Former WWE Champion Alberto El Patrón (aka Alberto Del Rio) is set to return to AAA.
AAA announced their 2023 schedule this week, and revealed that Alberto will be returning to the company in two upcoming tournaments – the Lucha Libre World Cup and Guerra de Rivalidades.
El Patrón will team with Psycho Clown and AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo on Sunday, March 19 at the Lucha Libre World Cup event from Guadalajara, Mexico. There is no word yet on who they will be wrestling, but the remaining 7 teams will be announced shortly, along with details on the women’s Lucha Libre World Cup tournament.
The graphic for the tournament, seen below, has El Patrón representing the Nación Lucha Libre promotion, which was launched in 2019 by El Patrón and Chavo Guerrero Jr.
El Patrón is aligned with AEW’s Pentagon Jr. in the Guerra de Rivalidades tournament, where wrestlers are paired up as opponents. The tournament will play out over three Triplemania XXXI shows this year – in Monterrey on Sunday, April 16; in Tijuana on Saturday, June 17; in Mexico City on Sunday, August 12.
The Guerra de Rivalidades tournament also includes Rush and Pagano, Psycho Clown and Sam Adonis, Blue Demon Jr. and DMT Azul. The opening round will happen in Monterrey, with the losing teams advancing to Tijuana. The partners who lose in Tijuana will then wrestle each other in Mexico City in a singles mask with their mask or hair on the line.
Alberto has not wrestled for AAA since retaining the AAA Mega Title over Johnny Mundo at Heroes Inmortales IX on October 4, 2015. He then returned to WWE later that month for his last run there, so AAA stripped him of the Mega Title when it was confirmed that he would not return to AAA to drop the title. WWE was allowing Alberto to work the Guerra de Titanes in December 2015, but the show was nixed and re-scheduled for January 2016, but WWE rescinded their offer. Alberto was set to return to AAA in August 2018 to face a mystery opponent at Triplemania XXVI, but the return never happened. El Patrón claimed there was an issue over money, while AAA’s Dorian Roldán said Alberto had no communication with the promotion, so he was pulled from the card.
The Internet Wrestling Database has El Patrón’s last match taking place on November 12, 2022 at NEW’s Evolution III Anniversary SuperShow. He teamed with Impact World Champion Josh Alexander and Ricardo Rodriguez for a six-man loss to Ultimo Dragon, Naomichi Marufuji, and Katsuhiko Nakajima that night.
As seen in the translated tweet below, Alberto took to Twitter this week to thank AAA officials for bringing him back.
“They say that one returns to where he was always happy. Family, I have a new home. That household is 100% Mexican just like me and its name is @luchalibreaaa [Mexico flag emoji] [fire emoji] I thank @dorianroldan and @MPenaAAA for making me part of their beautiful family. God’s time is perfect. Yes! Yes! Yes!,” he wrote.
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