Alberto Del Rio: Is Language a Barrier to His Success as a Character?

WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio has been playing his character in WWE’s yard for almost a year now. In spite of the odd vignettes that presented a wealthy man who claimed to be honesty incarnate, he debuted as a millionaire hell bent on becoming World Champion due to a hunch.

The wrestler formerly known as Dos Caras Jr. has toured both Raw and SmackDown delivering the same destiny-driven speech all year long and, consequently, people in the audience are growing tired of it. Even as a fan and supporter of this man I’ll have to admit it is tiresome (mainly to the ever so delayed destiny claimed).

Mind you, Alberto Del Rio’s not doing anything wrong. The problem lies mainly on the lack of character exploration and/or exploitation.

Detractors and impatient individuals within the audience instantly point out the lack of originality in Alberto’s character: he’s a poor man’s version of The Million Dollar Man with a JBL-inspired entrance and a young-Orton complex. A couple of those allegations might be true, yet there’s more to Del Rio’s character if WWE and the superstar decide to explore it.

He’s a Mexican elitist, he could start acting as such. Alberto could treat others like garbage, low-lives, humanity’s scum dueling under roach-infested rocks. It would expand his character a bit only by remaining true to what’s promoted.

But guess what: Alberto already does that. Haven’t you people noticed?

Maybe you don’t because a considerable part of his characterization is done through small comments and remarks made during promos, backstage interviews, matches and commentary…in Spanish.

Even though Del Rio also talks the same destiny crap in his native language, there’s much more. Those who are familiar enough with the language will realize he is much more arrogant, hedonistic, self-driven, exclusive and cruel to everyone around him than what his English-spoken promos communicate to the audience.  Even Ricardo Rodriguez’s introduction does some managerial job through several hyperbolic remarks.

Obviously a rather significant part of the audience is missing all of this. What a shame.

Alberto del Rio could incorporate more of the aforementioned elements into his English-spoken promos and act like the wealthy, elitist pig he is. Why not turn him into a almost chronic liar too? He’s a “dos caras,” after all. Has the audience forgotten he has huge pants too? The guy walked straight up to Kane and Big Show and slapped them respectively in separate occasions.

In terms of in-ring action, he does a more than fine job. He wrestles like any real Greco-roman wrestler’s intended to do, his mannerisms are great (though some variation is welcomed) and acts like any reprehensible heel (remove Rey’s mask and throw it like it’s a piece of sweaty garbage?).

The point is:

1) Alberto Del Rio has to explore his character, show the potential it has.

2) Language might be a barrier because of the audience, so maybe commenting important stuff in English could come in handy.

3) Alberto Del Rio’s a great talent with so much potential; WWE should keep him relevant through action before audiences stop caring at all.