WWE Called Out for Burying Hijo del Vikingo by Refusing to Bring In Alberto Del Rio

Dominik Mysterio defeated Hijo del Vikingo in order to become the AAA Mega Champion at the WWE x AAA Worlds Collide event in Las Vegas. Following the show, WWE has now been called out for burying Vikingo by refusing to bring back Alberto Del Rio.

While speaking on Lucha Libre Online, Hugo Savinovich criticized how the match and story were planned. He said the bookers didn’t think about how the Las Vegas crowd would react.

Hugo noted how fans were cheering for Dominik instead of Vikingo. Even with exciting moments like Judgment Day interfering, Rey Mysterio hitting a chair shot, Dragon Lee running in, and Dominik finishing with an Eddie Guerrero-style frog splash, the fans never supported Vikingo.

“There was one problem. And this is where I think—Undertaker was there, I know Triple H and Shawn Michaels were there; I don’t know who agented that match, I know Savio Vega is one of the agents—but there was a situation: you had to anticipate that the crowd wasn’t going to favor the babyface, and I don’t think that part was planned well. That hurts Hijo del Vikingo, because the people were with the heel, with Dominik Mysterio. And although there were false finishes where Judgment Day tried to interfere, then his own father came in with a chair shot, and Dragon Lee drove Judgment Day away, and then the Great American also applied the final pressure—passing him the foreign object, putting it into the mask to weaken Hijo del Vikingo—then came the frog splash in the style of Eddie Guerrero and 1-2-3: a new Mega Champion.”

Savinovich said this didn’t fix two big problems: fans were upset that Alberto Del Rio never appeared and that many felt WWE and AAA “sold out” to Saudi Arabia. He believes Vikingo’s title run failed because of bad booking, not because of anything Vikingo did wrong.

In his view, WWE made a major mistake by not bringing in Alberto. He suggested that Alberto could have returned during an attack on Rey Mysterio, cleared the ring, teamed with Rey against Judgment Day, and eventually faced Dominik at a Worlds Collide event. Alberto would not even need to win the title for the story to succeed.

“Did that remove the bitter taste of the crowd asking for Alberto? It did not. Did it remove the bitter taste that WWE and AAA sold out to Saudi Arabia? No. Even if WWE are stubborn, the Hijo del Vikingo run didn’t work—not his fault. Hijo del Vikingo is the victim of bad booking. It was a total mistake by WWE not to bring in Alberto, because if Alberto had come in for at least two matches as Mega Champion and then dropped it to Hijo del Vikingo, there would have been no problem. If I had creative control, at the moment they’re going to keep attacking the dad—Rey Mysterio—the music would hit and Alberto Del Rio would come out and clean house.

Then you’d have a tag war first, if you wanted—Alberto & Rey vs. Judgment Day—and then cook it for a big Worlds Collide event: Alberto vs. Dominik. And it wouldn’t even be necessary to give Alberto the title later. If you can do this, I think there’s enormous potential. Sometimes those of us in creative forget that you are the audience; that little tale about ‘if it’s on the internet we don’t care, we only listen to ticket buyers’—Triple H, Paul Levesque: the crowd in Las Vegas was chanting ‘You sold out.’ Not the internet—the people there. And the paying crowd in the arena did not applaud Hijo del Vikingo.

You can’t blame the internet there. If I had creative control, at the moment they’re going to keep attacking the dad—Rey Mysterio—the music would hit and Alberto Del Rio would come out and clean house. Then you’d have a tag war first, if you wanted—Alberto & Rey vs. Judgment Day—and then cook it for a big Worlds Collide event: Alberto vs. Dominik. And it wouldn’t even be necessary to give Alberto the title later. If you can do this, I think there’s enormous potential.”

Savinovich also pointed out that live fans, not just people online, chanted “You sold out” and did not cheer for the new champion. Savinovich said WWE killed Vikingo’s momentum.

Hugo noted that Vikingo had looked amazing in AEW with high-flying matches against stars like Kenny Omega. But after getting the title, he struggled with injuries and poor creative plans. Savinovich said WWE’s choices and skipping Alberto buried a talented young wrestler’s career and wasted a big opportunity.

“And I’m not protecting Alberto because he’s my friend or because I’m his pastor. I’m telling you the truth—because he proved it in Mexico; in the live chat people were asking for Alberto. And as Triple H will always say, ‘No, that’s the internet crowd’—but it wasn’t; it was the people there in Las Vegas who didn’t applaud the champion they blatantly put there, and they ruined—ruined—a debut, a presentation.

Remember, Hijo del Vikingo looked incredible when he was in AEW; he looked tremendous, matches against Kenny Omega that were completely high-risk. Triple H and WWE put out Hijo del Vikingo’s fire. When they gave him the title, before the first event they buried Hijo del Vikingo. And he hasn’t been the same, because he’s a young guy who’s had injuries and a lot of life experiences, and he’s a tremendous wrestler—but he’s been the victim of wrong creative ideas, and by not having Alberto they sacrificed him.”

This comes after several top WWE Superstars such as Roman Reigns, Undertaker, Cody Rhodes and more want to see Alberto Del Rio back in the company following his AAA departure.

Regardless, what’s done is done and Dominik Mysterio is now the new AAA Mega Champion. So only time will tell whether Vikingo can recover from his current situation soon enough.

September 13, 2025 7:54 am