On Thursday, August 7 2014, WWE released four time World Champion Alberto Del Rio "due to unprofessional conduct and an altercation with an employee." The news rocked the entire wrestling business, as did the follow-up tweets posted on WWE's official twitter page the next day. First, they posted that Del Rio "is responsible for his own actions. If you're angry at anyone, be angry at Alberto." Then, immediately following the first tweet, added: "There's no excuse for a pro athlete to not conduct themselves in a professional manner." It's difficult to separate rumour from fact regarding Del Rio's firing, as nobody directly involved in the incident seems particularly keen to speak up. The latest mumblings from "inside sources" claim that Alberto Del Rio slapped a fellow WWE employee (who worked in the social media department) after they refused to apologise for making a joke that Del Rio considered racist. None of these claims have been confirmed or even acknowledged by the WWE in any capacity, and as such should be taking with a pinch of salt. It's hard to make a judgement on whether Del Rio should or should not have lost his job as nobody really knows all the facts. Though it seems, based on what little information there is out there, that the WWE could have found a way to keep him in the company had they really wanted to. As it happens, they didn't. Here's why...
Michael Palmer is a contributor at whatculture.com and thelineofbestfit.com, and he probably likes WWE slightly more than most people would call "healthy".
