As noted before, Alberto El Patron was recently a guest on Keeping It 100 with Konnan where among other things he also talked openly about his second WWE run. Below are some more highlights from his interview:
Difference between his early pay in Indies and when he joined WWE:
“Well, of course, the first WrestleMania I was in I was like, damn, this is cool. I was always making good money in Mexico after my run in Japan, and MMA companies, but when I started in Mexico I was making $80; that was my salary because my dad didn’t want to put everything on a silver plate for me, he wanted me to work for my stuff, I’m the one going to the promoters and negotiating. My dad never went there and made it easy for me, so in the beginning I was making $80, so driving in a bus for 10 hours to go to Monterrey, and 10 hours back, and then I earned my airplane tickets and I earned more money, so I was doing good. I was also doing good in Japan, but nothing compared to that WrestleMania check.”
Why the company brought him back in 2015:
“To be honest it’s because, and this came from Triple H himself and Johnny Ace; apparently Vince [McMahon] was mad after a TV taping because he didn’t feel that the heels were being real heels. You know nowadays heels want to be cheered and be cooled, but in those days when a heel was a badass and ass-kicker, those days are gone,” he said. “Nowadays, everyone wants to be cheered and wants thousands of followers on social media. They are afraid of heat that the business can give them, so McMahon wasn’t happy, and believe it or not Triple H agreed to it, so he said, let’s do it. He mentioned how I was doing great things on the independent circuit and Lucha Underground and how I was in phenomenal shape. After a while of negotiations, I ended up going back.”
WWE calling him the night before his return and how they made him:
“They called me a night before Hell in a Cell; they called me for weeks on it, I said that they needed to pay me, and that I was doing fantastic on the independent circuit. For someone like me, who has a name in Mexico, and for the name that the WWE gave me, no matter what, WWE made me. They gave me a name and gave me an opportunity, The haters were say that I talk crap about WWE; yeah, I talk crap about the things I don’t like, but I also put the mover on things that are real. The reality is that they made me and they made me go from a national icon to an international icon, and because of that I did fantastic when I was not in the company. Long story short, they asked me if I can come back to the company the next night, I said I could, and I ended up signing a contract at 2-3 in the morning; sending everything via fax, and the next day I was there for my big comeback.”
The League Of Nations stable and how none of its members wanted to be a part of it:
“WrestleMania was around the corner, and they said that we have these guys [Barrett, Rusev, Sheamus, Del Rio] and were like, let’s put them together and do something. None of us wanted to work as a team, or be on a team. Everybody was just not happy by doing that, and we talked to the boss and ended up splitting,” he said. “You know, because they showed me the way, they opened my eyes and I was just being home one day per week, I asked myself if it was really worth it, and I said that I didn’t think so. I remembered when I was free and enjoying my family and my time, I said to myself that I was going to leave. I talked to WWE and they were like, no, just hold on, we are going to bring you back to the Champion Del Rio, the badass Del Rio, but that didn’t happen.”
You can check out some more highlights from El Patron’s appearance including him talking about his relationship with Paige here.
Quotes via WrestlingInc