What would you have done differently with Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez?

[NegativeFeedback]

Alberto and Ricardo were one of my favorite acts of the past decade. I’m really sad to see them go. I think they were dealt a very bad hand this past year.

I think the big problem was turning them heel in the summer last year. While the double turn with Ziggler was well-done, it did nothing for all 5 people involved (Dolph, Alberto, Ricardo, Big E & AJ). Dolph Ziggler was getting face reactions for a while, but he was never booked well on the card as a face. Had he stayed heel, I bet he would have been booked far better on the card. If they wanted him to go up against Big E, it would have made more sense for his bodyguard to turn face instead. They ended up doing that anyway, months later. Staying as a heel and going up against Ziggler did nothing for either guy.

Alberto and Ricardo probably suffered more. While Alberto got to keep the World title for a few more months, it was the first time in a long time that the World title was actually made an afterthought. Alberto won the title twice in 2013, retained it tons of times on PPV, and in kayfabe was probably the most successful superstar of the year, but he wasn't even nominated for Superstar of the Year. And after losing the title to Cena, he was actually kept off PPV for no reason. That's because they couldn't care less who was wearing the World title at the time he did. His contenders before Cena were perennial afterthoughts Christian and Rob Van Dam.

Alberto and Ricardo went backwards with their characters when they turned heel. I get the fact that Alberto didn't become the gigantic Rey Mysterio-like superstar they wanted, but they turned him face OUT OF THE BLUE. He was a face for about 5 months with very little character development other than "I smile now". Fans were still adapting to Alberto as a face, WWE should have fleshed him out more.

My personal opinion is that Alberto and Ricardo had huge tag team potential. Ricardo was over in a similar way to Santino. He was a pudgy comedic wrestler who made people laugh. Alberto in-storyline was not only his boss, but he was his badass best friend who'd do anything to protect him.

Ricardo made some tweets earlier about how Triple H called him fat, nicknamed him "Bumblebee Man", and was told to lose weight. Triple H has his moments of genius when it comes to developmental, but he is also very closed-minded when it comes to unique type of wrestlers. He does great by the Sami Zayns, Adrian Nevilles and Dean Ambroses of NXT, but one look at a guy like Ricardo Rodriguez, and his first idea is "lose weight"??? Come on, Ricardo was booked into the Royal Rumble and into matches with Santino on PPV BECAUSE of his pudgy comedic persona.

Imagine all those matches where Ricardo gets beat on but he survives long enough to get the hot tag so Alberto can run wild on his opponents??? Had they stayed face, I think they could have gotten over in a similar way to Hell-No or Santino-Kozlov.

He got over looking like Bumblebee Man! Don't fix what isn't broken. I think there was some serious potential in Ricardo becoming the new Santino, and Alberto being his badass tag team partner that makes up for all of Ricardo's weaknesses. They could have feuded with Shield for the tag titles and at least stayed on PPV. It’s not the main event scene, but it’s still something. It's much better than the treatment Alberto ended up receiving in 2014.

Both of them were severely under-appreciated, and it's just a symptom of WWE management failing to see outside the box.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Alberto Del Rio's gimmick was a direct copy of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Man with the key difference being that Ricardo was a lot more entertaining than Virgil. What they could've done different with Del Rio and Rodriguez was to stick to the tried and true formula. Ricardo was over...more over than Del Rio. The WWE should've played off that plus the fact that Ricardo could wrestle. Clearly these guys should've had a match. It would've been part comedy -- Ricardo is a comedic character -- and there's nothing wrong with that. The point is that it would've had people into the feud, and it would've provided some longevity to Del Rio.

 

[Alastor]

I would have Del Rio as a face much earlier and more often. Del Rio just seem like a natural face to me with his moves and mannerism. He always put up decent matches on PPVs but always fail to capture attention during the weekly shows. If only he had an entertaining heel to play off of during his face run. Del Rio is definitely one of those guys that needed to play off another guy, but he was stuck with a stupid JBL/car gimmick and everybody played off that instead.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'm not really sure what could've been done differently. Del Rio is somewhat limited in terms of charisma and mic skills. He's someone that never really connected with the audience on the level someone in the main event should, though he was great inside the ring. He constantly put on great matches and for the first 6 months or so, I was a huge fan of the guy until I ultimately saw how limited he was in terms of character and promo ability. I still love watching the guy wrestle, don't get me wrong, but a limited ability to connect with fans as a character is ultimately gonna slow anyone up no matter how sharp they are inside the ring.

