Rey Mysterio appeared on the latest episode of Stephanie McMahon’s What’s Your Story podcast, and one of the topics discussed was his daughter’s training in WWE.
According to Rey, Aalyah Mysterio was “very natural” during the time he spent with her at the WWE Performance Center, and she was picking up in-ring action “very fast.”
In September, Aalyah (using her real last name of Gutiérrez) was announced by NXT as part of its new “Rookie Class.” Also listed in the group of signees were amateur wrestlers
Cara Brown and Zoë Sager; former TNA referee Katie Reynolds; Brazilian track and field athlete Ana da Silva; and a popular Australian tag team known in their home country as “The Dropouts.”
Soon after she was announced as a new WWE trainee, Aalyah made an appearance during a backstage segment on NXT involving Layla Diggs and Izzi Dame.
Of course, Aalyah has made appearances on WWE programming since she was a child. Perhaps her most memorable onscreen time came when her brother, Dominik, turned on their father in 2023 to launch his well-received heel run.
Talk of Aalyah on the Friday (Nov. 6) episode of What’s Your Story? began when McMahon brought up Rey’s children, noting she used to tickle Aalyah’s feet when she was young.
After recalling his early years in the business, Rey mentioned that the first time his daughter stepped into a wrestling ring was in October 2025. Though she wanted to start training earlier, Rey said he wouldn’t allow her to pursue wrestling until she graduated from college.
“June, she graduated. October, I took her to the PC (Performance Center), and we jumped into the ring for a while. And she was very natural,” Mysterio said.
The WWE Hall of Famer continued: “Like, hitting the ropes, rolling, stuff that I have seen other students take time to pick up, she was picking up very fast. So, that happened in October. She really liked it. She goes, ‘Dad, I would love to try it now.’ I said okay.
“February of this year, I got her to go to the PC for two weeks without me being there. Waking up every day, training, going back home, sleeping, waking up next day, and she did that for two weeks.”
According to the lucha libre legend, Aalyah was told on the last day of her two-week stay that she was ready for a live match at the Performance Center. Mysterio said veteran coach Norman Smiley worked with her, and the PC staff “helped her put the match together.”
“She had her first match, and when I saw it, I was like, ‘No way!’ Again, she’s my daughter, I’m probably biased, but there’s something special there,” Rey said. “It’s crazy. That happened in February; she moved down to Florida in late July. She started training in August.”
What do you think of Rey’s progress report on his daughter? Are you looking forward to her appearing in a WWE ring? Let us know in the comments.
