Alberto Del Rio Explains Why He Left WWE

A few hours after WWE announced it had mutually come to terms with Alberto Del Rio on his release from the sports-entertainment organization, the 39-year-old held a press conference in Mexico City shedding light on the situation — the event took place inside of a Hooters restaurant.

According to SuperLuchas.com, Del Rio said he was thinking about leaving WWE in recent months because he no longer felt comfortable working there. He wasn’t happy as of late and was losing his passion for wrestling. He feels that he has nothing left to prove in WWE.

Del Rio asked to be released from his contract and came to a mutual agreement with WWE. The traditional 90-day no-compete clause doesn’t apply to him. He’s free to work in Mexico now and will be able to work in the United States soon.

Del Rio said that he’s in negotiations with Mexican promotions AAA, CMLL and Elite, but doesn’t want to be exclusive any league. He only wants to work 60 matches a year and has begun thinking about retirement. He plans on retiring in two years and is in talks to become a president of an mixed martial arts league.

His girlfriend, Paige, was at the press conference but seated away — click here to see a photo of her at the event. She declined requests for interviews and was not mentioned by Del Rio.

The banner at the press conference identified Del Rio as Alberto El Patron. He will wrestling under that name again going forward.