PWP Nation’s Matthew Burgess outlines the failed and anticlimactic return of Alberto Del Rio in WWE so far.
Alberto Del Rio’s loss to Kalisto on Monday Night Raw marked the end of his first reign as United States Champion. Lackluster from beginning to end, Del Rio’s reign was more a representation of WWE’s failure to capitalize on the return a legitimate main eventer than the wrongdoing of ‘Mexico’s Greatest Export’. Looking back at his near three month reign, it was not hard to see where it went so wrong.
Fresh off great runs in both Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) and Lucha Underground, a returning Del Rio was exactly what WWE needed. Being an AAA Mega Champion, Royal Rumble winner, and a four time world champion in WWE; he was the ideal candidate to dethrone John Cena at Hell in a Cell.
But Del Rio’s run as US champion was destined for failure following his pairing with Zeb Colter, and the nation of ‘MexAmerica’. A truly idiotic gimmick that made a lethal grappler with world championship credentials look like an absolute joke. Furthermore, failing to explain how Colter’s change of character occurred not only made for an awful storyline, but has severely damaged his character; to the extent where I cannot see a viable storyline for him in the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless, with Cena leaving immediately after dropping the title, and a shortage of worthy contenders, Del Rio and the US Championship was going nowhere. What’s more, thanks to weeks of aimless rants about haters, focus was being taken away from the US Championship. Furthermore, the unfortunate injury to Seth Rollins and Del Rio’s run in the subsequent WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament did nothing to help this situation.
Of course, Del Rio had to be a part of the tournament, and his US Championship was always going to play second fiddle, but his title was completely looked over for nearly a whole month, and came out with nothing to show for it.
As a result, he was thrown into a predictable feud with Colter’s former protege Jack Swagger, which was hardly anything to get excited about. Perhaps the only positive to come out of this feud was Del Rio’s dismissal of Colter, and the end of ‘MexAmerica’; but that was only substituted for a place in the newly founded ‘League of Nations’, along with Bad News Barrett, Rusev and Sheamus. The problem is that Del Rio is far from the focal point of the faction. He is simply an afterthought, and not only is it hurting his momentum, but it is hurting the United States Championship.
However, with the championship going into free fall, WWE had an ace up its sleeve. John Cena, the man who embodies everything the US title stands for, returned to WWE to reignite his feud with Del Rio. The pair, with the help of the League of Nations, Roman Reigns and Vince McMahon, put on a very entertaining main event on the December 28 edition of Raw, which not only shifted attention back to the US Championship, but looked to be the beginning of a great rivalry. However, in little over a week, what could have been the perfect feud for the title came to an abrupt end after news broke that John Cena would be out for six to nine months with a shoulder injury.
Despite his injury, Cena was used to kickstart a new feud for the title, which has already seen the championship change hands twice in the space of a week. An Alberto Del Rio/Kalisto rivalry has so far been very entertaining, and is one that I am very much looking forward to. It is a simple storyline, a determined underdog going up against a dominant champion, that if done well can achieve great results.
Furthermore, with Reigns being forced to defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the Royal Rumble match, this is the perfect opportunity for the US title to have a great rivalry, and to put on a match that could steal the show at the Royal Rumble. But perhaps what is even more important here, is that WWE needs to show it can make the championship relevant when it is not around the waist of John Cena.
Even though WWE has failed to capitalize on the return of Alberto Del Rio, I still believe he is the perfect man to hold the championship. However, it will require some serious work. Becoming more of the focal point within The League of Nations would be a good start, but with WrestleMania just around the corner, the pressure is certainly on.
Thanks for reading, everyone!
Nice article, I feel that Del Rio has the talent and ability but for whatever reason within WWE he feels limited and withdrawn. I do not necessarily fault ADR for those short-comings but rather WWE staff who watch “paper trends” (Lucha Underground fans and mainstream media attention) and react to them without doing any research as to why someone/thing has become popular. All in all its another creative “boo-boo” in the lap of the writing team among many others and ADR is now forced back into the spot reminiscent of his previous last days within the company.