TNA Was Going to Sign Alberto Del Rio, But Not Anymore (Updated)

Alberto Del Rio had apparently agreed to some sort of deal with TNA’s previous management and was scheduled to appear at the last set of TV tapings a few weeks ago, according to PWInsider. A decision was then made to hold his debut off until the upcoming TV tapings this weekend, but with TNA’s new management, talks have been discontinued and Del Rio will not be debuting in TNA.

It seems like TNA is in a “rebuilding phase,” trying to sign younger, cheaper talent instead of using up their budget on more established names at this point.

Update:

Nevermind.

Alberto El Patron (Alberto Del Rio) has reached a deal with TNA and will be debuting tonight at the Impact Wrestling tapings, where he is expected to get a “massive push,” according to PWInsider.

It was previously reported that TNA’s former management was in talks with Del Rio and he was expected to debut at the last set of tapings, but those talks stopped after Jeff Jarrett came in. However, talks apparently restarted in the last couple of days, possibly after Drew Galloway and the Hardys decided to not re-sign.

He will be in TNA “full time,” according to PWInsider.

Ed Nordholm, “executive vice president” of Anthem (TNA’s owners), tweeted this pic:

Exciting night … pic.twitter.com/zZsW8SOn2F

— Ed Nordholm (@EdNordholm) March 2, 2017

Paige is also backstage at the Impact tapings with Del Rio, though she is obviously still under WWE contract (until 2019).

Update 2:

Alberto El Patron made his Impact Wrestling debut at tonight’s TV tapings (airing March 9). Click here if you’d like to see what happened (spoilers, obviously).