10 Wrestlers That Vince McMahon Hasn't Forgiven
8. Alberto Del Rio
The former Dos Caras Jr, scion of a legendary family that includes Dos Caras and Mil Máscaras, José Alberto Rodríguez was the first Mexican-born WWE Champion in the company’s history, also listing Royal Rumble and Money In The Bank wins on his resume. You can’t say that the WWE didn’t give him a fair crack of the whip.
But Rodríguez isn’t a company man. Pride runs strong in him, as does pride’s toxic twin, ego. Add to that a vicious temper, and you’ve got a powder keg waiting for a spark.
That spark flared in August 2014, when Alberto Del Rio was fired from the company for supposedly ‘unprofessional conduct’ (he slapped a WWE office drone for making a racist joke). However, in October 2015 Alberto Del Rio was back, defeating John Cena to win the United States Championship.
It lasted less than a year. Unusually, Rodríguez had insisted on an opt-out clause in his new contract should he be unhappy with his spot. Following his first suspension under the company’s Wellness policy, Rodríguez exercised that option, believing promises had been broken.
Since his release, his reputation has been tarnished further by incident after incident, slating WWE in interviews and no-showing events, not to mention a highly-publicised, weirdly toxic relationship with much younger WWE superstar Paige that ended poorly.
Controversial in the wrong way, unpopular with WWE staff and executives, uncontrollable and just too damned volatile, it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever see Alberto Del Rio in a WWE ring again.