How would I critique Alberto Del Rio? I am a fan of this guy. I honestly think he has tools to be great. I like his submission finisher. He pulls off a great range of moves. And I think he has a great character. I like how he sounds on the mic. I am aware of the criticisms some have about his mic skills. Moreover, you might also criticize his look, although I think it fits his character. He isn't exactly young. How would I grade him? I gave Kofi Kingston a B+. I think Alberto Del Rio is worth more than that. At the same time, I have trouble really giving him an A-. Let's just leave it at A-/B+. Don't you just love seeing that kind of grade?
How would I grade the results Del Rio has brought? Obviously, he is no A+ player. He isn't that over. But I wouldn't say he has not connected with fans at all. I still remember riding on the subway and seeing ADR's logo scratched into the bench. But that's pretty much the same as one Cody Rhodes fan clapping, isn't it? He has shown sparks of connecting well with the fans here and there. And when he does eventually retire from the WWE and goes back to Mexico, I can imagine him getting treated as a big deal there. Problem is, the WWE's main audience isn't in Mexico. I would give him a C.
Whenever I have "graded" a wrestler in the past few weeks, I have tried to also include a little discussion about other aspects of how you should be analyzing their careers, efficiency, and productivity. I didn't just want to drop a ton of my personal opinion. I was hoping to say more that you can take away with you when judging these wrestlers for yourselves. When I talked about John Cena, I talked about the centerpiece of the company needing to be a good draw, not just be very over. When I talked about Zack Ryder, I was talking about a guy who may not have had the wrestling skill and potential to earn a better career, but he produced the overness to deserve it and the WWE did not give it to him easily. It was a sign of the times. When I talked about Batista's return, I talked about WWE-produced successes being pushed as A-range stars struggling to bring those kind of results these days. When I talked about Kofi Kingston, I went on a tangent about stars not being very over not meaning no one cares, which is a generalization some people sometimes make. When I talked about AJ Lee, I said a lot about the differences between analyzing the men and the women. I probably could have said more, but I didn't want anyone's eyes to start bleeding. What more can I say about Alberto Del Rio?
How does overachieving and underachieving work in terms of all this grading lingo? If you have someone being pushed as an A-range player and he has A-range potential and talent, you would expect him to bring A-range results. When he does not, that is underachieving. On the other side of that, a B+ player might be bringing you A-level overness. That is overachieving. I think analyzing and critiquing the type of career a worker is getting, his efficiency, and his productivity can make it easier to discuss which wrestlers are the overachievers and the underachievers.
Alberto Del Rio is an underachiever. This is coming from someone that likes him. He has had a great career, he has potential, and he does try, but he just hasn't gotten the job done. Whom do you blame? The fans? Can't really blame them. They cheer for whom they like. The WWE? I think they have made mistakes in trying to make Alberto Del Rio look so great. They should have tried to make him look interesting through his gimmick and storylines more. Nevertheless, I still think Alberto Del Rio could have succeeded. And he didn't. It just works that way sometimes. I am not going to say he deserves better than the B+ career he is getting now.
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