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Ricardo Rodriguez On Alberto Del Rio, Beating Roman Reigns, Being Bret Hart's Final Opponent
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Ricardo Rodriguez (@RRWWE) is a professional wrestler best known for his time in WWE as Alberto Del Rio's personal ring announcer. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at Three Legacies Wrestling School in Lancaster, PA to talk about how he got signed by WWE and being paired with Alberto Del Rio, having a victory over Roman Reigns, being ringside for Dolph Ziggler's Money in the Bank cash-in, his Royal Rumble entry, why he decided to leave WWE, his battles with addiction, getting clean and more.
Quote I'm thinking about: “Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss.” - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
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"No, not at all. This is something I just kind of developed over the last several couple of years. I've been grateful that I've had the privilege of running schools and at least running classes. Even in my time with WWE, I was put in a position to kind of help guide others through the help, obviously, of my mentors that were there with me. As time went on, I just started taking that a little bit more seriously, and I got put in a position where I was given trust to be able to help others. Now that I have this opportunity to build my own thing, to build my own legacy, I'm very grateful for it."
"It's night and day. At the time I started in Mexican Lucha Libre, that's how I started. I was very grateful for my trainer, Latino Blanco, who just would beat the living dog hell out of us, but in a good, constructive way. I learned so much from that. Then when I switched over to the American side, it was a struggle at first, but then once I kind of started getting my groove, and I had awesome trainers that were helping me switch from Mexican style to the American style, these guys named Los Luchas, Phoenix Star and Zokre from PWG, so they were a big part of that, too. When I started kind of modeling what I wanted to be in the American side, I used to watch Super Dragon, Samoa Joe, Low Ki, Great Muta, how they were more just aggressive, and they didn't really talk, and it was more so just mannerisms. So in my head at least I would tell myself, you're this badass then usually go and kick everybody in the head, and then you'll incorporate a couple little Lucha things here and there, but that's what I used to try and do and emulate. And then I became Ricardo. I did not talk and then I got hired to talk. So that was a whole 180 because prior to that, I maybe had cut maybe one promo ever in the four years I was doing independent wrestling. Maybe one or two promos tops, and I got hired to talk. So the irony of how all that kind of came about."
"So I had worked for this promoter in Southern California named Jesse Hernandez, who owns Empire Wrestling Federation. And Jesse used to be a referee for WWWF I think, but he had been around for a while, and he became one of the main promoters in Southern California, so I got to wrestle for him once. And right after the match, he comes up to me and he goes, Hey, WWE is coming to town in a couple of months or so. He's like, Would you be interested in doing a tryout? And mind you, this is the first time I've met him, so he didn't owe me anything. And I was like, Yeah, of course. So I jumped in on that. I did the tryout. And at the time, I didn't know too much about what was going on WWE television, because my full-time job as a graphic designer was a full-on production type thing. So it was an all-day, 12-hour, 16-hour shifts, right? So I wasn't watching wrestling, really. And then when I was getting out of work, I would go straight to training. So then I did an actual tryout at the Staples Center. We got there super early. We did a three hour tryout. So we finished that, and then they come up to me afterwards. The talent scout at the time was named Tye Bailey. So Tye Bailey comes up to me, and he just kind of asked me a couple questions like are you under contract anywhere? No. Are you married? No. Do you have kids? Not that I know of. If given the opportunity, would you be willing to relocate to Florida? Yeah, sure, of course. At that point, I had been promised the moon by so many promoters, and I didn't know any better, so I was like, whatever, right? I would just kind of, we'll see. We'll just kind of play by ear and see what happens. So then we go to catering and I was only scheduled for that tryout. I wasn't scheduled for SmackDown or anything. I was just scheduled for the tryout, but I stuck around because obviously they welcome you to stay in case they need extras or whatever. So they went up to this other gentleman that had done the trial with me, and we did like this thing where we did matches and we did tournaments, tournament style, and at the end of it was myself and this other guy, and they had gone up to him first and they're like, Hey, we're looking for this ring announcing thing. They had asked him and for whatever reason, he said he couldn't make it the next day. So then Jesse goes up to the individuals that were in charge, and he's like, Well, he speaks Spanish. So then they approached me and they're like, Hey, do you have a tuxedo? I was like, Yes, of course, and I didn’t. They asked if I've ever done ring announcing before, and I told him yes, which I never have. So then they're like, Alright, come tomorrow to SmackDown in Bakersfield, they didn't tell me what for. They're just like come tomorrow. I was like, Cool, awesome."
