TNA News: Details On Why Alberto Del Rio Signed With Lucha Underground Over TNA Wrestling
Former WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio, now going by the name Alberto El Patron, has been a hot free agent since he was released from WWE. He is now the AAA World Champion and has been courted by both TNA Wrestling and Lucha Underground in recent months. As the Inquisitr previously reported, El Patron is now with Lucha Underground.
He turned down an offer to go back to WWE a little while back, and since then TNA Wrestling has been after him. Word came out of TNA that they were willing to pay top dollar for him and would make him the TNA World Champion almost immediately upon him signing. They offered him $400,000 for a limited schedule, according to the Wrestling Observer.
So why did he end up signing with Lucha Underground? Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer claimed the following in the WON forum regarding El Patron going to Lucha.
“It says more about the perception in the industry that TNA is a career killer.”
While some have been helped by TNA such as Ethan Carter, III, many former WWE Superstars have not improved in their career with TNA. Now that TNA has less eyeballs on it than before, there are a lot of other issues that exist. Additionally, TNA has had issues connecting to a larger crowd, even when they had the potential to grow with Spike TV. Lucha Underground could use El Patron far better than TNA in many eyes. Plus, they seem like the cool kid next door that just came to down.
Lucha Underground is mysterious. We don’t know how far it can go, but it is new and exciting. They are doing a lot of unique things and their shows are usually fun to watch. They bring in a cinematic feel with a lucha-libre wrestling style that manages to work great for the American audience as much as the Hispanic.
Additionally, El Rey Network is available in almost as many homes as TNA’s new home of Destination America. DA does have the added benefit of being owned by Discovery Communications, however. Meanwhile, El Rey is a new channel that does not have a lot of veteran network help. However, they do have people behind it in Robert Rodriquez and Mark Burnett, that are known for their movie and TV experience. Lucha Underground being backed by them is also helpful and it shows with their product.
Alberto El Patron may also end up signing with Bellator MMA along with Lucha Underground. While his deal with Lucha is a good bit less than what TNA offered him, he does get to connect with his Hispanic roots a lot more with Lucha over TNA. So, the signing makes a lot of sense.
[IMG Credit: mediotiempo.com]
