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Right off the bat, this won’t be an over-analysis of how Alberto Del Rio has been one of the blandest and worst World Heavyweight champions of all time.
Alberto Del Rio arrives to the WWE SummerSlam Press Conference at Beverly Hills Hotel on August 13, 2013 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Keipher McKennie/WireImage)
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Dos Caras Jr (that was his name while wrestling in Mexico) was one of Mexico’s biggest superstars. Along with a handful of luchadores, Dos Caras made huge waves in the world of professional wrestling.
I was always a fan of Lucha Libre wrestling. I’ve followed almost every type of wrestling there is, and I was always impressed with Dos Caras before he came to the WWE. As a matter of fact, when WWE signed him, I was one of the happiest guys, believing I could see the Mexican heritage in the WWE. And when Vince and the “corporate think – tanks” (there’s your oxymoron for the day) decided to remove his mask and make him a JBL-esque character, I was still supportive of the new Alberto Del Rio. I quite liked the character, as it was the flipside of JBL’s “alien hating” gimmick. Instead of an American hating on the immigrants, we had the opposite, and that was something unique.
Sadly, that’s all I have to say about Alberto Del Rio. When he won the WWE Championship for the first time, I was happy for the guy. Although I didn’t approve of the “Kill Punk’s momentum at SummerSlam” angle two years ago, it came off as a genuinely happy moment for Del Rio. What works somewhere else doesn’t work in the WWE. The prime example for that are the Japanese and Mexican wrestlers not making it big in the organization, and a similar thing happened with Del Rio.
For me, Del Rio can never become what the “American fans” want in a heel or a face. Dos Caras was a unique character, but Alberto Del Rio isn’t. In fact, I find ADR monotonous and boring, and after his initial run as the WWE Champion failed, I realized that he wasn’t, and will never be, a top guy in the WWE no matter how hard WWE tries to push him down the throats of the fans. Alberto Del Rio will be one of the main-eventers in the WWE for a long time to come, not because he’s entertaining, but because he caters to the vast Hispanic fan base of the WWE.
Now, let me go back to my initial point about me not liking Del Rio. Sure, he’s one of the best workers in the WWE. As a guy who earned the respect of the fans in Mexico while performing in AAA and CMLL, he has to be a solid performer, and I don’t deny that. What peeves me off about Del Rio is his unidimensional persona, which he never seems to work on, and his attributes as a performer. This past week on RAW, ADR took on Sin Cara, and within 30 seconds of the match, Sin Cara gave his critics yet another excuse to ridicule him when he got injured after a suicide dive on the outside.
Sin Cara
Sin Cara is probably one of the clumsiest performers in the WWE. Like Del Rio, I was a huge fan of Cara when he performed in Mexico. Cara and Del Rio are pretty similar when it comes to their popularity and fan base in Mexico and them not clicking in the WWE. But Cara has faced the unpleasantness and the misfortune of getting injured way too often. With the fans calling him names such as “Botch Cara”, it was evident that he wasn’t able to adapt to the “WWE style” of wrestling like Del Rio did. As Mistico, he was the biggest draw for CMLL, even surpassing Del Rio! These are the credentials of a performer who is immensely talented, but just didn’t get over in the WWE, much like Ultimo Dragon.
Now, after he got injured, Del Rio lost his temper and started attacking an injured Sin Cara. I don’t care how upset Del Rio was, but as per pro wrestling protocol, you do not attack a performer when he is injured and being tended to. As per WWE’s announcement, it could have been worse for Cara had he continued the bout.
But Del Rio carelessly threw Sin Cara inside the ring and landed a couple of stiff kicks. Del Rio isn’t a “major draw” in the WWE by any means, and he isn’t an interesting character, at least for me. But if getting into a fight just before SummerSlam isn’t enough to earn him a slap on the wrist by the WWE management, this incident has to force the management to punish him in one way or the other.
When you’re risking the safety of a performer, that is when you have to be thrown into the dog house, no matter how talented or over you are. Del Rio the performer is someone I like, but the character and person isn’t someone worthy of being the world champion, at least in my books.
