Triple H Accidentally Reinvented Dominik Mysterio — His Feud With Rusev Proves It

RAW gave us one of those nights where the story was less about what happened and more about how the crowd reacted to it. Dominik Mysterio defended the Intercontinental title against Rusev on the September 29, 2025 edition of Monday Night RAW, and the result was messy, sneaky, and kind of telling about where WWE might be steering Dirty Dom next.

The match: Rusev bullies, Dom schemes, and the ref finally catches on

Rusev did most of the heavy lifting early. He controlled long stretches and looked like he was about to snap Dominik’s title reign in half. Then Dom did what Dom does: he went straight to the mind games and shortcuts.

He tried to pull the same belt-throw fake-out he used on AJ Styles — smack a guy with the title, toss it to him, and hope the ref calls a DQ the wrong way. This time the official actually saw it and shut the whole bit down. So Dom pivoted. He grabbed the ref, used the distraction, and hit Rusev with a low blow. That sealed it. Dominik kept the Intercontinental Championship, not clean, not subtle.

The twist: the crowd loved it

Here’s the surprise: the second Dom’s hand was raised, the place cheered. Loud. Like, not ironic boo-then-cheer loud — more like a real, full-throated pop. If that energy sticks, it’s hard to imagine Triple H and the creative team not exploring a babyface run for Dirty Dom. Yeah, that sentence would’ve sounded insane a year ago.

What that means for Judgment Day

If Dominik is pivoting to the good-guy lane, that could ripple through Judgment Day too. And yes, their lineup is in a weird spot right now, with some inside-baseball drama baked in.

• Who’s in: Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, Liv Morgan, and Raquel Rodriguez are the names tied to the faction here. It’s a power group on paper, even if that roster configuration raises an eyebrow if you’ve been following the usual alignments.
• What’s up: Liv is currently off TV with a dislocated shoulder. Finn has been openly cold on Dominik’s grand plans. So, cracks are showing.
• If Dom turns face: RAW suddenly has a heel gap. That opens the door for other teams or factions to step up. The chatter even points to an American-made group under Chad Gable sliding into that villain role. Is that label super clear? Not really. But the implication is that Gable’s crew could happily take the heat if Judgment Day stops hogging it.

Dominik and the Eddie Guerrero of it all

The Eddie parallels are impossible to ignore. Beyond the obvious visuals — the mullet, the mustache — Dominik has leaned into Guerrero’s brand of crafty opportunism. Their thread goes all the way back to the 2005 custody storyline with Rey Mysterio, which is an all-time bizarre chapter that somehow keeps echoing.

Dominik even talked about the resemblance on Chris Van Vliet’s show, and it got playfully uncomfortable in a very Mysterio family way.

I didn’t think so at first because, originally, I didn’t think I looked like Eddie. But then once I started growing out the mullet, and there were a lot of side-by-side pictures of me and him — and then the mustache — it’s kind of scary. Oh, I question my mother all the time. Like I said, I don’t know… my dad was gone all the time, or that deadbeat… but, yeah, the 90s were a wild time.

Even Rey himself has joked about asking his wife if she ever cheated with Eddie, which tells you how close the comparison has gotten inside their own family bit. Whether you buy the Next Eddie talk or not, Dominik is clearly modeling the ring psychology and the smirk. After a night like this, he might be closer to owning that lane than ever.

Bottom line

Dominik Mysterio beat Rusev by bending every rule he could reach, the ref actually did his job for once, and the crowd still cheered Dom anyway. If that’s not a signal flare for a babyface turn — and a possible Judgment Day reshuffle — I don’t know what is.