but now that I have it with my kids, they can come up to me and talk to me about anything and they are going to get a legit answer.

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