Del Rio making a possible return?

[Navi]

The main page is running a report that Alberto Del Rio may be, and it's a big may be, returning to the WWE.

According to the report the WWE is still looking for a top Hispanic star and they are looking his way. He was said to be in season two of Lucha Underground, but Del Rio has denied that. So the rumours are swirling that he will make a return to a WWE ring near you.

I didn't much like Del Rio the first time round, and not really looking forward to him coming back for a second go. He might be good in the ring, and I'm not denying that, but his character is kind of well boring. If they changed him up a little then it maybe a little more interesting.

I'm also a little disappointed that they haven't used Kalisto as much as they could have. He a little go getter in the ring much in the same vein as Mysterio was. Problem is he's stuck in a tag team that's going nowhere. I think the kids would identity more with Kalisto than Del Rio's upper class snobby character. I guess it remains to be seen.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

According to Del Rio himself, he was looking forward to going away from the WWE long before the slapping incident happened.

No idea what he's doing currently, but if he's still of that mindset, the only thing that could convince him would be a fat contract. Can WWE offer it? Sure. But do they see the value in that fat contract? That's the question.

While I don't follow the WWE as much, perhaps someone who does can tell me if they currently have any up and coming Latino wrestlers? I can't think of anyone.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Del Rio is one of these guys who didn't necessarily "need" the WWE in order to make a great living. Del Rio was legitimately wealthy long before coming to WWE due to being a big star in Mexico and having familial connections to legendary luchadores like his father Dos Caras. If reports were accurate, he was planning on leaving WWE once the current deal he was under expired.

The slapping incident was unfortunate in that it happened. The guy that Del Rio slapped was eventually fired, either that or he was told to resign, after WWE investigated things by interviewing people he worked with, people who worked under him, people who knew him personally, etc. to gauge whether there was any substance to Del Rio's claims of him making jokes with racist intent. While I understand Del Rio's reaction of slapping the guy, considering the racial taunts, I also still understand why WWE had to let him go. First & foremost, WWE is going to cover its ass just like any other organization and not firing Del Rio could have potentially opened up a whole lot of cans of worms.

I liked Del Rio, my like of the guy did decrease as time went on, at least as far as his character went, but the guy was constantly entertaining to watch inside the ring. As a character and on promos, the guy was far, far too repetitive for my tastes though, to be fair, I can't say whether that was because of him as a persona, the scripted promos or a combination of both, though I personally lead towards option #3.

I'd have no problem with Del Rio in the tag team to upper mid-card level, I think he has a lot to offer in those particular areas, but I don't see the guy as a main eventer. Maybe that opinion would change if he was repackaged and the went with something other than Del Rio being somewhat of a Mexican version of the Million Dollar Man.

 

[hatehabsforever]

I can see it now, a feud between Alberto Del Rio and Bray Wyatt. Instant gold. Unless, of course, you are employed by Nytol. Because that matchup would totally put that company out of business.

I have made no secret of my dislike for the character of Bray Wyatt. Beyond boring. Instant channel changer. But that's just me. And ADR was the same sort of guy for me before his departure. Allegedly very solid in the ring. With a long history of success and accolades elsewhere before his WWE run. But the dude just totally put me to sleep each and every time he competed beyond his first six months in the company. Surprisingly, the only time he didn't send me either to sleep or another station was during his brief face turn. And if they are looking for a top Hispanic star, perhaps bringing him in as a face might be reasonable. But to have him return as a heel, spewing the same heel promos over and over again, well I think we see more than enough of that from the Face of Fear. Thanks but no thanks.

Plus, an ADR return would likely see him come back to a position of prominence. I don't see him returning to languish in the mid card or below. He likely would be elevated back to near the top of the card very quickly. Which would probably stall the pushes of some more deserving guys who are already on the main roster, not to mention delaying the elevation of some of their NXT guys. And personally I would much prefer to see Kevin Owens, Cesaro, and a few guys like this who have already arrived, or Samoa Joe, Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, or some cowboy who may be on his way to the big leagues, who are on the horizon, as opposed to Alberto Del Rio, winking and spouting incessantly about his destiny.

