There seems to be some problems between Alberto El Patron and Lucha Underground. Several sources have indicated that Alberto is unhappy about the financial and creative side and the general belief is that he’s unlikely to return. That does raise questions as Alberto was the highest paid wrestler in the company and he was perceived as being the biggest star. The main problem seems to be that he was promised that the show would be built around him and he didn’t feel that it was happening. The fact there was some muddled communication concerning the start date of the second season of LU and the start of the tapings apparently didn’t help matters. Finally Del Rio is said to have been disappointed that he was not in the main event at Ultima Lucha. According to insiders, he could get out of his contract if he wanted to.
That being said, Del Rio/El Patron does seem to be in high demand.
There has been some form of communication between Alberto’s side and TNA. TNA wanted him in January already and reportedly offered him over $400,000 to sign with them. The amount offered did make some people frown as, back then, some people in TNA were not getting paid on time. Interestingly, John Gaburick is a huge fan of Alberto, dating back from the time they worked together in WWE.
NJPW is also said to be interested. Del Rio worked in Japan years ago under the name Dos Caras, Jr. But here there are politics involved. NJPW won’t use him as long as he’s AAA World Champion, and AAA is not likely to remove the belt from him unless they absolutely have to as business has picked up for them since Del Rio and Rey Mysterio joined the promotion. If he ends up signing with TNA then this affects his AAA status the least since TNA is not running many shows and there would be no issues for him working for both companies.
Finally, as noted before, WWE has also shown interest and there has been some talks between the two sides. It is generally believed that WWE never wanted him to leave in the first place but they had to let him go after he slapped their social media person after some perceived racial comments were made. He was told by Triple H that they would bring him back in 6 months after things calmed down. Additionally, some top talents spoke up for Alberto because he was well-liked in the locker-room.
On a side note, several companies have made offers to him for boxing and MMA but, at 38 years old, Del Rio hasn’t shown much interest.
Original source: Wrestling Observer