"So then I go to the Goodwill that was across the street from where I used to live, and I got a cheap little suit. There was a bridal store across the street from that, so I bought a bunch of bow ties. Coincidentally too, because I wasn't scheduled for that SmackDown, Miro was actually on that tryout with me, and we were training together at Knox Pro. So I told him, and he's like, Well, just take the room that I had purchased for the night, the hotel, just take it. I was like, Cool. So he let me stay. He offered it, but Bakersfield is only an hour and a half, two hours from the valley. So we were in the tryout together and I went to Bakersfield, I do the first little walkthrough, they tell me what I'm doing, and I get introduced to Alberto. And at the time, I didn't really know who he was. He seemed familiar. So we go over the rundown of what we're doing. So then they tell me, Hey, you're gonna be announcing this guy. We do the first rehearsal. Vince waddles down the ramp as I see him. So he does the little walk and I was like, Dude, that thing's real. Then he comes up to me, and because I had already done one rehearsal, and he's like, not like that. Be more animated, be more Hispanic, whatever that means, right? So just be more Hispanic. I was like, All right, cool. So then I started thinking of the AAA announcers, how they're so loud and so I took that approach. And he's like, Yeah, that. So then I do it. And obviously the first time around, it wasn't as big and as extravagant as once I got used to it, but they liked it. I did the first night and then that week they were doing a double taping of SmackDown, because the guys were going overseas, the SmackDown guys were going to the European tour. I believe that's when they got stuck because of the volcano. There was a volcano in Iceland, and I think on the way back they got stuck. I think it was that that week. So I did Bakersfield on Tuesday, and then we did a double taping. So on Wednesday, we were in Fresno. So then I go up, I do the deal. Alberto wrestled this wrestler by the name of Alex Kozlov. Then after that, Mark Carano and Johnny Ace, they pull us into the office, and they ask us basic questions. They're like, Hey, are you on a contract? And I was like, no. So they asked Alex the same and I think at the time he was wrestling with AAA, but a per-appearance type deal. So then they're like, would you guys want to sign? We're going to offer you, especially for me, because they talked to us separately, but they offered us both contracts, so then that's kind of how I started. But at the time, I didn't really know who Alberto was, and I had a friend who was a super, super, super, super mark fan. So I was like, Hey, who's this guy? Because I knew he would know, because obviously dirt sheets and all that stuff, he will look into who he was. So he's like, Oh, that's Dos Caras Jr. I was like, No way. So obviously, I grew up watching Lucha Libre, so I became an instant fan of just the idea that's the nephew of Mil Máscaras, the son of Dos Caras. So I was like, Cool, this is Mexican royalty. So I fanned out for a little while. So I got signed, and then I was basically an extra for about three months. I did my physical, I did the background check, all that stuff, and then they flew me out to TV right off the bat, and then eventually got that call, Hey, you got you passed, we're gonna send you to Florida. And it just kind of went from there."
"I think it was in December of 2010. I think December when I finally got my first match in FCW, and it was a 10 man tag. I don't remember exactly who was all in it, but I do believe Husky Harris/Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns were in it. I think we won that match. I don't remember, but somebody had tweeted to me the other day that I had a victory over Roman. I was like, No, I didn't. And they mentioned that. So I don't know. I don't remember what the result of that was. [I think you have a victory over Roman Reigns]. Yeah, Tribal Chief, I’m kidding."
"I have no idea. That wasn't up to me. I know it was like, twice, I think that they actually used Alberto's car. And that was when we were in Miami, because at the time, he used to live in Fort Lauderdale. So he had, I think it was like a 65 Mustang, whatever it was. I think they used it twice, because obviously he would ride it, and when we were done, he would go home. That was another thing too. After our first WrestleMania check, we went out, we bought ourselves Mustangs."
