WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio has been used well in WWE over the years. He is a multi-time WWE World Champion and he won the largest Royal Rumble in WWE history. Sadly, he was fired years back over slapping a social media employee. The reason behind it made total sense. The employee made a racial comment and Del Rio told him to apologize; he did not, and Del Rio took action. The social media employee then made life hard for everyone, and with a potential lawsuit over their head, WWE cut ties with Del Rio.
Alberto Del Rio planned to leave WWE later in the year anyway, as his contract was coming up and he chose not to re-sign. The release made things a bit easier for him. Triple H told Del Rio that they would hire him back in the future, but they have to make sure they don’t run into any issues with the employee. Months down the line, that employee was fired. In late 2015, WWE wanted to find someone who could help with their Hispanic viewership.
WWE saw that Del Rio was doing well away from WWE, becoming a top name around the world as well as domestically. WWE knew that he could be a great addition to the company if they could find a way to get him back. They managed to do so, offering him a big contract to come back. TNA Wrestling also offered Del Rio a contract, but WWE’s deal was higher than any other deal out there for Mexico’s Greatest Export.
This is where the story comes to an abrupt halt. WWE brought Alberto Del Rio in to face John Cena for the WWE United States Championship at WWE Hell in a Celllast October. He would beat Cena in the first match of the night within minutes. This allowed Cena to leave for commitments he had and it allowed Del Rio to become a champion once again, and on his first night back. However, since this great night, WWE has dropped the ball with Del Rio, and many wonder when WWE will give Del Rio another shot to work on top or at least do something of note as a singles worker.
According to Daily Wrestling News , Alberto Del Rio is unhappy with his place in the company. He has a right to feel this way, as he was doing so well before coming in and managed to do well on his first night. Since then, nothing has really occurred for him. The problem for Del Rio is not on him, but it may be because of management.
Reports claim that Triple H is the man to blame for Del Rio’s “de-push.” While Triple H sees Del Rio’s in-ring value, he has been rubbed wrong by him too many times in the past and simply cannot trust him. So it seems The Game sees something worthy of using in Del Rio, but doesn’t want him to go too far.
Triple H apparently spoke to WWE Chairman Vince McMahon about the situation. He felt that Del Rio didn’t deserve a top spot on the card and warned him that Del Rio could be a problem backstage if he ends up getting what he wants.
The Cerebral Assassin feels that Del Rio should not be given any kind of special treatment, power, or leverage while with WWE.
Due to all of this going on, there is some worry that Alberto Del Rio might leave, as he feels he could be utilized better elsewhere. This has led to the rumor of Del Rio being repackaged with Melissa Santos out of Lucha Underground, if they can manage to sign her. She is their lead ring announcer, and has been sought after by WWE for a while. She was backstage at a WWE event a little while back and many believe WWE was discussing a possibility of signing. The idea is that they would have her take over the job that Ricardo Rodriquez had as the personal announcer for Del Rio.
DWNreports that the idea behind this move is that it would be WWE trying to “butter-up” Del Rio so that he’ll want to stick around. On top of this repackaging, a push could come. A source told DWNthat it would not be shocking if Alberto Del Rio faced off with Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Title down the line.
Alberto Del Rio is in no need of major money, as he has more than enough to last away from WWE. On top of this, he has proven to be useful in Mexico and Japan in the past as well as the United States. This means that independent companies would have no problem signing him if he’s available.
The thought is that Alberto Del Rio may not want to deal with the politics and mind-games backstage. This means WWE has to do something in order to keep him happy, or at least keep him around after his deal is up. However, if issues with Triple H remain, WWE may not have Del Rio around as long as everyone might think.
[Image via WWE]