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 08th
August 2014