"To me that's still the top one. That's incredible, just because I know originally, there was a plan to do it the night of WrestleMania that was originally planned, and then they ended up switching it to the next day. And then, retrospect, I'm glad they did, just because I think it was a little unexpected. And what was great about it too was when they were going over the match. They have that false finish where I think Dolph hit the fameasser, and they go one, two, kick out, whatever. And then Alberto counters it. He does an ensigure and then I think he finally hits the arm, the arm bar. Then, because the office has been screwed so many times, and you can just hear everybody bite on it. And that was so beautiful. So when he finally hit the zigzag, and then the three happened, dude, the eruption of that arena was so incredible. And it was something that I think everybody in unison was very happy for Dolph, because we knew it wasn't happening."
"[When I was Big Show] I think it was a pillow [in my singlet]. Then we had, I think, I don't remember whose boots they were that we did the skullcap thingy. [What do you have in your hand?] It was an oversized, I don't even know what sport that was, but it was a baseball mitt, but for something different, but it was massive. And so Big Show had seen when they were doing it, the one that did not see when they were dressing me up was Sheamus. So I went up to him and asked him for his boots, because I was like, hey, they want to do something with your boots for a design or a picture or something can I borrow your spare? So we didn't tell him. So they hid me in a room, they dressed me up and then right before we got to Gorilla, because all Sheamus knew was that we were doing a promo. That's all he knew. So then we're at Gorilla, and obviously we're about to go out. And then I just sat next to Seamus, and he just looks at me, and then he does that double take, and then he just lets out like a motherf*cker! So that happened. And then this, it was the same thing. When I dressed up as Zeb Coulter they didn't tell Swagger, because I think a big part of it was trying to get their genuine reaction. So anytime, like for instance with the cash in, obviously, we don't tell anybody except for the people involved, because it's all about the genuine reaction, and then obviously, the whole, you don't want it to get leaked. But just getting that real, genuine reaction of what they're gonna be like when something happens."
"So how that one came about, it was actually in December, Alberto had gotten hurt. He took a weird bump, and he had a torn ligament in his leg. So obviously he was out for a little bit, and we were still down at FCW. I remember after FCW, we had gone to the Cheesecake Factory, a bunch of us, and Pat Patterson had just happened to be there too. So Pat was sitting at the bar. So out of respect, I'd go up to him and I just say, Hello, whatever. And then he asked me about Alberto. He's like, Oh no, he's doing fine, he's healing up, whatever. And we start chatting. Then, just for sh*ts and giggles, I was like, hey, Wouldn't it be funny if during the Rumble I come out? We play his music, I would come out, and then we laugh about it, and we just leave it. Shortly thereafter, we did something in Dallas, and we got stuck in Dallas at the airport because of a storm, so I'm sitting next to Malenko, and then we're just talking. We're talking about cruiserweights and whatever. He had mentioned back then that he had pitched the idea of a cruiserweight tournament back then, and he asked my Alberto. And then again, I just brought it up. I was like, hey, wouldn't be funny if during the Rumble, whatever, we just laugh about it and just leave it. So the day Rumble in 2012 I get to the arena, and I was typically, usually one of the first folks over by the ring, because I want to get in and just roll around. And then Michael Hayes comes up to me, and he's like, Hey, did you see your car? I thought that he was talking about my rental car, that somebody had done something to it. I was like, no, what? He's like, your car, did you not see in the back? He's like, no, what happened? So he's like, come here. So we get to the back, behind the stage, and then he's like, your car. And then it was the car, but it was covered. It had the cover. And he lifts it, and I'm looking at it, and I'm looking at him, and it didn't click in my head. He's like, did nobody tell you? You're in the Rumble. I was like, Huh? So then that's kind of how I found out. So then he's like, Yeah, this is your car, whatever. So then I talked to Ellis, and he was like, the stunt coordinator guy. And so he showed me the car, and then I realized it's a stick shift. And then my house, like, dude, I'm from LA man. Like we're, I'm from the city. Like, we don't, we don't have stick shifts. And then the last time that I drove one, I was probably, like, 1718, so I was like, Hey, is it possible if I can just take it to the parking lot and then just kind of get a refresher? He's like, No, you'll be fine. I was like, Dude, this is live PPV man, I'm doing the Rumble. I don't want to step on the wrong thing, and then either stall, or, even worse, just haul ass into the people. He's like, you'll be fine. And, dude, I tried convincing them to make them get stagehands to, like, legit, push it so we can play audio where I stall, and then you just see the stagehands push the car out. He's like, No, you'll be fine. I was like, dude, so I went on YouTube, and I just looked up a video How to drive stick and then that's just kind of went from there. But yeah, dude, the whole time, the whole time I was just, I was just like, sweating buckets. The first person I attacked when I got in the ring was Cody Rhodes in the corner. So I started pummeling Cody. So I'm just saying, He's the champ right now. And I took down Cody."
