Childhood & Early Life
Alberto Del Rio was born on May 25th, 1977 as José Alberto Rodriguez in San Luis Potosí. His father Dos Caras is a well-known luchador in Mexico, while his uncles Mil Máscaras and Sicodelico are professional wrestlers as well.
He also has a younger brother, Guillermo, who signed a contract with the ‘WWE’ in August 2012 under the ring name Memo Montenegro for ‘WWE NXT’ promotions. His wrestling family also includes cousins Sicodelico Jr. and Hijo de Sicodelico who are also professional wrestlers.
Alberto earned a degree in architecture from ‘Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí’. As a young wrestler, he took up ‘Greco-Roman Wrestling’, where he trained under Leonel Kolesni and Juan Fernández.
Earning a place on the National team for ‘Greco-Roman Wrestling’, he won several championships, and was placed third at the ‘World Junior Championships’ in the Czech Republic.He competed for various championships including the ‘Central American and Caribbean Games’ which he won three times in his weight division.
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Career
As Alberto Del Rio could not compete at the ‘2000 Olympic Games’ due to lack of funding, he turned to his family business and trained with his father to become a professional wrestler. He made his first appearance on May 9, 2000, where he started wrestling under the name Dos Caras Jr. in ’Asistencia Asesoriay Administración’ (AAA).
Del Rio worked in both Mexico and Japan, wherein he gained significant experience working with the ‘AAA’. He teamed up with professional wrestlers, El Gronda and El Hijo Del Solitario, and defeated Pirata Morgan, Sangre Chicana, and El Brazo.
He became a prominent wrestler in Japan after he defeated Kazunari Murakami at the ‘YUKI-BM-BA-YE’ tournament. He wrestled for Pro Wrestling ‘Zero1’ throughout 2002 and 2003, and also for ‘All Japan Pro Wrestling’ (AJPW). He continued to wrestle under ring names Dos Caras Jr. and Hustle Kamen Gold until October 2004.
In 2005, he signed a contract with ‘Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre’ (CMLL) where he earned matches for both ‘CMLL World Heavyweight Championship’ and ‘CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship.
In the following year, Del Rio entered the La Copa Junior tournament and defeated Dr. Wagner Jr. He was given a chance to challenge Universo 2000 for the ‘CMLL World Heavy Weight’ title. After numerous failed attempts he won the title on July 8, 2007.
After signing a contract with ‘World Wrestling Entertainment’ (WWE), he initially appeared as a villain, but also held his title as a ‘CMLL World Heavy Weight Champion’. It was proposed that Del Rio be offered a contract from WWE to fight a dark match.
He lost his title to Ultimo Guerrero, and appeared as a surprise participant for the Royal Rumble in 2009. But he was stayed with CMLL as they offered him a better deal.
Del Rio signed a three-year contract with ‘WWE’ in 2009, wherein he retained the rights to his mask, image, and name. He wrestled under the names Dorado and El Dorado, as well as Alberto Banderas, under which name he wrestled without a mask on the ‘Abraham Washington show’.
In April 2010, he wrestled as Dos Caras at ‘Wrestle Mania’ where he fought an unmasked battle with Christian and lost it. On August 20th, he made a television debut on ‘SmackDown’, where he defeated Rey Mysterio.
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On November 26th, Del Rio defeated the Big Show to qualify for the ‘King’ tournament in 2010. At the ‘Tables, Ladders, and Chairs’ match, Del Rio was in a four-way match with Kane, Edge, and Ray Mysterio. Edge won the ‘TLC’ match.
Alberto Del Rio won the ‘Royal Rumble’ on January 30th, 2011 wherein he defeated 39 wrestlers, with the last to be eliminated being Santino Marella. He earned the right to compete for the ‘World Heavy Weight Championship’ at ‘WrestleMania XVII’.
He was defeated by Edge at ‘WrestleMania XXVII’, and lost his shot at the ‘World Heavyweight Championship’. Del Rio defeated Christian to get a match against Edge, but with the exit of Edge on April 11, 2011, he was forced to wrestle Christian for the ‘World Heavy Weight Championship’.
Del Rio lost the ‘WWE’ championship to Punk on November 20 at the ‘Survivor Series’; he received a rematch with Punk on ‘RAW’ for the same championship on November 28, but was again defeated by him.
He defeated the reigning World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus at ‘RAW’ on April 02, 2012 in a non-title match. He became the audience favorite for the first time on ‘TLC’, when he saved Ricardo Rodriguez and the announcers from Drew McIntyre, Heath Slater, and Jinder Mahal.
Del Rio was awarded a match with the Big Show in the absence of Ricardo Rodriguez; this fight ended as a no contest as Sheamus attacked the Big Show. On 31st December, a rematch was scheduled between the Big Show and Ricardo Rodriguez, this match ended in a disqualification as Del Rio attacked the Big Show from behind.
Due to Ziggler’s injury, Alberto Del Rio was booked to face Jack Swagger in an ‘I quit’ match which Del Rio won. On July 14, 2013 he defeated Ziggler at a ‘Money in the Bank’ match via disqualification.
He defended his World Heavyweight Championship against Christian at ‘Summer Slam’, but was defeated by John Cena at the ‘pay-per-view’ match. He also lost the rematch to Cena at the ‘Survivor Series’ on November 24.
Alberto Del Rio defeated Rey Mysterio at ‘RAW’ on January 13, 2014. At a rematch between Del Rio and Rey Mysterio, Batista attacked Del Rio with a Batista Bomb.
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After Del Rio lost the ‘WWE World Heavyweight Championship’ to Cena, and the ‘United States Championship’ to Sheamus, and also lost other championships, the WWE management had to fire him on August 07, 2014.
He returned to AAA in 2014, where he stayed till 2015 and challenged many wrestlers like Ricardo Rodriguez with his dream team consisting of Myzteziz and Rey Mysterio Jr.
He made a surprise comeback to WWE at the ‘Hell in a Cell’ match held on October 25, 2015. He defeated John Cena and won the ‘WWE United States Championship’, but he again lost it to Kalisto on January 14 at the ‘Royal Rumble’.
Del Rio was defeated by John Cena on August 16, at SmackDown, this was his last appearance at ‘WWE’. He started wrestling on independent circuits from 2016 with the name of Alberto El Patrón.
He made numerous appearances for the ‘What Culture Pro Wrestling’ (WCPW) promotions with various wrestlers like Big Damo. Alberto returned to ‘World Wrestling Council’ (WWC) on October 15, 2016 and fought Ray Gonzalez in a ‘Jaula de la Muerte’ match.He was named the President of ‘MMA’ promotion round the same time.