 

[OYDK]

What the hell? For the past year, Del Rio has been spouting off about not wanting to work for a company that favors "inequality", and publicly ripping WWE on ROH and LU, and all of the sudden the two sides want to work together again? I mean, I know Vince is freaking out but what the hell does signing Del Rio do? Yes it appeals to the hispanic market, but you have hispanic stars on your damn roster. Why not try to push Kalisto into that spot if you're not going to do anything with the Lucha Dragons anyway?

Let's be honest, Del Rio sucked later on in his career. I loved the guy for his first year and than he didn't progress at all from there. Him and Sheamus were BEYOND stale by the time Del Rio left, and I was kind of happy to not have to see him in WWE anymore. Than he went to ROH and LU and, what a surprise, I suddenly found him interesting again. When not being bogged down by Vince Mcmahon, Del Rio (El Patron) is actually an amazing talent.

This is one guy I definitely don't want to see back in the E. They'll undoubtedly throw him right into that top spot and it won't take long for me to hate the guy again... and I don't want to hate Alberto. He's better off in the indies anyway... much more respected and revered than he ever was in WWE.

 

[N!CKALAS CAGE]

I like Del Rio, he just needs to drop the whole Mexican aristocrat gimmick.

On a side note, if Cesaro was Mexican instead of Swiss he would have been pushed to the moon by now.

 

[Mustang Sally]

According to Del Rio himself, he was looking forward to going away from the WWE long before the slapping incident happened.

That's the way I remember it. The idea of him coming back seems ridiculous in the face of: (1) the 'bridge-burning' remarks he made after his employment terminated, and: (2) the negative manner in which he was received during his WWE tenure by a high percentage of the fan base, which had about as much interest in observing a great technical wrestler as a 3-year-old has in an encyclopedia.

I loved watching ADR work a match; the way in which one move flowed into the next was wonderful to see. But what I liked sure as hell wasn't what most other wrestling fans liked.....so the notion of having this guy back seems so far-fetched as to be next to impossible.

Still, this is pro wrestling........

 

[Azane]

The slap heats probably diminished now because WWE found he was "Justified" (It's never actually okay to slap someone, but the dude pushed him beyond an acceptable limit).

Del Rio is worth a lot to WWE because they've lost Rey as their Mexican Ambassador, and they have a huge following down there, so I could see him getting a contract that extends beyond just his normal entertainment ability.

A lot of people like to say ADR didn't do so well in WWE... he was a multi-time world champion and almost always in the Main Event, he was a big name, and one of the top heels for much of his time there, so even excluding the Mexican Market, he's a big talent, one of the best In ring workers, and he runs with his Gimmick well on the Mic.

Vince has also been SUPER open to letting past stars back in, since the talent pools been thinning out.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Alberto Del Rio was the most stale wrestler on the WWE roster by the time of his departure. I don't understand the need for a Hispanic star in the WWE. Are Hispanic fans that demanding that Vince has to go out and find a Hispanic wrestler ? For the love of god, just tell people that Ambrose is really Mexican and put a little Mexican flag on his knee pad. Create the first ever C.G.I Wrestler and call him Captain Mexico and make him fight only on Superstars , a show nobody watches anyway. Captain Mexico wouldn't work for a live audience as Adam Rose fighting an invisible opponent would look strange.

Maybe Canadian fans should start clamoring and complaining to Vince that WWE needs more Canadians on the show. EH !

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

Anyone who's character has gotten boring is the fault of WWE.

There are a ton of guys like: Orton, Big Show, Sheamus, Mark Henry, etc. who I'm beyond bored with, but is that really their fault, or the fault of the writers? Mark Henry had one of the hottest runs of his career over a decade in with the hall of pain and the fake retirement. Big Show almost felt credible again after 1 promo when he was about to go against Lesnar.