I had no problem with the double turn last year, it ultimately was very well done and the fact that it didn't really help most parties involved in the long run is something that can't be helped. Sometimes, creative makes wrong decisions, sometimes a wrestler fizzles out, sometimes it's a combination of both, etc. Ziggler wound up suffering a pretty bad concussion and his career hasn't really recovered. As a result, WWE is wary of taking a chance on Ziggler, a point of view I can somewhat understand since the guy suffered 2 concussions within about an 8 or 9 month span with the first one being particularly bad. Big E sort of fizzled out due in part, in my opinion, to Vince wanting him booked as a one dimensional powerhouse. That wasn't how he was booked in NXT and he got over well down there. Not saying that there was a guarantee that he'd get over doing the exact same thing on the main roster, but I knew he wasn't gonna get too far playing the silent, strongman. In all honesty, I think AJ Lee did benefit quite a bit from the whole situation. Her career over the course of the past 1.5 years overall has been much healthier than Del Rio's, Ziggler's or Big E's.

As far as Ricardo goes, I dunno if he was given a raw deal or not. From what I've read, he was frustrated and wanted to be a wrestler on the roster. Reportedly, he was told to drop some weight, he didn't do it, so they didn't use him as a wrestler. With all the guys around WWE who're in fantastic shape and know a lot about proper diet & nutrition to ask for advice, I find it very difficult to believe that Ricardo couldn't drop the weight if he really wanted to. When Brodus Clay joined FCW, officials told him they'd like him to drop weight. He didn't gripe about it, didn't complain about it, he worked his ass off to show that he really wanted it. If Brodus Clay could go from 465 down to 350, why couldn't Ricardo drop 30 or 40 pounds; or get in the gym to tone up all that baby fat he's packing around.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

ADR - I would have had him cut all promos in Spanish. I would explain either through commentary or RR that Del Rio did not feel like it was worth it for him to have to speak English. That he believed the fans should have to learn Spanish. I would have had him wear pants. I would have made him remove his tattoos. I would have him rotate pretty divas as his valet with no explanation. The cars were fine but seemed like an unnecessary expense. As others have stated in other threads I would have him use his money to pay people off to do his dirty work. I like the idea of Americans getting paid by a Mexican to do you things ADR did not want to do. I would even put RR on a tier higher than ADR's American cheap labor. I would have shown ADR as someone who had power and influence over management.

RR - not much to change. Maybe add some homosexual Smithers-like attention towards ADR. The guy was limited in what he could be.

 

[The Butcher]

A stable with Hunico and Camacho.

I don't think a stable is what Del Rio needs, but if he WERE to form a stable I would probably throw in Hunico and Camacho. It would give them a Mexican cartel feel. Del Rio would be the ruthless ringleader, Ricardo could continue being his right hand stooge and Hunico and Camacho would be the meathead muscle to carry out Del Rio's dirty work.

Even as a heel stable, I think this would appeal to the Hispanic viewers. Plus, I think it would just be a pretty cool team and it could open up a lot of storyline opportunities.

http://forums.wrestlezone.com/showthread.php?t=256825

Others have proposed the same or similar ideas since, but that's the first I remember seeing it. I thought it was a good idea at the time, and, hindsight being 20/20, I would've enjoyed it more than anything any of them did between then and now.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

There isn't a "master plan" for someone like Del Rio... think back to when he came in he was TOTALLY different to anyone else they had ever brought in in terms of ability, history and most importantly independence.

This wasn't a Brock or Sting, where they come in on "big tickets" because of proven success and a fanbase... this was a guy with a massive name/independently wealthy/legit tough guy from another country working under a mask coming to WWE to wrestle a different style, without a mask... He was also Triple H's first "signing" with his new power... he pushed to get Del Rio (and the original Sin Cara) and made it happen.

In terms of the character, it's easy to call it a rip off of Ted DiBiase, but it really wasn't... DiBiase was someone who epitomised 80's America, Gordon Gecko, Greed Is Good and all those qualities... ADR was someone representing "Mexican Wrestling Royalty", they never shyed from him being 2nd Gen or not a big deal in Mexico, his character was the first real "Superstar" from another country/culture to come to the WWE... he had money, his own ring announcer because he had accumulated them from his ring ability and thus acted as a blowhard. In that respect he had far more in common with JBL than DiBiase.

In terms of what else they could do with him? Keeping him masked would probably have been a good bet for a while... Of course WWE wanted people to be gimmicked in ways they own and ADR wasn't a bad gimmick at all... but Dos Caras Jr... or some variation of like Rey would have been a great idea to begin with... then have him lose the mask and become ADR with Ricardo etc... have his arrogance etc come out as a result of him losing his mask rather than just "cos he came to the WWE".

That would have given him a solid year of doing what he did best and time to practice and hone the ADR character so when it did debut, he would have been a better position to handle the push he got.

ADR was never terrible, never great, I liken him to Rick Martel or more recently Matt Hardy... Strong hands with an industry pedigree/push who the ability to get themselves over if given good material...they can be relied on to anchor that undercard and occasionally step up. ADR did well with the opportunities he was given, his ring work could rarely be faulted and for a brief time he did catch with the fans... that initial face turn was very well done and could have been a very big deal.

