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Alberto El Patron (Del Rio) Comments on Hating WWE Schedule, Facing Lashley at Impact Wrestling Slammiversary & More

TJR Wrestling

Alberto El Patron is headlining the Impact Wrestling Slammiversary pay-per-view this Sunday night against Bobby Lashley. It’s a title unification match with Alberto going in as the Global Force Wrestling Champion and Lashley as the TNA/Impact Wrestling Champion. The winner will unify those titles and become the Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion.

To promote Slammiversary, Alberto talked to ESPN.com about why he wanted out of WWE, wrestling Bobby Lashley and more.

Alberto talking about the difficult WWE schedule:

“That’s actually the main reason I decided to leave WWE, the brutal schedule that you have when you work for a company like WWE. I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t want to be on the road for 210-220 days per year. That was one of my first things when I started having conversations with Impact Wrestling. They were asking me for a certain number of dates, and I said, ‘There’s no way I’m gonna do those dates because I also have my dates with Combates America, the MMA company. If I put all of those dates with you guys, I’m gonna end up doing what I was doing with WWE and that’s something that I don’t want. I want to be able to enjoy my ride. Of course I want to continue doing pro wrestling shows, but my time is for my family. So if you guys aren’t comfortable with this, I can give you this number amount of dates, and I promise I will give you my best.’ And of course they said yes. That’s the reason they’re happy with me. I’m happy with them.”

Alberto on Bobby Lashley being a real athlete like him:

“We never crossed paths before/ He was in WWE, but I wasn’t there when he was working for that company. When he left is when I joined the company, so we never had the opportunity to work together or against each other in that other company. Here in Impact Wrestling that was my first task. My first match was against Bobby Lashley. Even though it was the first time for us sharing the ring, everybody knew and we knew it was going to be a fantastic match because he’s a fantastic performer. He’s a real athlete. A real fighter, just like me.”

“We are hybrid wrestlers. We know we have to put on a show in the ring every night, but everybody also knows we could go 100 percent. We can also go at it if we want to. We totally understand the difference between our sport and the other.”

Alberto on wanting to retire with Impact Wrestling in three years:

“When it comes to United States, I want to retire in Impact Wrestling. I know it’s always the same when a wrestler goes to a different company, he always puts the company over and forgets about the other one. The difference between me and other talent that has left WWE is — I left the company. In most of the other situations, the company fired them or not wanting to do with business with them. The company wanted me to stay, and I didn’t want to for the all the reasons that I already mentioned and because I wanted to have a place where I could be happy in my last three years of my career, and that place is Impact Wrestling.”

There’s more in Alberto’s interview with ESPN.com talking about Floyd Mayweather, Conor McGregor, Rey Mysterio, wrestling business in general and more, so check it out now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NZIdEmOkZs