WWE reportedly fired Alberto Del Rio last week after he allegedly struck an employee. According to the backstage gossip, Del Rio caught wind of a racist joke made by someone, confronted him, and slapped him when the employee apparently showed no remorse and smiled at Del Rio in defiance. Now Del Rio, real name Alberto Rodriguez, has announced his intention to join Mexico's AAA Wrestling. The only problem is, Rodriguez has a 90-day no compete clause in his contract. The question remains whether Rodriguez can appear at AAA Events and simply can't wrestle, or if the clause prevents him from appearing at all.
There have long been rumors of a strongly racist attitude backstage at WWE, from the top down. Whether it's Vince McMahon or one of his cronies, there are several stories which allege incredibly offensive behavior from white executives (via Cage Side Seats):
"The PW Torch has gone on record stating talks with a WWE employee alleging a racist culture behind the scenes in WWE that apparently includes Vince McMahon giving his private jet a racially offensive nickname. In addition, Vince apparently tries to teach black wrestlers how to be 'more black', whatever the hell that means. The creative team is made up almost entirely of white men with the exception of Dave Kapoor, who you may know as Ranjin Singh. It's alleged his nickname among some agents within the company is 'Taliban.'"
In Del Rio's case, the fact that he was let go and the person who made the comment has so far received no punishment is a striking indictment of their institutional bias.
Del Rio, or El Patron, as he will be known in Mexico, thought he would be able to go straight to AAA. A no compete clause in his contract, however, prevents him from wrestling for 90 days (via Cage Side Seats):
"As far as Del Rio goes, they were under the impression that Del Rio could wrestle, this was as of yesterday, and then as of today that changed again and now WWE I guess made it real clear that Del Rio cannot go for 90 days, so he's on a 90 day thing."
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