7 Reasons Alberto Del Rio Will Not Regain the WWE Title

Alberto Del Rio is no longer our WWE Champion—that belt now belongs to CM Punk.

Punk defeated ADR at Survivor Series to win the title, and then he successfully defended it against Del Rio on this week's episode of Monday Night Raw.

By all means, that should result in Del Rio going to the back of the line and having to work his way back up to another shot at the WWE Championship.

And I think it will.

Besides the fact that Del Rio already used his automatic rematch clause against Punk and lost, here are seven reasons why Del Rio will not regain the WWE Championship anytime soon.

7. His First Two Reigns Were Major Flops

By all accounts, Alberto Del Rio was a major flop in each of his first two reigns as WWE Champion.

Some of that had to do with the way that Del Rio was booked, and some of that had to do with Del Rio himself. But the fact remains that ADR stunk it up when holding the top prize in all of the WWE.

His first reign lasted just over a month and featured zero successful pay-per-view title defenses, and his second reign lasted only 49 days and saw Del Rio win dirty in his only two PPV title defenses.

Del Rio looked like the most cowardly heel champion in recent memory, and his feuds with both John Cena and CM Punk have been quite lackluster when most of us expected them to be something special.

I'm not sure exactly what it is about Del Rio that made him flop so badly, but something just didn't click right when he was holding the WWE title.

I do not see the creative team making the decision to put the strap back on Del Rio when his first two runs with it proved that he wasn't ready for it.

6. He Cannot Carry the Raw Brand

As the WWE Champion, you are expected to carry Monday Night Raw and be the focal point of the show.

But Alberto Del Rio couldn't do that.

Even when he was holding the WWE title, he was consistently overshadowed by the likes of The Miz, R-Truth, CM Punk, Triple H, Kevin Nash and John Cena.

Again, you can put some of that blame on the creative team for the way it booked Del Rio, but the main reason why ADR wasn't the main star on Raw during his WWE title reigns was because he couldn't carry the brand.

He doesn't have the popularity or respect from the fans of someone like Cena or Punk, and as a result, he became a secondary figure on the show while simultaneously holding its most important title.

That's obviously not how it should be.

I'm not going to knock Del Rio for not being able to carry Monday Night Raw because very few men can do that, but the fact remains that ADR couldn't do it and won't be winning the WWE Championship again until he can. 

5. It's Almost Wrestlemania Season

It's almost Wrestlemania season, and aside from a few exceptions like The Miz last year, the WWE typically puts its top two belts on established stars.

Let's take a look at the World Heavyweight and WWE Champions heading into the granddaddy of them all over the last five years:

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2010: The Miz (WWE) and Edge (WHC)

2009: Batista (WWE) and Chris Jericho (WHC)

2008: Triple H (WWE) and Edge (WHC)

2007: Randy Orton (WWE) and Edge (WHC)

2006: John Cena (WWE) and Batista (WHC)

"

As you can see, the trend is that some of the biggest names in the history of the business or the hottest names at the moment are typically going to enter Wrestlemania with championship gold around their waist.

Alberto Del Rio doesn't quite fit that bill right now, but someone like CM Punk does. So, expect Punk, not Del Rio, to be holding onto the WWE title at the beginning of Wrestlemania 28.   

4. He Needs to Regain Some Momentum First

In less than a year and a half, Alberto Del Rio has won the Royal Rumble, Raw's Money in the Bank match and two WWE Championships.

Yet, he's completely lost any and all momentum from those signature wins.

The Royal Rumble win just resulted in him losing to Edge at Wrestlemania, the MITB win resulted in a completely forgettable WWE title reign and his first two runs with the WWE Championship left him in a worse spot than he was in prior to them.

Now that Del Rio has fulfilled all of his "destinies" and then seen those destinies go to waste, he's lost all the steam he had built up during his first year with the company.

Even though he's been involved in the WWE Championship scene for several months, he still seems like just another heel on a WWE roster that's full of them.

Before ADR reinserts himself into the WWE title picture, he needs to head back to the upper mid-card and build himself back up as one of the top stars in the entire company.

If he doesn't do that first, then his next main event run will flop just like the last two or three.

3. He's Likely Headed to the Mid-Card

I mentioned in the last slide that Alberto Del Rio needs to go back to the mid-card for a while, and oddly enough, I think that's exactly where he's headed.

Del Rio has essentially been involved in the WWE Championship picture since winning Raw's Money in the Bank match in July, but he's not always going to be there.

Raw's main event scene can only fit so many people at a time, and given that Del Rio lost his rematch against Punk on Monday, it appears that Del Rio doesn't fit in it at the moment.

I think that could be a good thing for Del Rio, though.

Like I said in the last slide, something's missing with him at the moment, and he needs to find some way to get back on track and regain some momentum.

It looks like the creative team will send ADR to the upper mid-card and see how he fares in a feud that doesn't involve the WWE Championship for a change.

2. The Miz's Expected Rise to the WWE Title Scene

CM Punk will undoubtedly be looking for a new challenger for the WWE Championship, and it appears as if that challenger will be The Miz.

From F4Wonline.com (via WrestleZone.com):

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Challenging for the WWE championship is in the future booking plans for The Miz according to F4Wonline.com.

While the suspension of R-Truth was a factor for splittng up The Miz and R-Truth's tag team, WWE is planning on having The Miz be a challenger to CM Punk's WWE championship in the next few months.

"

I was actually hoping that--assuming Chris Jericho doesn't return--we'd see see Punk vs. The Miz for the WWE title at Wrestlemania 28, but with a lack of legitimate main event contenders for Punk's championship, I wouldn't be surprised if we see The Miz challenge punk at the Royal Rumble instead.

That works for me, but it also leaves Alberto Del Rio in No Man's Land.

I think we can indeed bank on Punk's next two challengers being The Miz and Dolph Ziggler, so Del Rio won't be getting another WWE title shot soon, much less winning it.

1. CM Punk's Pledge to Hold onto the WWE Championship

On the episode of Monday Night Raw after Survivor Series, CM Punk cut a promo in which he acknowledged the fact that the WWE Championship is passed around like a cheap hooker.

In fact, there have been at least nine different WWE title reigns just in 2011 alone.

Yeah, that's ridiculous.

Punk, however, vowed during that promo that he would hold onto the WWE Championship for a long time, and I tend to believe him.

Truth is, there has to come a point when the WWE stops flip-flopping the title once a month and hot-shotting it onto the previous champion just because ratings go down slightly. The WWE Championship has lost most of its prestige over the last several years, and Punk is looking to restore it.

If he does that, then everybody--not just Alberto Del Rio--is going to have to wait a long time until they can call themselves WWE Champion.