So anyone saying Del Rio was boring or whatever, thats not on him, he's a great performer. Very solid in the ring, very solid on the mic. I would love to have him back to get to see him work with some of the guys he never really got a chance to before leaving, especially Kevin Owens.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Del Rio has done some pretty entertaining stuff in his time outside of WWE. He has had a series of matches and angles with Johnny Mundo (John Morrison) that have been fantastic for both AAA and Lucha Underground. He has been a solid champion in AAA. He has had a handful of matches in ROH that did nothing but prove his in ring talent. He has been one of my favorite wrestlers since he left WWE. He isn't stuck playing some niche role to appeal to a certain audience, aside from his role as Mexican National Hero in his feud with Brian Cage. He is able to perform more freely now that the WWE chains are off and it has made him a very entertaining character. I for one hope that he stays away from WWE and continues his current trend of hitting the major indies outside of Mexico and still performing in AAA.

I wish the promotions he worked for were as accessible as the WWE is though. Trying to watch is current work involves a lot of torrents, streams, and other nefarious and quasi legal means.

 

[stingray11214]

Let us be very real about this: Had the name been Albert Jones and not Alberto Rodriguez, this rumor mill never gets started. Period. End of discussion. The reason WWE is wanting Del Rio/El Patron back is because Stamford is desperate for a Latino star. The Lucha Dragons have been a bust so far in that regard. Los Matadores is a joke. Bayley is not there yet. Carlito spat WWE's offer back into VKM's face. So, what is left? Trying to right a wrong, even though WWE had zero choice at the time.

The problem is that Del Rio/El Patron needs WWE like he needs AIDS. He is making around $20-30K a WEEK doing FAR LESS work than he would be with WWE. The questions would be 1) Does ADR even WANT to come back at this point? 2) How much would ADR be working? and 3) How much would he be getting paid? TBH, ADR is a fool to come back UNLESS Stamford is going to give him Lesnar-type money. This is really the only way I see ADR coming back, because WWE needs him far more than he needs them.

 

[Prince Vee]

Del Rio has done some pretty entertaining stuff in his time outside of WWE. He has had a series of matches and angles with Johnny Mundo (John Morrison) that have been fantastic for both AAA and Lucha Underground. He has been a solid champion in AAA. He has had a handful of matches in ROH that did nothing but prove his in ring talent. He has been one of my favorite wrestlers since he left WWE. He isn't stuck playing some niche role to appeal to a certain audience, aside from his role as Mexican National Hero in his feud with Brian Cage. He is able to perform more freely now that the WWE chains are off and it has made him a very entertaining character. I for one hope that he stays away from WWE and continues his current trend of hitting the major indies outside of Mexico and still performing in AAA.

I wish the promotions he worked for were as accessible as the WWE is though. Trying to watch is current work involves a lot of torrents, streams, and other nefarious and quasi legal means.

He's pretty much popular outside the WWE. He has been so much over with the fans and moneys bee. flowing through his direction all along. Moreover the contradiction with the WWE paved way for many promotions trying to rope him in into their territory but he had blantly stated in many interviews that he'll work if the money is right regardless of whether it's Pro-Wrestling or MMA. Rather than getting wasted back in WWE he probably should stay back where he's right now and enjoy everything that comes in his way.

P.S. The latest buzz that WWE has been trying to bring him back must've uprooted his market more. Brilliant job blokes.

 

[King502]

I for one this ADR is great and deserves every penny wwe gives him I loved his gimmick and everything he should come back it would be great for both sides

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

I enjoyed Del Rio during his time in the WWE. Even though he has a accent, his english was good and he got his point across on his promos. In the ring he was one of the top guys and his setup to his armbar finisher always came off good.

