Alberto Del Rio arrived in WWE to much fanfare. He had weeks of hype packages in the lead-up to his debut and on his first night in WWE, he defeated Rey Mysterio to immediately place himself at the top of the card in WWE. He quickly won the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships and consistently had great matches. And while his Mexican Aristocrat character was nothing unique, he played it well and was generally considered a good hand at the top of the card.

Then things changed.

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Updated on January 26th, 2022, by Andrew Kelly: Known as Alberto Del Rio in WWE, and later as Alberto El Patron elsewhere in the wrestling world, he as an individual has an impressive résumé in professional wrestling, winning championships all around the world in several different promotions. In WWE alone, Del Rio won several world titles, a Royal Rumble Match, the United States Championship, and Money in the Bank, though for whatever reason, he never truly connected to the audience in the way that WWE would have hoped for when he was signed, and subsequently pushed to the moon shortly after his debut. He is somebody with incredible lineage in the wrestling industry, with his father being famous luchador Dos Caras, and his uncle being the legendary Mil Mascaras, with others in his family being connected with the business too. However, all of his accomplishments, lineage, and talents within the ring have become more or less nullified by his antics outside of the ring. Del Rio has been at the center of much legal controversy, in addition to being somebody hard to work with, regularly missing booked dates for companies and getting into backstage physical altercations, and his most recent troubles and controversial activities will be highlighted at the end of this piece.

Del Rio's Relationship With Paige Seemed To Be The Catalyst

A lot of Del Rio’s misdeeds started to become public around the time of his relationship with fellow WWE superstar Paige. Del Rio was previously married to Angela Velkei, with whom he has three children, though in June 2016, Velkei filed for divorce from Del Rio due to adultery. However, Del Rio claimed the relationship ended in June 2015 and Del Rio went public with his new relationship with Paige in May 2016, a month before the divorce. Del Rio and Paige publicly got engaged at a wrestling show with Paige even getting down on one knee right in the middle of a wrestling ring.

The relationship was turbulent. While they were together, Paige was the victim of a leak of several personal videos and images, and received two WWE suspensions, the second one as a result of a Wellness Policy violation. Del Rio and Paige would be involved in a domestic dispute at Orlando International Airport which caused Del Rio to pursue criminal charges against Paige. In audio of the encounter, a person believed to be Paige says "stay out of my life" while a person believed to be Del Rio told a witness that he had been the victim of an assault. The event caused Del Rio to be suspended by Global Force Wrestling at the time, but in the end, Del Rio decided to drop the charges.

Paige would reveal during the relationship that she suffered from mental and physical abuse at the hands of Del Rio. Paige would also say she suffered from stress-induced anorexia and considered suicide as a result of the relationship. Many in Paige’s life were thankful when the relationship ended in late 2017.

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Three years after the breakup, Paige opened up about the physical and mental abuse she suffered at the hands of Del Rio. During an appearance on GAW TV, Paige would expose Del Rio, saying, “You could be trapped in a room for 6 to 7 hours, getting your ass beat every couple of minutes. And he’s doing all these crazy things to you. In the beginning, you’re fighting back with this person. But in the end, it becomes a cycle. Eventually, something is happening to you every day.”During the interview, Paige refused to even call Del Rio by his name, saying he was Voldemort to her.

Three days after Paige’s appearance on GAW TV, Del Rio spoke to TMZ Sports and denied everything. Del Rio said, "It was the other way around. I have the evidence. Not just words. I would say Raya, why? Why? Why are you doing this Raya? And, I'm not calling you Paige because you were never Paige to me, you were Raya. Why would you hurt me in a moment like this?"

Del Rio Would Later Be Charged With Sexual Assault

Del Rio was arrested on May 9, 2020 after allegedly battering and sexually assaulting his girlfriend. Del Rio is accused of tying down his girlfriend with boxing hand wraps and sexually assaulting her for several hours. Del Rio’s now ex-girlfriend has also claimed that he smashed her phone and laptop, and had attempted to burn her passport to keep her from leaving. Other allegations include Del Rio stuffing a sock in his ex-girlfriend's mouth, strangulation, and physical assault.

Del Rio was indicted on one count of aggravated kidnapping and four counts of sexual assault by a grand jury in Bexar County (Texas) District. The original report of the case is quite disturbing, and if Del Rio is convicted in the first degree, he could be facing life in prison.

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After the news came to light, Paige told GAW TV, "Karma's a real thing and you put out what you receive—and right now, he's (Del Rio) receiving it."

* Del Rio Continues To Make The News

Despite being indicted by a jury for battery and sexual assault, all legal charges towards Del Rio were dropped on the 10th December 2021. Beforehand, the date of his trial had been delayed numerous times through complications, and never came to fruition, with everything being disregarded in the end. Following this, it seemed as though Del Rio would refocus himself on the professional wrestling world, by aiming to make a return to in-ring action, something which he has now done, competing in independent Mexican promotions.

If Del Rio were smart, he would have kept a low profile and set his mind solely on wrestling, but as made evident several times during the last few years, he couldn’t help but open his mouth. Despite claiming that he was leaving his previous troubles in the past, he claimed that he had damning footage that would ensure that Paige would lose her job, so in order for that not to happen, she would have to not talk about him. These threats came so soon after charges for his trial were dropped, which seems incredibly foolish to do, stepping right back into controversy. In addition, like he has done several times with WWE, Del Rio has also recently claimed that he has had talks with people in power at AEW. It remains to be seen what he will do next, but whatever it is will likely carry controversy with it.