Del Rio won the Royal Rumble and the Money in the Bank ladder match in the same year (2011) and such a feat has not been repeated again.
When Alberto Del Rio made his debut in the WWE, it was a sight to behold. A rich and obnoxious aristocrat from Mexico making his grand entry in a very expensive car. No one from the WWE universe had ever seen such a debut before. He was brought in as the next big thing, the future face of the company and initially, things looked up for the brash and outspoken Mexican. He won the Royal Rumble and the Money in the Bank ladder match in the same year (2011) and such a feat has not been repeated again. But soon, things started to go down south for the superstar as he was involved in a couple of unwanted backstage incidents. Nevertheless, Del Rio, during his time in the WWE had his fair share of rivals and in this article, we take a look at some of them.
Del Rio taking on the Big Show was a classic David vs Goliath story. Big Show was the World Champion during this time and was intent on bullying Del Rio and his personal ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez. Alberto went to great lengths to anger the giant and resorted to destroying Show’s vanity van and even drenched him with red paint. So when both men went head to head for the World title in a Last Man Standing match on SmackDown, the match was nothing short of phenomenal. Del Rio took two knockout punches and kicked out and then used his sharpness of mind and turned the announcer’s table on Big Show to score an emphatic win and have a truly organic moment with the fans who went wild.
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Del Rio’s feud with CM Punk started when the Mexican cashed in his Money in the Bank contract against the Straight Edge Superstar at SummerSlam in 2011. Alberto won the match and that infuriated Punk for obvious reasons. His reign was however short-lived as he lost the title to John Cena the following month. Two weeks later, Del Rio regained the belt by defeating Cena and Punk in a Hell in a Cell match. Then, Del Rio and Punk contested a great match that saw both competitors come close to scoring the win. Ultimately, Punk scored the win after applying the Anaconda Vise to regain his title. Even with the loss, Del Rio’s stock rose to an all-time high because of this feud.
Christian came back from an injury layoff and had his sights set on winning the World Heavyweight Championship. After weeks of looking for “one more match”, he earned a title shot against Del Rio on an episode of SmackDown. Christian had already beaten the Mexican on two separate occasions and everyone was wondering if he could do it again now that the title was on the line. The two men had a fantastic match as each used their signature moves and had near fall after near fall. Christian then hit Del Rio with a spear but hesitated to cover him due to his injured pectoral muscle. Del Rio being the wily customer that he is capitalized on the injury and locked in the armbar for the much-needed win.