 

[Softcore Holly]

Amazing in-ring but for various reasons never got all that popular despite how heavily pushed he was. The man is a former 4 time World Champ plus a MITB and RR winner yet wasn't really one of the top guys during his run. I mean he started off well enough with the cars and personal ring announcer, but once he lost those it was really hard to keep caring as his gimmick became stale and it was pretty clear that during his final WHC run that he wasn't nearly as over as anyone hoped he would be. I always thought they missed a great opportunity by not pairing him up with Vickie during his last run since he looked like he needed help getting heat and she was a heat magnet that was doing absolutely nothing at the time. That pairing could've been gold or at the very least made his last run a helluva lot more interesting.

Anyway back to the present. It does surprise me whenever news of WWE desperately looking for a top Hispanic star breaks out and then even more surprise comes when it ends up being someone that has bad history with the company. Like when the Carlito story broke out one thing that was mentioned was there are currently no Hispanics in training right now, which tells me they're not as desperate as people think they are. I mean sure it makes perfect sense for them to want one since it's big money but if they're desperate then why aren't they trying to make one themselves? I'm sure WWE has plenty of talent scouts and I find it really hard to believe that they can't find at least 1 guy worth training if the company demanded it.

If WWE really wanted a top Hispanic star their dream has to be someone young that has a long career ahead of him and that they can develop into that big star that can earn them tons of money, but instead they don't seem to trying that at all and apparently are instead going after older veterans on the wrong side of 30 with a ton of baggage? I find that rather hard to believe, especially since they actually do have a young Hispanic talent in Kalisto that's doing pretty much nothing right now. Again if they were actually desperate then Kalisto would be getting a lot more than he is, they wouldn't care if he was ready or not because that's not the sort of thing desperate people care about. But instead they're taking things slow with him and that definitely does not scream desperate to me.

TL-DR: If they really for that top Hispanic star they sure have a funny way of doing it. As for ADR himself I wouldn't be all that interested in a second run outside of a major gimmick change since they took his last one as far as it can go and then some.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The biggest issue was that Del Rio felt he was being misused and missing out on opportunity in Mexico.

Now he's been there and perhaps realised that it's not quite as rosy. The death of Perro will also have come into play, not only on his potential earnings from working him but just a "wow, this really is a short life... perhaps I was better off there..." perspective.

Del Rio made clear in interviews that he made a deal very early which meant he stopped bad-mouthing WWE. He got what he wanted, he got out of their "unfair" contract, made his appearances and extra money - spent some time with his family and now is ready to go back on better terms, he'd get more cash based on the "misunderstanding", a better push even if not to the title, he'd be used in that 2007/8 Jericho return role and I think the fans would genuinely like to see him back and the "injustice" corrected.

From WWE's point of view this is as much about Hogan as it is ADR, they had a black eye from his situation before Hogan pulled a Cena on their nose with his racism faux pas. Del Rio back in the fold, potentially with an apology on TV as part of the storyline will show WWE in a positive light. How long it all then lasts is anyone's guess... after all if they can't use Barrett, Cesaro and the like correctly, then how is ADR going to be used.

What might appeal to him most, is some kind of dual role, where he spends some time in NXT training and passing on his knowledge, alongside a more traditional ring role. He'd be especially useful in teaching MMA style working so guys look more realistic as competing with UFC becomes more apparent. It also looks like there will be some work with Evolve and a few of their guys coming through. Del Rio is a great early opponent for some of them. There is also the chance for him to work some great talents and "dream matches" now with guys like Balor, Rollins, Samoa Joe & Neville - that is likely to be appealing too. The irony is his leaving is what perhaps opened the door for some of those talents to get their break and thus the roster is now much more suited to his strengths as a major player than it was even a year ago.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

There was a report that WWE was seeking a top Hispanic star, so it would make sense for them to have interest in Del Rio.

The problem is that Del Rio became boring rather quickly as a main eventer. He's also getting older (38).

He was actually so much better in Lucha Underground, so I'm hoping he stays there for Season 2.

