Prior to his departure from the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Alberto Del Rio provided life changing advice to NXT Champion Cien Almas.
The Combate Americas President joined The Roman Show to talk about his company joining Univision Network. The network will televise its first event with Combate Americas Estrellas 1 on April 13 and Combate Americas Estrellas 2 on April 20.
Watch the complete interview, below.
On the heels of Wrestlemania weekend, he shared a story of NXT Cien Almas who was on the verge of leaving WWE to return to Mexico.
“He is fantastic,” he said. “He made it in Japan and Mexico. I am glad WWE decided to do something with him. I was still there when he was about to leave the company. This is the problem that people don’t understand that when you wrestle in Mexico four or five time a week in front of 5,000 or 6,000 people. Its difficult to make a transition from other promotions. We know what WWE will bring to your life, but sometimes other wrestlers are waiting for their opportunity. I remember him telling me he was about to go back to Mexico. I told him ‘at the end of the day it is your decision, but I will tell you if they use you because you have the talent your life will change. Yes, the schedule is brutal but the WWE pays you and it will change your life’. I am glad they decided to do something with him. He is a good kid. We are going to see a lot from him.”
He also talked about a potential run at New Japan Pro Wrestling.
“We’ve been talking about doing something together for several years,” he said. “Sometimes we couldn’t do it because of the money or date but thank God I’ve been blessed in this business I earned money after 18 to 20 years. I’ve invested early. I can decide where I can work. I don’t want to be flying to Japan every month.”
He later added, “I should never say never but it will be difficult for me because want they want I can’t offer it.”
He said that Combate Americas airing on Univision will launch the company.
“We are happy now, our new home will be Univision and it will be our home for several years to come. There were no issues with Telemundo,” he said. It was something Combate needed to do because we keep growing. We are so happy. That is what we wanted to position Combate where it is now. We expected this, but we didn’t think it would happen so soon.”
He also said that he is looking into retiring from professional wrestling something late 2019 or 2020 and added that if he were to return to mixed martial arts it would be for Combate Americas Pay-per-view fight.
“There’s a lot of offers from other companies,” he said. “If I ever decide to go back inside the cage or ring in an mma event it would be for Combate Amerias and as you mentioned it would be to help the company to have their first Pay Per View in history and help the company to continue growing.”
