SmackDown selects Alberto Del Rio with final TV pick

Here is all you need to know about Alberto Del Rio, who is now officially a member of the SmackDown roster thanks to Tuesday’s WWE brand split draft.

Alberto Del Rio may not drive ultra-expensive cars to the ring anymore. He may not have a personal ring announcer giving him ever-longer introductions in Spanish anymore. He may not be forever hovering around the title scene. But he’s still a nasty, brutal man and a force to be reckoned with in the ring.

Del Rio has always been one of the stiffest workers around, and if anything, that’s been amplified since his surprise return last year. He’s added more elements of aggression to his work in the ring, including the Tree Of Woe, his double-foot stomp off the top rope onto a helpless opponent’s face. That added to the never-ending barrage of hard chops and sharp kicks makes it difficult for another wrestler just to get through a match, much less mount offense of their own.

On top of it all, Del Rio still has the Cross Armbreaker, a submission finisher that’s tough to get out of once he has it locked in. After 15 minutes of getting brutally pounded on, feeling that pain is just too much for most of Del Rio’s opponents.

And yes, Del Rio still looks terrifyingly nude when he’s wearing gold trunks.

Make no mistake: Del Rio came back to win the WWE championship. Sure, he had that run as the United States champion, a belt he won on his first night back in a surprise challenge of John Cena, but it’s not the championship in the WWE.

Since losing the U.S. title for good against Kalisto, Del Rio hasn’t really been part of the title scene. He’s been part of a tag team title match, sure, and he’s been in multiple Battles Royal to determine No. 1 contendership for the U.S. and Intercontinental titles, but his eye is forever on a higher prize, one currently around the waist of one Dean Ambrose.

Alberto Del Rio is a lot of things, but chief among them is that he’s driven. He’s not going to rest until he’s a part of the hunt for a major championship again, and until the day he wins the title again, a lot of people are going to feel a lot of pain.