Alberto Del Rio and WWE parted ways last year, and now the former WWE Champion is known as Alberto El Patron. He’s been featured as one of Impact Wrestling’s top stars throughout 2017, and at Slammiversary he unified the Impact Wrestling World Championship and the Global Force Wrestling Global Championship.
However, a few days later Alberto was suspended from Impact Wrestling, and he was later stripped of the title. The former champion recently spoke to The Orlando Sentinel about the situation, and he explained that after assessing the situation, he volunteered to give up the belt.
“When there was a talent meeting about what to do about the title, I raised my hand and said I should give it up,” said El Patron, 40. “I used to work in a place where main eventers were difficult to work with, and I didn’t want to be that person. ‘Here’s the title; give it to someone else. I’ll eventually get it back, but I lost it and I want to earn it. I’ll take responsibility for my actions.’”
Alberto has yet to win the title back, but he still plans to go full speed ahead with Impact Wrestling. However, he does have retirement on his mind.
“Alberto will continue to do this for two years, then start to think about retirement,” El Patron said. “I’m not tired of the business, or the fans, or the ring — what I don’t like is what goes on behind the curtain. When I went to Impact, I started to feel like I got my passion back. So I’ll wrestle in 2018, then maybe 2019 I’ll start to think about a farewell tour.”
