Alberto Del Rio's WWE Return Has Flopped

Alberto Del Rio made his return to WWE last month, we take a look at his comeback.

On Aug. 7, 2014, Alberto Del Rio was fired from WWE after a backstage “altercation” with a WWE employee. Just over a year later he made his return to the company, as the surprise secret opponent for United States Champion John Cena.

As Cena stood in the ring as the opening match at Hell in a Cell, waiting for his opponent to be revealed out rolled Zeb Colter on his Rascal scooter. My first thought was “Oh no, here comes Jack Swagger” but that wasn’t quite what happened. Colter talked about Cena being a polarizing figure, about it being time for people from different countries coming together, about it being time for Cena to lose his belt to someone who would do more with the title than Cena ever could, then he announced “ALBERTO DEL RRRRRIIO” as the challenger. A little over 6 minutes later, following a vicious looking kick to the face, we had a new United States Champion. Forgetting the shock of Cena losing clean (he’s disappeared for a while to shoot a TV show) and Del Rio making his comeback, the whole thing has seemed a bit of a let down.

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Since winning the belt we’ve seen Colter and Del Rio christen themselves “MexAmerica” and talk about tolerance and people working together, a handful of lacklustre matches and not a lot else. When Del Rio was a WWE Superstar before his firing he was one of the most entertaining things on WWE TV, with his weekly use of expensive cars, his own personal ring announcer in Ricardo Rodriguez, the “i’m richer than you lot” gimmick and the entertaining ring work. Now we seem to have a man who is a shadow of his former self. When he was away from WWE he was one of the hottest properties on the indy circuit. Performing in AAA in Mexico, for various American promotions including ROH and House of Hardcore and Lucha Underground as well as in Japan. He was on top of his game, his matches with Johnny Mundo in Lucha Underground were brutally awesome, and looked like he was enjoying the creative freedom.

Now he comes back to WWE and finds himself alongside a man in an old person’s mobility scooter, wants to try and bring people together (but seems to be getting booed for it?!?) and looks a bit lost at times. In the ring he has looked a bit like he’s holding back a bit. We all know how good he was during his previous WWE run, this time it seems like he’s not allowed to go full on during matches. Is it a case of WWE not wanting him to look better than the men above him in the pecking order? WWE is desperate for main event level heels and Del Rio has everything needed to be one of the biggest bad guys in the company.

Del Rio is still in the WWE Title Tournament, but has little to no chance of beating the obvious favorite, Roman Reigns, in the semifinal at Survivor Series. Why not build him up as a massive heel again? Have him turn his back on the MexAmerica thing, and Colter, and bring back the flash cars and Ricardo as his announcer. Let him get on the microphone and tell the crowd how he used Colter to get back in the company and how he doesn’t need him anymore. Have him run down America, make him a despised heel who the crowd can hate and have them get behind whatever baby face he is facing. How good would he be facing Cena, the returning American hero, as the hated foreigner.

Next: Del Rio's Return Showed Importance of Surprise

In short, let Alberto Del Rio get back to what he was during his previous run, the bad-ass with all the cash who wasn’t afraid to rub it in people’s faces. The guy who people hate and who’s not scared to rub his Mexican roots in people’s faces. Oh, and can we have Ricardo Rodriguez back please? He was one of the best things about Del Rio’s act, WWE needs the pair to be reunited and start dominating!

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How Alberto Del Rio’s WWE Return Has Flopped

By Carl Gac | Nov 18, 2015