WrestleMania 28: Why Alberto Del Rio May Not Compete at the PPV

If you ask Alberto Del Rio, he’ll tell you that he’s not going to be competing at WrestleMania 28. 

When making the media rounds for the WWE in Puerto Rico over the weekend, the former WWE Champ revealed that he had recently been informed that he was no longer going to be competing for John Laurinaitis’ team at Mania as was originally planned. 

News that ADR likely wasn’t going to be wrestling at WrestleMania spread quickly, and it’s resulted in a lot of speculation about why he’s not on the card. No worries—I have the answer to your question. 

From F4Wonline.com (via WrestleNewz.com): 

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When asked why Alberto Del Rio may be kept off WrestleMania 28, a source with knowledge reported that it was likely due to Del Rio not being 100% ready to return. Reports from the weekend live event in Puerto Rico where Del Rio teamed with Ricardo Rodriguez noted that Del Rio performed well in the ring. 

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What makes this interesting is that Del Rio seemed to look just fine in the ring over the weekend, which naturally will lead some fans to think that there’s more to Del Rio not competing at WrestleMania than meets the eye. 

But count me among those who believe that Del Rio is indeed missing the biggest pay-per-view of the year simply because he’s still not 100 percent. 

I mean, there’s no real reason to risk ADR re-injuring himself just so he can participate in a 12-man tag team that not many people seem to care all that much about. While it obviously would suck for Del Rio to miss WrestleMania and the big pay day that comes along with it, it would be even worse if he returned too early and got himself injured again. 

I don’t think Del Rio is in the doghouse or going anywhere anytime soon. He’s still a big part of the WWE’s future, and I think that the WWE doesn’t want to see ADR get re-injured when the company has already dealt with a rash of serious injuries over the last year. 

Wade Barrett, Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio are all still sitting on the sidelines, while Christian, Mark Henry and Randy Orton have dealt with some major injuries recently as well. 

Does the WWE really want to risk having Del Rio out for an extended period just so he can wrestle for a couple of minutes at WrestleMania? 

I sure don’t think so.

Note: As part of the new WWE blog, I'll be asking all of the B/R wrestling readers for questions for a new mailbag that I will post on Fridays. It will be a slideshow featuring 10-20 questions and answers on a wide range of topics. You can submit questions either through Formspring or Twitter, and the best ones will be answered in the B/R mailbag.