But it comes down to the fan perception and it's something WWE has never tried to really break... Luchas/Mexicans must have masks or act foolishly/to a stereotype, ADR didn't fit any real mould that had gone before for a Mexican star... and the racism side of things maybe does come into play with those fans too... There are real Zeb's out there who would hate seeing a man like ADR succeed over an American... the kind of people who made the crack about wiping his plate...

ADR didn't fail at all, he had a good WWE career that is only really blighted by its ending, but even then I doubt in reality WWE will harbor ill will towards him... it was ending anyways, all parties knew it and on this occasion it had to end on a sour note... but down the line they will I am sure do business again and it will be as ADR, not Dos Caras Jr.

Ricardo is tougher because he didn't have the look and weight alone cannot be the issue as guys like Bray are on the roster. Perhaps his mic skills in English were not there enough to warrant the spot as anything but the manager/Ring Announcer where he could use Spanish freely. The most charismatic guys, like Tajiri, Funaki,Juvi, Khali to a lesser extent and even some Europeans struggle because they either can't speak English well enough to get the point across or their accents are too strong. Mason Ryan was a prime example, had everything but that thick Welsh accent was unintelligible to most US fans... Even Regal's accent is different off-screen to on.

Ricardo had outlived his usefulness when there are others who have more of "the package" and by the sounds of it he wanted to wrestle... so that means he goes... it is perhaps "serendipity" rather than irony that the ADR situation has occured... I am pretty sure ADR will have got Ricardo's no comete recsinded as well as his own as a condition of his deal not to sue and WWE has little to gain by stopping them showing up at Triplemania on Sunday... indeed it might HELP them in a time without competition in their eyes...

 

[King Patrick Star]

I would have liked to have seen Alberto Del Rio lead a Stable with Rey Mysterio as Ric Flair, and Sin Cara Azul and Sin Cara Negro as Randy Orton and Batista. Evolucion!! With the Million Peso Man as the lead, he could have added more Stars, not necessarily Latino Stars, but more Stars in general. I think this would have even helped the original Sin Cara out a bit. Plus, having Ricardo manage all of them would have been great for their respective entrances. Oh, and I would have had Alberto Del Rio put the mask back on during matches. He could have won the United States Championship Title Belt and slap a sticker of the Mexican flag on it too.

I actually have Alberto Del Rio, Rey Mysterio, Sin Car and Eddie Guerrero as a Stable in WWE 13 as the Cartel.

 

[Reflection]

I would keep him as a face and not turn him heel for the second time, and not have him fire Ricardo either. He isn't too evil or nasty as a heel, in my opinion. His initial skits ("Mexico loves Alberto and Alberto loves Mexico")- boring. He treated Ricardo as a slave- didn't work. Went back to the old theme song- didn't help. Made Lilian announce his name in Spanish- no one cared. The "Si!" movement- didn't take off after the crowd stopped following suit once he turned heel. Took cheap shots on his opponents and yelled something in Spanish- zero reaction.

Comparatively, when he was a face, the crowd actually cheered for him, rather than remaining silent. When he was feuding against Real Americans, majority of the people were behind him rather than their own country. Alberto treating Ricardo as a friend was also good to watch. The introduction with Ricardo doing the long 'O' and stressing on the 'R' was also funny and well-received by the people. His promos in favour of legal immigration were intense. Crowds loved him calling Swagger "a jackass" too.

But what hurt Alberto (and Ricardo) the most was getting split from each other. Alberto without the funny (and often the more interesting) guy beside him was quite boring to watch and seemed lost. Ricardo went on to ally with RVD but that was shortlived and he ended up as the third commentator for the Spanish announce team before getting fired for not being useful enough. United, they could produce to the table more than the sum of their individual products. Divided, they fell.

 

[Creepy Old Man]

Del Rio should have stayed as Dos Caras, which is what he first performed as in WWE (in dark matches). It was a massive hit in Mexico, and could have worked in WWE with Del Rio's undeniable athletic ability. Instead he was lumbered with a 23-year old gimmick done by Ted DiBiase in 1987, and re-treaded by JBL in 2004. Del Rio didn't have the charisma needed to get a dated gimmick over for a third time. So it didn't work, and Del Rio will be remembered as a failure.

Ricardo? Just some guy who made hammy ring announcements that were funny for a few weeks. Can't say I saw anything in him.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

The problem with keeping Del Rio as Dos Caras is that what is good for Mexico and AAA doesn't necessarily mean it's good for the WWE. Remember, the WWE pushes its own particular style of wrestling, and that does not include Lucha Libre. Rey Misterio spent years honing his style in WCW and was well prepared for the move to WWE. Sin Cara, on the other hand, wasn't. Del Rio's debut and personality was spot on, IMO. He looked the heel role, and he acted the heel role well. He just didn't have the overabundance of talent on the promo side of things to be able to keep things moving on his own and remain fresh when WWE Creative ran out of steam.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

ADR - I would have had him cut all promos in Spanish. I would explain either through commentary or RR that Del Rio did not feel like it was worth it for him to have to speak English. That he believed the fans should have to learn Spanish.

