WWE's recent Clash At The Castle show featured plenty of big moments, but there's a good chance that Dominik Mysterio's heel turn will be the most lasting and memorable. Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns tore the house down, Liv Morgan successfully retained her women's championship, while Sheamus and Gunther had one of the best Intercontinental Title matches in recent memory. Outstanding as all those beats were, Dominik Mysterio's heel turn is a juncture fans have anxiously awaited for a long time. So much so that it almost felt out-of-nowhere at Clash At The Castle.
During the Mysterios' ongoing feud with Judgement Day, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that this would be the result. Yet it didn't go the way most fans probably would have anticipated. Instead of Dominik costing Rey and Edge their match at the premium live event or leaving his father high and dry during a match, he waited until after the bout to make his mark. Rey and the Rated-R Superstar managed to pick up a win over Judgement Day members Finn Balor and Damian Priest, and it was during their post-match celebration, that Dominik revealed his true colors.
A heel is only as good as his motivation, and Dominik's makes perfect sense in this case. The 25-year-old felt disrespected when his father chose to tag with Edge instead of him, leading him to kick the Hall Of Famer in his nether regions. For a few moments, it seemed like Rey would be spared, but a hard clothesline from Dominik elicited one of the most significant reactions of the night from the Cardiff crowd.
It's not always noteworthy when videos on WWE's YouTube channel rack up tons of views, but Dominik's heel turn has performed wonderfully on that platform. By the middle of the afternoon on September 4, nearly two million people watched the clip. For context, just over 500,000 people had viewed Solo Sikoa's debut and interference in the McIntyre vs. Reigns main event. Over 600,000 people had watched Tyson Fury knockout Austin Theory as he attempted to cash in his Money In the Bank Briefcase. That's a tremendous amount of interest generated by just two moves, and how the fallout is handled will be important.
Edge has already taken to social media to let Dominik know he'll see him on Monday Night at Raw, which makes sense given what happened at Clash At The Castle. However, if this whole program leads the veteran getting over on the fresh heel, all that momentum will have been for nothing. There are clever workarounds that WWE can examine and perhaps pursue, but this storyline needs to be the start of a push for Dominik.