WWE News: Alberto Del Rio Settlement With WWE States He ‘Cannot Talk Negatively’ About WWE

As we have heard, WWE and Alberto Del Rio have reached a mutual settlement which will allow Del Rio to be released from his no-compete clause with WWE. However, this settlement was certainly, on paper, heavily favorable for WWE. In reality it was not as much, as damage had been done, but they still got a lot out of the settlement. WWE released Del Rio after an altercation with a WWE Social Media Manager a few months back.

The social media employee said a racist remark to Del Rio, which Del Rio took offense. He then got physical with the employee. After this, he was fired. The employee was claiming lawsuits were coming up, and he even went on Twitter under the WWE handle to talk a big negatively about Del Rio. This was not liked by WWE at all, however to avoid any legal issues, WWE released Del Rio and kept the employee. That very employee is now no longer with World Wrestling Entertainment.

Del Rio wanted to be released from his no-compete clause, as he felt that he was fired for the wrong reasons. He then was highly vocal in Mexican and UK interviews, claiming WWE employees, and higher-ups would use racist jokes often. This was pretty much labeling WWE as a racist company. The original Sin Cara pretty much confirmed these remarks, but he was not as major with them. He went on to say he would like to work with WWE again.

Del Rio on the other hand was offered his job back according to The Wrestling Observer, but turned it down. He must have been offered a deal once the social media guy was let go. Del Rio always planned to leave WWE when his contract came up anyway, which is why regardless of being offered a new deal, he was gone by the end of 2014 from WWE.

Due to the remarks made by Del Rio and him pretty much threatening to take WWE to court to get his no-compete clause removed, WWE and Del Rio settled allowing him to get the clause removed. However, this was not without a lot of interesting settlement material. The Wrestling Observer claims that the original settlement included a public apology by WWE, which ended up being removed from the settlement in the end.

Another part was that Del Rio could no longer talk negatively about WWE in terms of them being racist in interviews. WWE was big on this as they realize that Hispanic people make up about 20 percent of America and Mexico happens to be one of WWE’s biggest international markets.

At a recent press conference in Mexico, WWE had the new Sin Cara talk about all the opportunities he was given. To many, it felt like WWE was trying to come off as not being racist rather than doing what they were originally scheduled the press conference for, promoting live events in Mexico and the new TV station WWE was moving to there.

Del Rio’s remarks are now able to be heard and/or seen due to the digital age, so it is not as if WWE somehow managed to help themselves from any racist troubles. However, Del Rio is now supposed to stop talking about it, which helps WWE. The settlement also agrees that no lawsuit will be brought up by Del Rio regarding his firing. That is the major thing WWE gets out of this to many. Another lawsuit, which has a ton of value, would not be good for them.

Del Rio pretty much got what he wanted in the end too. One would ask, how does this help Del Rio to get his no-compete removed? Aren’t no-compere clauses about three months long? He was released from WWE in August, which means he would be able to work with any promotion by this time already if that was the case. So his no-compete was set to be removed before now of course.

Sadly Del Rio’s was a bit special. He has a one year no-compete clause, which was unpaid. However, Del Rio did agree to it, so he might need to get a better business manager next time.

This is why Del Rio was so big on having it removed. Many feel it would never hold up in court, which is why WWE ended up removing it in the settlement. WWE also agreed on a financial settlement with Del Rio. The amount is unknown as of now.

So basically, WWE saves themselves from a lawsuit and negative remarks by Del Rio and Del Rio gets released from his year long no-compete and some walking around money. It ended up being a win/win. However, many of us would like to have seen that public apology by WWE. There is nothing better than a major company publicly apologizing.

[IMG Credits: WWE.com, SportsKeeda.com]