Alberto El Patron (formerly Alberto Del Rio) is a hot commodity now that he is free and clear from WWE. Our friends at SuperLuchas sent word that he is likely not going to sign with Lucha Underground at this time and it’s very possible that he will never go back there again. Alberto is asking for $4,000 per appearance and he is not looking to sign a full-time commitment. Lucha Underground’s contract would require him to wrestle exclusively for them and AAA. If he does go to Lucha Underground then they would have to make an exception for him that they have not made for other talents.
We are also told that while TNA does want him, they are not going to make a major effort to get him because of their financial situation. As we noted on Saturday, TNA needs money for their next TV tapings and Billy Corgan is hoping to buy the company but it’s a very complicated situation with different people owning shares of the company. According to Dave Meltzer, Dixie Carter is no longer running day-to-day operations but it is believed that she has 70% of company shares and she wants at least $4 million for her stock in the company.
We are also told that he has had talks with CMLL and Lucha Libre Elite in Mexico. The feeling is that he will likely not work for CMLL but his brother works for LLE so it’s possible that he’ll work some shows there. There is no interest in him from ROH because of his asking price and Alberto’s favorite opponent, Roderick Strong, is on his way to WWE.
Lastly, he has an offer to fight for Rizin. They are the Japanese promotion that launched last year and the idea would be for him to fight on New Year’s Eve. As of this writing, no deal has been reached. It seems unlikely that he’ll fight, especially at his age, but there is no commission in Japan and they could give him an easy opponent with a nice payday in exchange for the extra eyeballs that he’ll bring in.
For more on Alberto Del Rio and for more on this story, please visit SuperLuchas.com.