Alberto del Rio Is Getting Paid

del Rio is getting that paper to work fewer dates Photo Credit: WWE.com

Alberto del Rio's return to WWE was a bit surprising, especially given the circumstances of his dismissal last year. One might think that a person who got fired for standing up to a racist bully might not want to go back to that same company, even if the provocateur wasn't there anymore. But money can rebuild a burnt bridge like nothing else, and Vince McMahon, who is reportedly desperate to get a Latino star in tow, was willing to spend that money to bring el Patron back in the fold. Dave Meltzer reported in the latest Wrestling Observer newsletter that del Rio's yearly downside guarantee is $1.45 million for limited dates.

Obviously, that seven figure number makes him one of the highest paid wrestlers in the company. I don't have salary figures in front of me, but Brock Lesnar feels like one of the only wrestlers on the roster who makes more. Maybe John Cena is in that stratosphere too, but he also works a full-time schedule and has his nose so far up McMahon's ass that he can smell what the boss eats for dinner before it comes down the esophagus. However, it's far better for that money to be in del Rio's pocket than to be distributed among the WWE's shareholders. If I were to humor the thought that del Rio is overpaid (and if he is, then Lesnar, who is reportedly paid double than ADR for far fewer dates is an outright thief), then everyone else on the roster is still vastly underpaid. Any wrestler who can go get his payday is alright by me. No war but class war, brothers.

Hopefully, the payment given to del Rio means that WWE will start to book him like a dude it's paying seven figures to. del Rio's talents were horribly misappropriated between the infamous promo where Cena took a dynamite to kayfabe on his expensive cars gimmick and his dismissal from the company. If not, then it's just another sign that WWE is slowly morphing into late-days WCW, getting small returns on big contracts in addition to expanding the flagship to three hours and unimaginative booking that gets no one over. But hey, don't ask me, I'm just a shithead on the Internet.