Alberto Del Rio is currently a top heel in the WWE. But I’ll be damned if I can figure out why. He has some charisma, there’s no real denying that, but he has yet to have a decent gimmick in the WWE that hasn’t made him hated for all the wrong reasons. His Mexican Aristocrat image just didn’t come off right. He was supposed to be the smug, arrogant heel, but many couldn’t even stand listening to him. He just didn’t seem to sell the image properly, just always talking about his “Destiny” to be the World Heavyweight Champion.

He had the look down, and he does have some in-ring ability. But in-ring ability alone doesn’t sell a gimmick. His mic work was flawed, at best, and it seemed that WWE Creative didn’t have any idea what to do with him. He was stuck in a pointless, meandering feud with Sheamus that lasted way longer than it should have (eight months). It seemed that WWE Creative had no idea what to do with Sheamus, either.

After a mercifully brief two month feud with Randy Orton in which he was still a heel, consistently talking about how he was the new “ah-pecks preeehdahtor” Del Rio turned face at Tables, Ladders, and Chairs on December 16^th, saving his Personal Ring Announcer Ricardo Rodriguez and the Spanish announce team Carlos Cabrera and Marcelo Rodriguez from 3MB. Embracing the face image, he and Rodriguez made a surprisingly more palatable pairing, and I could even stand hearing Rodriguez announce Del Rio’s presence. He also finally gave up honking his horn idiotically while driving up in the expensive vehicles that WWE provided for him, eschewing the Mexican Aristocrat image for his more Man of the People image.

Following that incident were a few non-factor matches, and then a depressingly awful feud with Jack Swagger which mercifully ended in only four months. That was the last we would see of a face Del Rio, the turn would only last six months.

As far as I’m concerned, the highlight of Del Rio’s WWE career came at Payback on June 16^th. During his match with the always underrated Dolph Ziggler, Del Rio and Ziggler made an astonishing double turn (Del Rio went heel, Ziggler heading face). Del Rio repeatedly and uncomprimisingly attacked Ziggler’s head after a recent concussion, showing his “ruthlessness” to defeat Ziggler and regain the World Heavyweight Championship.

After entering a feud with a returning Christian, Del Rio would sever ties with his long-time “friend” Ricardo Rodriguez in a vicious attack after a non-title loss to Christian. This came on the heels of Rodriguez returning from a wellness policy violation, putting the just returning Rodriguez back on the bench in July.

Rodriguez would return in August, and join up with a very over Rob Van Dam to feud with Del Rio, which brings us to the present.

Del Rio has so far failed to impress (at least me) with any feud he’s been in, and seems to have shaken the only real tie that made him tolerable (Rodriguez). As both heel and face, he’s been completely directionless, not having any meaningful feuds, and failing to put other wrestlers over when in losses.

The problem here is finding another Latin wrestler (or wrestlers) who can better put over for that demographic.

Currently the WWE has several Latino wrestlers on their roster: Camacho, who frankly, I’ve forgotten the WWE even has on the roster and suffers from usage of a stereotypical “macho latino” gimmick. Hunico, whom I’ve forgotten about as well unfortunately and suffers from the same gimmick as Camacho. Epico and Primo, who are set to debut as the doomed-to-fail gimmick of Los Luchadores. And the unfortunate Sin Cara, who has failed to get over on every level, and botched his works completely.

Slim pickings.

There are options out there. Carlito, for example, is still working the independent circuit. Though he would be difficult to put over after his stint in the WWE failed a bit. He was upper mid-card, but that was on his best day. Super Crazy is getting up there in years, at 39, he seems to be a bit too old to make a go of it, though we’ve seen a lot of production out of older wrestlers recently. Chris Jericho and RVD come to mind, both in their 40s. Juventud Guerrera is also an option, though his age is also a factor. Though, honestly, I wouldn’t mind seeing a reuniting of the Mexi-Cools.

My point is that there are other options out there than a tarnished star of Alberto Del Rio. He’s not the worst superstar to ever step into a WWE ring, but he’s certainly not the best.

At least he’s not talking about his “destiny” anymore.