WWE News: Alberto Del Rio Assaulted By Fan In Puerto Rico [Video]

Current WWE United States champion Alberto Del Rio was assaulted by a fan at a World Wrestling Council show in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, last night. He was fulfilling his prior commitments before he re-signed with the WWE last month.

Here is the video of the assault.

Del Rio was competing against Ray Gonzalez at WWC’s Lockout event at the Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum. As seen in the video above, as Del Rio exited the ring, a fan starting physically assaulting Del Rio from behind the barricade as Del Rio tried defending himself. Security was able to subdue the attacker and escort him out of the arena.

Per Wrestling Inc., the match continued as planned. It finished in a disqualification after Gonzalez’s Figure-Four Leglock was broken up by El Hijo de Dos Caras, f.k.a. Memo Montenegro. Some WWE fans may remember Montenegro, as he was in the WWE developmental system recently. He’s Alberto Del Rio’s younger brother.

It’s unfortunate when any professional wrestler is assaulted by a fan at an event, but it will likely be even more alarming to the WWE as Del Rio is a contracted performer and a key part of the WWE’s television programming. In recent contract negotiations with the likes of Samoa Joe and Del Rio, the WWE has been willing to allow performers to finish their prior commitments before joining WWE full-time. But after this incident, it’s possible that the company changes its stance on that.

But fans getting physically involved with the wrestlers has also been an issue with the WWE in recent months. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, former WWE World Heavyweight champion Roman Reigns was assaulted by a fan at a live event in July. A fan threw a replica Money in the Bank briefcase at Reigns’ head, striking the former Shield member in the side of the temple. The fan was prosecuted and banned from attending any future WWE events as a result.

In late August, Dean Ambrose was interacting with fans after a taping of WWE SmackDown concluded. That’s when a fan jumped the barricade and reportedly tried to stab Ambrose, per Wrestling Inc. Fans alleged that the culprit had a knife on him, but that was never confirmed. However, in the months since that incident, WWE has encountered two more instances of fans jumping the barricade and getting far too close to the action.

On the September 7 edition of WWE Monday Night RAW, WWE World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins was making his way to the ring when a fan hopped the barricade and walked alongside Rollins (via Uproxx). The fan did not touch Rollins and nobody was hurt, but security was late in getting to the jumper.

Then, just a few weeks later at the WWE Night of Champions pay-per-view on September 20, a fan entered the ring just before the start of the Wyatt Family versus Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Chris Jericho six-man tag team match, via Wrestlezone. The fan entered the ring and stood next to Ambrose and Reigns just for a few seconds, just before security subdued him and escorted him out of the building. Once again, luckily, nobody was hurt in the ordeal, and the fan did not seem to be malicious.

Fans should never get physically involved with the wrestlers they paid money to come watch. They put themselves, and the wrestlers, in danger that can simply be avoided by remaining their seats. Since a recent ISIS threat to WWE, the company has ramped up security at all of its live events and fans of not just WWE, but WWC and every other wrestling federation should be aware of the trouble they face if they choose to get involved.

[Photo by Valerie Macon/Getty Images]