"Yeah, it's insane. We were Ontario that day, we're at the gym, Alberto and I, and then we get a text from Road Dogg, he tells Alberto the rundown. He said Hey, tonight, it's gonna be you and Ricardo against John Cena and Bret Hart. And we're like, Ha! So we're waiting for the LOL, right? And then it never came. So then I got the text. I was like, wait, what? All right, this is gonna happen. So obviously, Ricardo is not a wrestler. So I had my wrestling gear, but Ricardo is not a wrestler. So at that gym that we were at they were selling women's tights and stuff, which I like them a little bit more, because they're more colorful. And then they have more designs than the men's, obviously there's not any men's tights. So I bought a couple of the female workout tights and I took it to Road Dogg and then he's like, Yeah, that one. So then we go over the match, and then it's still not clicking in my head that what's about to happen, and then we get in the ring, and I'm like, Dude, this is cool. This is awesome. I've worked with John, but I was always grateful for the opportunity. But just the fact that, hey, we're in Canada, Bret Hart's about to put me in a sharpshooter. This is cool. This is super cool. So that's one of those images I think I have that printed in the office too."
"So I never got released. I asked for it, so it wasn't like I was a part of a big thing or whatever. At the time, I had already been separated from Alberto. I was doing the Spanish commentary, but I wasn't feeling it. I wasn't happy at the time. I was going through a lot of depression, I wasn't happy, I wasn't making what I had been making prior, and I had a lot of discussions with the office, with Carrano, and we just couldn't get anywhere. And it got to honestly one day where I just didn't get on the flight. I woke up the next day on a Monday, and I called Carrano and was like, Hey, dude, I'm still at home. I'm not coming in."
"He said are you alright? I was like, Yeah, I've tried talking to you a few times and it's just not going anywhere. At the time I was 29, I was like I think I'm so young enough where I can kind of do stuff. I just want to say thank you, but I think I'm done. He's like, all right. Well, you know what, stay home. Let me talk to Vince and Hunter and let me call you back. I was like, cool no big deal. And he called me on a Wednesday at like, five o'clock. He's like, Hey, I just talked to Paul and Vince, and we're gonna grant you the release. You are always welcome to come back, whatever blah, blah, blah. Was like, All right, thank you. And then a lot of bitterness kind of went into the next couple minutes, because as soon as I hung up with the phone, I started getting all these alerts on Twitter that I had been released. In my head, I was like, these motherf*ckers. Then I didn't even wait like a day or anything. As soon as I got off the phone, they had posted that I was let go. I was like, dude, like, you couldn't have waited. I mean, I'm sure they have a reasoning, or they have somebody like on standby that as soon as that happens, hey, let's get the first leg up there. But I was just so angry and bitter, and then for months and years, really, I had this like disdain for wrestling and just the company. Obviously, there's a lot of stuff that led into it, but I was just, I wasn't happy."
"I got contacted by Carlos Colon and WWC, and then he asked me if I wanted to go wrestle for him. So even though I still had this little bitterness to wrestling, I was like well life still has to go on. I need to make money. So I did that and it was a good experience, it was fun, but I still have that hatred towards the company. Obviously, there was a lot of alcohol that was involved with a lot of my social media postings after I left WWE and stuff that I'm not necessarily ashamed of what I said. I'm more ashamed of how I said it, and I wish I would have approached it differently, because a lot of those feelings were valid. I just didn't know how to manage them. And obviously, a lot of them were alcohol-induced, so that became a big problem as I went along, and then I just went on a downhill slope from there."