I originally thought that Carlito should have a gimmick like that. Come out, speak in Spanish, and have Rosa Mendes, Armando Estrada or someone else translate for him, telling the audience that they have to learn Spanish. When Carlito was released, I thought it would be a good idea for Del Rio. But once Del Rio got his main event run, I thought it would be cool for Sin Cara, since Mistico couldn't speak English. Now that Del Rio and Mistico are both gone, I guess Kalisto or Hunico could use the gimmick.

Armando Estrada was under contract when Del Rio first debuted, but he was never used. I always thought that was a severe mistake. Estrada was a fantastic manager, and could have been a great foil for Del Rio. They should have hired him back when Del Rio dumped Ricardo.

RR - not much to change. Maybe add some homosexual Smithers-like attention towards ADR. The guy was limited in what he could be.

He was a comedic wrestler, and he was pretty over. The fans reacted positively when he entered with Del Rio's music at the Royal Rumble and when he feuded with Santino. I think Ricardo had a nice future, but WWE was afraid to look outside the box. Instead, they told him to lose weight so he can be just another one of the skinny jobbers. They want him to be another Hunico and Camacho, instead of being his own silly pudgy comedic self who was already over.

 

[Lee]

ADR - I would have had him cut all promos in Spanish. I would explain either through commentary or RR that Del Rio did not feel like it was worth it for him to have to speak English. That he believed the fans should have to learn Spanish. I would have had him wear pants. I would have made him remove his tattoos. I would have him rotate pretty divas as his valet with no explanation. The cars were fine but seemed like an unnecessary expense. As others have stated in other threads I would have him use his money to pay people off to do his dirty work. I like the idea of Americans getting paid by a Mexican to do you things ADR did not want to do. I would even put RR on a tier higher than ADR's American cheap labor. I would have shown ADR as someone who had power and influence over management.

RR - not much to change. Maybe add some homosexual Smithers-like attention towards ADR. The guy was limited in what he could be.

I saw ADR in a dark match against Regal in England. He started saying we don't deserve to hear him speak in English then did the rest of his promo in Spanish. It worked really well.

 

[RJ Fletcher]

I would have kept them heel and kept them together the whole time. I also would not have pushed ADR as hard as they did. It's almost as if the E was saying "here, you will enjoy this!" The gimmick was fun at first but didn't take long to dissolve. It lost it's luster with me when he stopped saying "...but you already knew that..."

ADR and RR could have even gone as far as tagging. I think there was much more that the E could have done with these two. I also feel winning the top strap did little to nothing for him. I would have had him become the US champ first. That jump was too bold.

 

[stingray11214]

If WWE was really interested in Managers, Ricardo was a cross between Jim Cornette and Capt. Lou Albano. He would have been PERFECT in that role. Bill him from Acapulco or Miami, have him dress like a slob, and be completely manic. Rodriguez would still be on the main roster, ADR or no ADR. I could see him managing RyBaxel, Bo Dallas, or any of the Latinos on the roster. He was SO over with the WWE Universe.

As for ADR: He was NEVER over. When he won the Rumble, even the crickets stayed silent. When he put Misterio out, the next night you could have heard the dead snore and ants marching. What they needed to do is something that The Gang at Titan Towers would have never done: Dos Caras, Jr. and as a heroic character. He would have been the logical replacement for Rey, and the money would have poured in. But, The Gang at Titan Towers knew better....OOPS!

 

[kadroan]

Del Rio peaked in the WWE. He already won the major championships and even won a Royal Rumble.

Me personally, I never thought he was a legit main event superstar. I thought he should have been a career midcard/tag team wrestler like William Regal.

I would have liked to see him had a run as IC Champion instead of Barrett a few months ago. It would have been interesting to see him and Big E feud.

As far as last year, he didn't have to turn heel. They could have put him and Ricardo in that weak tag division. They could have had some good matches with Team Hell No, Shield, etc.

 

[The Dark Warlords]

Been more serious abut their booking, and just quit always putting them in comedy situations. If i really wanted Del Rio to be my champion with true cred, i would have booked him more to his strengths as a legit fighter.

 

[DCLXVI]

This is an good question. I could never really get interested in his stuff and thought the car gimmick was kind of lame. I could tolerate a Del Rio match but never really bought into him as a big belt holding guy. Good technician/wrestler but he def needed Ricardo, he was okay for what he was doing on the mic but I can't remember a feud of his I really care about. No crowd pops or anything towards the end.

The end was coming eventually.