– As seen on RAW last night, WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio is featured on the cover of the new issue of Hombre magazine, a magazine that targets Latin men. Here are some highlights from Del Rio’s interview:
H: You come from a family of wrestlers, and they must be very proud of you right now. Is there a lot of pressure to uphold the family name?
ADR: Well yes, because my dad and my uncle aren’t so popular in the United States because they wrestled here 35, 40 years ago. But in Mexico, they’re a big dynasty. They’re the most popular wrestlers in Mexican history. So in Mexico there was a lot of pressure for me. But I’m sure I’m doing a great job now; I’m the first Mexican in history to become the WWE champion, and actually this year I won it all: the Money in the Bank, the Royal Rumble, the WWE title. I can just say that this year’s been perfect for me.
H: Having your own action figure is a pretty big deal in the WWE. What was your reaction when you were first approached about it?
ADR: I was just waiting for it to happen, it was great. I was excited when they told me…and when I saw the action figure for the first time it was amazing, because it looks like me: the face, the hair, the smile… they captured me all the way in that action figure.
H: What would you be doing if you weren’t a wrestler?
ADR: I’m also an architect. I finished my career in Mexico, but that was really for my father. I’m really glad that I finished my school, but when I was younger I dropped school in my second year because I was so crazy to become a wrestler and my dad forced me to go back. He talked to all the promoters in Mexico after I did that and told them, “Don’t give this guy a job because I want him to finish school.” Of course when I was younger I was mad that my father did that, but I’m just grateful that he did because now I have something else. Probably if I wasn’t a wrestler right now I’d be designing buildings or building houses in Mexico.
H: What are your expectations for the future?
ADR: Like I said, this year’s been great for me, I won it all, starting with the Royal Rumble then the Money in the Bank. Then I conquered the WWE title. At the beginning of the year we had WrestleMania, which is like the Superbowl of wrestling. In WrestleMania I competed for the World Heavyweight title; unfortunately, I lost against Edge, and actually that was Edge’s last match, So that’s something that’s stuck in my mind, I can’t sleep because I’m thinking about it all the time. It was my biggest night and my biggest failure because we were in front of 80 something thousand people and we sold 2 million pay-per views. My plans are to keep the WWE title as long as I can and if someday I lose this title I will try to go back to the other brand, which is Smackdown, and compete for the World Heavyweight title because that’s something I need to do. I must be the first Mexican wrestler in history to win everything in one year.
H: Do you plan on following in the footsteps on those like Hulk Hogan and the Rock, who’ve ventured into other forms of entertainment?
ADR: Definitely. Now I’m totally focused on the WWE and my wrestling career, but that’s something I want do. I’m planning to do the WWE for another five or six years, no more than that, and of course if they invite me to do movies, soap operas, whatever, I’m down for it!