"When did I know it was a problem and when I actually decided to do something about it are way different timelines, very different. I knew early on it was [a problem], but once you're addicted to something it's hard to let go of that. I tried so many different ways to get out of that little cusp of that hold addiction gets on you. It was every day. The only time I didn’t was when I was sobering up so I can kind of get better and enough for me to be able to get up and go get more. Obviously, the alcohol led to the drugs, the drugs, the women, all that stuff, the partying, that whole lifestyle became a thing, because obviously, once I left WWE, I had all the time in the world. I didn't have to show up anywhere. I gained a lot of weight. I was just always angry and bitter. I was so good at self-victimizing. ‘This is happening to me because of all of you, none of this is my fault. It's all your fault.’ I was so good at that because that's what an addict does. And there were a lot of people that were trying to help me that I didn't realize that they were and at the time, I think I saw them as they're just trying to get in the way of my good time, so f them. So I kept pushing people away. And in retrospect, a lot of people left me, a lot of people that I thought were close friends, they left and I was so angry at the time of why they're leaving me, they were deserting me. But when I look back at it I don't blame them. I was terrible. I was constantly drugged up. I was drunk, I was miserable, I was a slob, and I didn't care about anybody. I didn't care about me and it was just a cycle. It became a cycle where, obviously, because of the WWE schedule that we had, it was always go, go, go. You get out of Raw at let's say 11 o'clock, by the time you get out of the arena, and then the city, maybe midnight, you get to the next town, three, four o'clock in the morning, you go to sleep for a couple hours. You wake up, you go to the breakfast, you go to the gym, and you go straight to the arena. So I was used to running and functioning on very little sleep, and I don't know how to manage it. So obviously, when I left WWE, I still had that same cycle, but I had nothing in between. So I used to supplement that adrenaline of being in front of a camera, because obviously that's not there anymore. So what happens when the red light goes off and I have no way of pushing or getting that high, is use alcohol, and so the insomnia kicked in a lot too. The insomnia led to me drinking wine, because at the time, wine would make me sleepy. The irony was, I did not want to do pills, because I didn't want to get addicted to pills. That turned out very well for me. And so the wine, I had one glass, and then two glasses, and then the whole bottle, and then two bottles, and then three bottles. And I was like, man, it's getting expensive, so let me just get a box of wine so I could chug a whole box of wine by myself, but then it was a lot of sugar. So I was like, Alright, so let me switch over to alcohol, hard liquor. So I went to vodka, because vodka is healthier, right? So it just became a thing."
"So I woke up in San Antonio, I had my phone and I put out a tweet. I was like, hey, I need help. I screwed up. This gentleman by the name of Christopher Dreisbach had just happened to see my tweet, and he's never on Twitter, so then he sends me a DM, and he's like, Hey, if you're really serious about getting help. Let's talk. Let's figure something out. WWE has this really cool wellness program part where if you've been with them and you encounter a similar situation, they can help you out, they'll figure something out. So I got in contact with WWE, and this is where a good friend of mine Drew McIntyre comes in. I sent Drew a message, and I was like, Hey, can you find out the information of the wellness policy, who's in charge or something. So then he dug around, and he got me the info. I contacted WWE because of that, and it just yeah, it became a thing and that's how we got connected. I had talked to WWE, and I told who had contacted me up here in Lancaster. And he's like, oh, and we've done stuff with them before. Go ahead and set it up, and we can figure out the details later. So yeah, Drew was a big part of making that connection."
"It never goes away, but I've just gotten better at managing it. It's a daily battle. I've gotten better at how to control it and how to manage it. The concept of being of being mindful and grateful is a key element also learning how to take a pause when something upsets me, instead of instantly reacting to whatever just pisses me off. Just take that pause and weigh out the pros and cons of what you're about to do? Because if I go back to the same route that I used to do of the instinct, f*ck me, f*ck you, right? That's where that take me, and that's not going to be anywhere good. So that sense of taking a pause, slow down, I'm not answering you, because I don't care whatever is like, I'm just, hold on. Let me just process this before I give you a more accurate answer."
"Everything I was able to overcome, the circle that I have and I am no longer the reason my mom cries."