 

[Navi]

There was a report that WWE was seeking a top Hispanic star, so it would make sense for them to have interest in Del Rio.

The problem is that Del Rio became boring rather quickly as a main eventer. He's also getting older (38).

He was actually so much better in Lucha Underground, so I'm hoping he stays there for Season 2.

The producer for Lucha Underground stated in an interview that Del Rio would be coming back, but Del Rio denied it. It's not even clear if Lucha Underground is going to have a second season is it? I thought there were issues with TV time or something like that.

So maybe Del Rio has decided to go back to the E, where he will be guaranteed a good paycheck, TV time and maybe another run with the title. As you say he isn't getting any younger and this might be his last chance.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

The producer for Lucha Underground stated in an interview that Del Rio would be coming back, but Del Rio denied it. It's not even clear if Lucha Underground is going to have a second season is it? I thought there were issues with TV time or something like that.

So maybe Del Rio has decided to go back to the E, where he will be guaranteed a good paycheck, TV time and maybe another run with the title. As you say he isn't getting any younger and this might be his last chance.

I thought Season 2 was confirmed. Here's a link:

http://411mania.com/wrestling/lucha-underground-confirms-season-two/

WWE is probably more appealing to Del Rio. Like you said, the paycheck, TV time, and a run with either the IC or US Title would be hard to turn down. Besides, he was entertaining. He did get stale at times but not too terribly.

 

[FromGlasgow]

Ive heard of wrestlers say and do a lot worse over the years than what Del Rio did and Vince has still welcomed them back over the years so I can't see Del Rio's case being any different.
I think it would be good for both WWE and Del Rio to work together again money wise seeing as Del Rio must be making less on the indies than he was in the WWE and I imagine ratings will go up for WWE upon his return, Peronally I found him a little overrated but he was ok and I would probably go out of my way to watch RAW if I heard he was returning that night and do think WWE needs a strong heel at the moment.

 

[timothy26]

He just won the AAA mega championship from Johnny Mundo (Morrison) at the last AAA PPV, which is the company's top title. He's doing alot of work outside of Mexico too. I don't see what a WWE return would do for him

 

[Navi]

I thought Season 2 was confirmed. Here's a link:

http://411mania.com/wrestling/lucha-underground-confirms-season-two/

WWE is probably more appealing to Del Rio. Like you said, the paycheck, TV time, and a run with either the IC or US Title would be hard to turn down. Besides, he was entertaining. He did get stale at times but not too terribly.

I went on a search and found this. It's Del Rio himself saying he's uncertain for the second season. Apparently he doesn't like some of what happens there.

http://www.cagesideseats.com/2015/9...season-two-lucha-underground-disputes-reports

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I have no problem with Del Rio coming back to the WWE, but I think he'll need to be packaged as a face is they are bringing him back to keep interest from the latino fanbase. Plus, even though he's a really good heel, there was no character development from jhim during his time in WWE- it was just the same stuff over and over talking about "destiny" etc, and it was very stale.

He's very solid in the ring though, and that cross armbreaker is a brutal looking move. I love how he locks it in. I'd much rather WWE utilise him as their top mexican star, rather than bringing in the worthless Carlito.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I have no problem with Del Rio coming back to the WWE, but I think he'll need to be packaged as a face....

I totally agree with that, as his change from a face back to a heel last time came with no warning.....and seemingly no reason. One day he was good and the next he was bad. Apparently, it was done strictly to fill some storyline purpose the writers had in mind.

Still, I had really been enjoying Del Rio as a face and thought he was getting over pretty well. He and Ricardo Rodriguez were hearing cheers and ADR's technical wrestling mastery seemed to work better with fans when they had cause to root for him instead of against.

So, yes, if he came back (a huge 'if'), it should be as a face. If the Latino segment of the audience is supposed to be given a guy to root for, at least give them reason to cheer instead of boo.