Alberto Del Rio released by WWE for smack talk

Heavyweight Mexican champion released 

for "unprofessional conduct" in WWE

Former multi-time WWE Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio was instantly released from his WWE contract after an incident backstage with staff.

The Mexican superstar, 37, was released for “unprofessional conduct” after an incident in which Del Rio was alleged to have slapped WWE’s Social Media Manager.

Further details were revealed when someone in WWE’s catering department had asked the Social Media Manager to “clean his plate.” The Manager responded by talking smack stating “that’s Del Rio’s job.” This news reached Alberto, who confronted the Manager regarding the issue.  The manager was said to refuse to apologise and smirked at the Mexican wrestler leading to a slap.

On the previous Monday’s Raw, Del Rio returned his aura to the ring with an exceptional match against rising star Dean Ambrose. WWE’s Twitter account directly tweeted Rio saying it was entirely his own fault.

The star has a 90 day no compete clause due to the release. TNA have already attempted to spearhead a campaign to acquire Del Rio’s services. They have been asking for his phone details and plan to make him its next World champion. Insiders claim the company are ‘very serious’ to boost Rio as its champion.

While joining TNA may be a place of interest for undervalued Del Rio, it comes with consequence. For Rio, the money and limelight may be adequate for a jump, however his reputation could be tarnished under TNA booking. This will be up to Del Rio to decide. In a time of financial strife, no-one could blame Rio for snapping up the offer. The only problem is that he will be in the not so creative hands of WWE’s minor league ‘rivals’. TNA has a stigma inside and out of its company for hiring WWE 'castoffs.'

Mexico’s AAA promotion are also likely to counter an offer, where Rio is a huge draw in the Mexican wrestling scene. Most liken him to being like the ‘John Cena’ type of Mexican promotions, where others feel he was underutilized in WWE as a main event carder.

Undoubtedly there will be more to follow.

However, on Del Rio’s part this was highly unforgivable. He cannot go around assaulting employees. Though the actions of WWE’s ‘Manager’ is also extremely unprofessional and WWE should certainly investigate or consider a job re-evaluation. Some fans have suggested borderline racism may have been at work under the Manager’s comments. Either way, neither action is professional for WWE. WWE have recently been dogged by the recent revelations to trim down staff in budget cuts linked to the expansion of the ill-fated WWE Network, which is losing money every day.    

For WWE, it was an easy decision to release Rio; however it has cost them to release the star, instead of allowing his deal to simply expire.

Recently WWE have been involved in media storms with the arrest and re-hire of Emma for theft and the Jack Swagger drug protection drama. Swagger, who was busted for a previous DUI, went on to headline a Wrestlemania card likely to win its heavyweight title. He received no repercussions for his violations.

Over the last week Del Rio’s former ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez asked for and received his WWE release.

Rio had contemplated retirement over the last couple of years in the wrestling business since with WWE.

WWE are set to present their annual SummerSlam PPV in one week’s time which could see a dip in purchases over the sketchy details.

© Max Waltham 08^th August 2014