Ricardo Rodriguez Recalls How He Got His Start In WWE

Ricardo Rodriguez is best known for his WWE tenure as Alberto Del Rio's valet and ring announcer, where he was involved in numerous on-screen storylines, but he mainly worked as a wrestler before joining the company. During an interview with "Under The Ring," Rodriguez recalled getting his start in WWE.

According to Rodrigeuz, he was approached by a talent scout after doing a luchador tryout, and at the time, he wrestled under a mask on the independent circuit. "And at the end, it was myself and this one guy. Ty Bailly, who was a talent scout at the time. He approached me afterwards, and he asked me if I was willing to relocate to Florida."

Interestingly, his opponent in the tryout finals was offered a spot on "WWE SmackDown" as an announcer but refused the offer, opening up a spot for Rodriguez. "So, they come up to me, so I ended up going to San Bernadino, and I do this ring announcing the deal, and it just kind of happened from there, and Vince liked it."

Rodriguez then claimed that his announcing role was initially meant to be a one-off deal, but according to Dean Malenko, he impressed Vince McMahon. "From what Malenko used to tell me, and he was like my wrestling dad in WWE, it was supposed to only be for the Alberto debut. So, that 'Ricardo' role was only supposed to be one-off, but Vince liked it a lot and decided to keep me around."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Under The Ring" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.