Alberto El Patron surprised the wrestling world last month when he made his Impact Wrestling debut and confronted world champion Bobby Lashley. It was a winding road to get the man formerly known as Alberto Del Rio to Impact Wrestling.
After his first stint in WWE ended in 2014 when he got into a confrontation with a company social media worker who made racist comments towards him started talks with Impact. Both parties were negotiating but could never reach an agreement. El Patron surprised wrestling fans when he returned to the WWE in Oct. 2015 when he won the United States Title against John Cena. The former WWE champion left the company in the fall of 2016 and talks restarted again with Impact.
Talks went better the second time around and El Patron agreed to come into the company. But, the Mexican star didn't sign a contract immediately as they shook hands and did a gentleman's agreement. A contract is coming but he trusted the original owner of Impact, Jeff Jarrett enough that a handshake was all he needed for the time being.
"They first approached me about three years ago when WWE fired me for that stupid incident with that racist worker," El Patron told Fightful. "They first approached me back then. We went back and forth to the point where I said no several times. And then they came with the right offer for everything I needed. But when they did that, I was already signed to go back to WWE. I did it. And everybody knows I left the company because I wasn’t happy. Since I left, the negotiations restarted. All I said is, ‘Ok guys, I really want to go and have fun with you but I’m at a stage of my life where I only do things that make me happy. I’m blessed that I saved my money and I did the right things and invested it well. I’m not saying I’m a multi-millionaire or anything like that, I can give me the luxury of deciding where I’m going to work. If the place that wants me is not offering me something that makes sense to me money wise and most importantly, bring joy to my life, I just don’t go. I like your workers. It’s a place I would love to go, rebuild it and make it a good and enjoyable product but you need to pay. I have been doing this my entire life. But everywhere I go, I pack the place. If you have Alberto El Patron on your show or Alberto El Presidente from Combate Americas, you know the arena is going to be packed There hasn’t been one arena I haven’t packed since I started doing indies’. Jeff Jarrett called me and said let’s do it. He said they were willing to do this for me and if that makes you happy then we would love to have you on board. We even did a gentleman’s agreement. He was like, ‘Do you want to do a contract just for a week so you can see what we are going to be doing’? I said, ‘No, let’s do it the way gentleman do it. Let’s shake hands and I’ll go work for you. I will trust you. You know me and know I always deliver and what I bring to the table. I will do those four TV tapings and after those TV tapings we will sit down. If you don’t think my work is worth what I’m asking for then you say right there and I’ll give you a big discount’. But of course after those four TV tapings, they were completely happy with me not just because of what I bring to the table but what I bring to the ring but what I bring outside the ring with fans, sponsors, helping the talent backstage to do their job better. I made them happy and they made me happy. At the moment, we are closing the final details of what is going to be my contract. Then, I will be joining TNA for good and retire in the company."
