With Alberto Del Rio reportedly on the way out of WWE once again, more details are emerging about his most recent run with the company. Prior to his return with Zeb Colter back in October, Del Rio was reportedly supposed to return with Paul Heyman by his side instead.
According to Dace Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE originally had big plans for Del Rio's return. The company had reportedly promised him a main event push with Paul Heyman has his manager. Early on in his return, he was so close with Vince McMahon that they would fly together and sit next to each other on the company jet.
Pairing Del Rio with Colter instead of Heyman was an idea from McMahon himself, and it ended up not working out as well as they had hoped.
"When that pairing didn't work, McMahon moved on to his next toy, so to speak," Meltzer wrote. "His next run as part of the League of Nations was no better and he was just a guy on the card, even though he had a top main eventer contract."
Del Rio was first joined the company in 2010, then was released in August of 2014 for slapping an employee who made a racist joke about him. Del Rio went on to work for AAA, Lucha Underground, and ROH, before turning to WWE at Hell In A Cell in October of 2015.