WWE Money in the Bank Results: Where Does Alberto Del Rio Go from Here?

At last night's Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Alberto Del Rio tried his best, but ultimately failed to defeat Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship. That was never really in question.

The actual question is this: where does Del Rio go from here?

The WWE has been doing their little song and dance with Del Rio as No.1 contender to the World Title for a while now, and they have relatively little to show for it.

First, Del Rio was going to face Sheamus one-on-one for the title at Over the Limit, but then Randy Orton and Chris Jericho get shoehorned in there. Next, Del Rio was set to face Sheamus one-on-one (again) at No Way Out, but wouldn't you know it—Del Rio has a concussion and can't compete. Finally, at last night's PPV, Del Rio got his long-awaited one-on-one match with Sheamus, but lost.

Del Rio's career is at a crossroads at this point, as all of the delays to his title shot made his feud with Sheamus seem ineffectual (there wasn't enough real build-up due to all the breaks,) especially since Dolph Ziggler used Del Rio's absence at No Way Out to make a name for himself.

Now, as we know, Ziggler holds the Money in the Bank Briefcase, so ostensibly the title is his to claim more than anyone on the Smackdown roster.

Where does this leave Del Rio? I don't know, exactly. One option is that he could continue to try and challenge Sheamus for the belt, but the fact that Del Rio has failed repeatedly in his quest to win the title does not make him a logical challenger at this point; in recent years, only Batista has seemed to have unlocked the coveted "unlimited title shots enabled" cheat code, as it were, and guys who fail multiple times at winning the title tend to disappear into the background for a while.

Plus, even if Del Rio did manage to weasel his way back into the title picture, the specter of Ziggler's MITB briefcase looms large over every title match.

Another option, one that I find the most likely at this point, is for Del Rio to spend a few weeks venting his frustration over losing the title match by attacking anyone and everyone in sight, further establishing him as the ruthless sociopath that WWE wants him to be. For one, this makes him seem like more a credible main event player; secondly, and perhaps more importantly, this would provide WWE with a strong heel to put into a feud with Randy Orton when he returns at the end of the month.

I think that Del Rio-Orton would be a good feud for a couple of months, as both guys work a similar style and both guys are in need of a feud that could re-establish them as big-time players.

A final option that I can think of is for Del Rio to move to the midcard for a while, maybe win the Intercontinental Title or U.S. Title (I'd rather it be the U.S. Title, honestly), and build himself back up into a main eventer after a few months. Another added benefit to a brief tour in the midcard for Del Rio is that he could feud with an up-and-coming babyface, to whom ADR could drop the belt and thereby create a new potential player in the stale midcard scene (one who could ultimately rise to the main event); a guy to consider for this position could be someone like Ryback, who could definitely use a win over a credible performer.

All in all, I don't think Alberto Del Rio's time is up, necessarily; WWE is supposedly still high on him and wants to give him a push in the coming months, but as of right now his character has pretty much run its course as is. He needs some kind of overhaul or a new and interesting feud to freshen him up some; otherwise, Del Rio is facing a long and steady decline that he (given his current attitude issues backstage) might not come back from.

As noted, as far as the love triangle storyline goes, nothing was cleared up or settled: AJ remains as confused as ever, and WWE will undoubtedly continue to drag this out for as long as they possibly can. The WWE Diva probably will make a decision at some point—and may even choose Bryan—but that looks to be some time away. 

This may be good for Bryan. While the AJ storyline is far from perfect, it help keeps the former ROH star in the spotlight, and gives him a big role on TV.  

Interestingly, one of the most pleasant surprises of Bryan's WWE run is just how talented an actor he has turned out to be.

Indeed, he has also been one of the standout performers of angle (AJ being the other one). While some wrestlers may have looked down their nose at the cheesy material, Bryan enthusiastically embraces his role as a sleazy, two-faced ex-lover who only wants to use AJ to benefit his floundering career. He has performed well, and the angle is the better for it. 

Ultimately, though, Bryan is going to have to beat Punk at some point for the title. With or without AJ's help.

He's lost too many times to Punk now on pay-per-view, and simply has to go over at some point, or his image will be permanently tainted in the eyes of the fans. Maybe even at the SummerSlam show next month where he and Punk will (presumably) face off for the last time.

Summarily, Bryan leaves Money in the Bank in an interesting position. He has lost once again to Punk, but the AJ angle remains in full swing.

His stock in the company hasn't plummeted or anything, far from it, but he really does need to make good on his vow to beat Punk for the championship.

He also needs to figure out how to handle the totall unhinged and crazy AJ. Now that's a truly daunting prospect.