In September 2016, Alberto Del Rio decided to leave WWE on his terms, as he had grown increasingly frustrated with his role in the company.
While 2016 was not the first time he left WWE, in 2014, he was fired from the platform for slapping a backstage employee. Later, he made a surprise return in 2015.
Despite making his epic return in 2015, Del Rio was not happy with the storyline that WWE offered him; he even said WWE failed to give him consistent or meaningful storylines.
Following his frustration in September 2016, Alberto Del Rio chose to leave WWE on good terms. During an appearance on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast, he even shared his reason, saying;
“I did everything in my power to make it work, but the storyline wasn’t there. And then, from there, I started to feel like I was not comfortable with the company. All my friends were gone, Rey [Mysterio], Edge, Chavo [Guerrero]. All my friends weren’t there. I was just there in the locker room surrounded by great kids, great, great guys, but we’re different generations. And they were [reading] comic books and playing video games on their iPads or whatever. And I’m just from a different generation. I remember Vince saying this to me, ‘why don’t you try to blend [in] with the guys?’ I said, ‘because we’re so different. I read books. They play video games and they read comic books. They’re 19, 20 years old. I’m 38, 39 years old, so we have nothing in common.”
He continued saying;
“They brought me back and I was just unhappy. I was there. I was just not happy. That’s the reason I decided to quit. I said, ‘you know, my contract is going to be up in two months and I’m not coming back. See you guys.’ And they did everything in their power to keep me there, but I just didn’t want to be there.”
Following his second departure from WWE, Del Rio took a significant break from both the wrestling spotlight and mainstream media.
However, in 2017, he re-emerged and shared his new chapter by announcing his journey with Impact Wrestling.
After joining Impact Wrestling in 2017, Del Rio maintained a relatively low profile in the media, largely due to ongoing legal issues.
He eventually made a major comeback in March 2023, officially returning to AAA, marking his first significant involvement with the promotion in several years.
Building on that momentum, Del Rio captured the AAA Mega Championship in August 2024, defeating Nic Nemeth (formerly known as Dolph Ziggler).
However, his run came to an end in July 2025, when he lost a high-stakes “Loser Leaves AAA” match to El Mesías, forcing him to exit the promotion.
With Del Rio now no longer affiliated with AAA or WWE, speculation about a potential WWE return has surfaced.
However, the likelihood of that happening appears to be quite slim, as rumors suggest WWE currently has no interest in bringing him back.
While the WWE officials or Alberto himself have not confirmed any details about his return to the platform, his departure from AAA has left some unanswered questions.