Alberto Del Rio: Greatest Hits
Well this one felt rather necessary all of sudden. I wasn't going to do these kind of posts anymore except on
special occasions and I think this counts as one of them. The next one will probably be in November in honor of Eddie Guerrero.
So here are the former Mexican Aristocrat's Greatest Hits. Shouldn't take too long.
The 2011 Royal Rumble Match
The biggest Royal Rumble ever with 40 participants. Well about nine of those spaces were taken up by the Nexus and the Corre so it did need those extra spots. This seems to be a love it or hate it Rumble but it's definitely one of my favourites. It was cool seeing Punk and Bryan going out first and it was their first real altercation in the WWE. John Morrison just about stole the show with his Spiderman performance and I was kind of hoping that he would win at the time. The segment with Hornswoggle and Cena teaming up did drag on quite a bit, but it did get back on track soon enough. The returns of both Booker T and Diesel still give me goosebumps, even if Nash's return led to some bad stuff later on in the year. Santino coming back right at the end and almost eliminating Del Rio was an awesome moment and it really felt like he could have won the entire thing. Del Rio wins in one of his biggest matches ever. Great Rumble. ****
Alberto Del Rio vs Kofi Kingston
From Elimination Chamber 2011 and it's the Rumble winner vs the IC Champion. I wish they could have found someone other than a champion to feud with Del Rio before Mania but I guess I should be used to WWE jobbing out their secondary champs by now. The crowd was hot for this one which helped it a lot. A good match with some nice nearfalls towards the end. Del Rio was looking good heading into Mania. ***1/4
I'll avoid Mania 27 and Extreme Rules 2011 since they didn't really end well for Alberto.
Rey Mysterio vs Alberto Del Rio vs The Miz vs Evan Bourne vs R-Truth vs Alex Riley vs Jack Swagger vs Kofi Kingston : MITBFrom Money in the Bank 2011. This one had the difficult task of having to follow up the amazing Smackdown ladder match, but it managed to escape its shadow and deliver a great contest. I liked the start of the match with everyone bringing in a ladder to defend themselves with. I've got to admit that the Miz looked like a trooper coming back to the ring after what looked like a bad knee injury. Del Rio did seem like the most obvious guy to win it, but it has helped him into the main event scene in the next couple of years, so I'd say he was a good choice. A match with some great spots like Bourne's shooting star press off a ladder, and Del Rio taking off Mysterio's mask to win. Hell of a match. ***3/4
At Summerslam 2011, Del Rio would cash in his briefcase to take away CM Punk's newly won Undisputed WWE Championship. I won't rate it since it only lasted about five seconds and only involved one kick. Del Rio would then lose the Title three weeks later at Night of Champions to a certain Superman.
Alberto Del Rio vs John Cena vs CM Punk : Hell in a Cell
From Hell in a Cell 2011 and the WWE Title is on the line. Outside of Edge/Taker and Taker/HHH, this is probably my favourite Cell match of the PG era. I really do hate the ending though as Del Rio got his Title back two weeks after losing it. What the hell was the point of him losing it then? We were right back where we started except that Del Rio had now lost most of his momentum that he gained at Summerslam. WWE booking ladies and gentlemen. Punk took a couple of bad bumps against the Cell and one really cut his back open. I did enjoy Del Rio's strategy of locking Cena outside of the Cell. It was still good when it was just Punk and Alberto as there were some nice nearfalls between the two. Overall a great Cell match that fun to watch the whole way through. ****
Alberto Del Rio vs John Cena : Last Man Standing
From Vengeance 2011 and the WWE Title is on the line. These guys have to fight in a ring that Mark Henry and Big Show destroyed. Awesome. At least it's different and it gave the match a kind of unique feeling. There were even some spots they were able to do that couldn't be done with a normal ring like Cena throwing Alberto straight out to the barricade or Alberto using the ring post to crush Cena. The second half of the match took place backstage. Del Rio burying Cena under the backstage equipment was a cool moment and I'm surprised that Cena got up from it. This was a damn good match and quite a forgotten gem thanks to the forgettable show it was on. There were some nice memorable spots and it was just a generally entertaining match to watch. Worth checking out. ***3/4
Alberto Del Rio vs Sheamus
From Night of Champions 2012 and the World Title is on the line. And Del Rio's momentum would fall once again as he took three losses in a row on PPV to Sheamus. It didn't help that the feud was incredibly boring. At least the matches were good and they only got better as they went on and this was the best one. A great match that featured some nice work on Sheamus's arm and Sheamus sold it well. These guys also knew each other well and countered each other quite a lot so you never knew what was going to happen next. A great end to a long feud. ***3/4
Alberto Del Rio vs Randy Orton
From Hell in a Cell 2012. I have no idea why these guys were feuding. I guess neither guy had anything better to do. Del Rio would be a face soon enough anyway. This was going along well until a bad botch from Orton as he missed a dropkick while Del Rio was coming off the top rope and it did hurt the match a bit. Still it was good and these guys worked hard to keep the crowd entertained. Plus the RKO at the end looked awesome. Good effort here. ***1/4
Alberto would turn face shortly after this.
Alberto Del Rio vs The Big Show : Last Man Standing
From Smackdown on the 8th of January 2013 and the World Title is on the line. This probably should have taken place on Raw so that more people saw it and it could have been better advertised as I had no idea it was taking place at the time. Then again I never know what's happening on Smackdown. Del Rio looked like a great face here as he tried to come back from everything that Show threw at him and he prevailed in the end, winning the World Title for the first time. Show tried every move he could think of but he couldn't keep Alberto down. A great match and a great moment for Del Rio. ***1/2
Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger
From Wrestlemania XXIX and the World Title is on the line. I think Swagger was originally meant to win this one but being caught with drugs in his car probably stopped that from happening. The racial storyline did cause a bit of controversy for WWE but as usual the media was just grasping at straws. The match itself is pretty good. I did enjoy the story of the armbreaker vs the ankle lock. The crowd only seemed interested in having Ziggler cash in, but they got into it by the end. A good match that could have been better with more time. ***
Alberto Del Rio vs Dolph Ziggler
From Payback 2013 and the World Heavyweight Title is on the line. It's a shame that Del Rio couldn't really keep his heel heat after this night because he became the most hated man in the WWE after this match. I think we were all expecting a good technical match at the time, but we got so much more than that. We received the best double turn since Wrestlemania 13 and some epic storytelling. Ziggler came out looking like a guy who wouldn't go down without a fight and Del Rio looked like a beast who would do anything possible to win the Title, even if it meant injuring a man. This was something different and it was awesome. The work to Ziggler's head was sick and made him very sympathetic. A fantastic match. ****1/4
Alberto Del Rio vs Christian
From Summerslam 2013 and the World Title is on the line. Sadly this one seems destined to become a forgotten gem in the future, but I'm gonna keep it remembered here as it was a terrific match. The two main events on the same night completely overshadow this one, but on any other night this could have been the show stealing match. The match was well paced and was highly entertaining all the way through as these guys seemed very motivated and determined to have a good match. The nearfalls were well done and the arm psychology was sound. A fantastic World Title match. ****
Alberto Del Rio vs Batista
From Elimination Chamber 2014. I thought I may as well include this as it was the only thing of note that Del Rio did this year outside of being in Battle Royals and a Money in the Bank match. I'll admit that I was entertained by the booing of Batista at first, but as the match went on I kinda started feeling bad for the guy. Especially now I know that he can be a funny actor. He didn't show as much ring rust as I thought he would, so that's a plus. He even made Del Rio look pretty good here. Thankfully Bryan was added to the main event of Mania so that it wasn't a disaster. Not a bad match. **
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