Ricardo Rodriguez

Rodriguez debuted in the WWE on the *SmackDown* brand on August 20, 2010, as the personal ring announcer to Alberto Del Rio. As well as being the personal ring announcer, Rodriguez also helped Del Rio win matches by distracting his opponents.

On the January 4, 2011 episode of *NXT*, Rodriguez took Del Rio's place in a battle royal for the NXT Pros, and was quickly eliminated by R-Truth. On *NXT*, Rodriguez feuded with Del Rio's Rookie, Conor O'Brian, after he claimed a rat problem. On the January 18 episode of *NXT*, Rodriguez and O'Brian brawled backstage, setting up Rodriguez's WWE singles debut, which he won. After the match, O'Brian was eliminated from *NXT*. Del Rio later gained a new rookie, Brodus Clay, after Clay won a match which allowed him to change his Pro. Del Rio "temporarily" passed Pro responsibilities of Clay to Rodriguez on the February 1 episode of *NXT*, but never returned for the rest of the season, so Rodriguez managed to coach Clay to a second-place finish in the season finale on March 1.

At the 2011 WWE Draft, Rodriguez and Del Rio were drafted to the *Raw* brand; the duo clashed with Big Show when Rodriguez ran over Big Show's leg by using Del Rio's car. On June 6, Rodriguez masqueraded as Big Show as Del Rio mocked Big Show. On his return to *Raw* on June 13, Big Show attacked Del Rio. Rodriguez came to his employee's aid and he was brutally attacked which caused him to take time off for an injury. Rodriguez returned on July 18, 2011. On the August 30 episode of *SmackDown*, when John Cena called out Del Rio, Rodriguez walked out alone to reply to Cena. Rodriguez spoke in a mixture of English and Spanish, explaining that Del Rio was not present. Cena then asked Rodriguez to deliver a message to Del Rio, and then promptly punched Rodriguez in the face. On the September 12 episode of *Raw*, Rodriguez wrestled his first match for the brand, teaming with Del Rio to lose to John Cena and Bret Hart.

At TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, Rodriguez tried to help Del Rio regain the WWE Championship during Del Rio's triple threat Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. Rodriguez climbed to the top of a ladder in the ring to try to reach the WWE Championship hanging above the ring, but Del Rio's opponents, CM Punk and The Miz, tipped the ladder over such that Rodriguez fell out of the ring and crashed through a table at ringside. On the January 9, 2012 episode of *Raw*, when Del Rio was absent, the Miz bullied Rodriguez into insulting and calling out R-Truth. R-Truth came out and made Rodriguez sing La Cucaracha. After that, R-Truth delivered his finisher to Rodriguez. At the 2012 Royal Rumble event, Rodriguez participated in the Royal Rumble match, entering at number eight. He and Mick Foley eliminated Justin Gabriel, after which Rodriguez was eliminated by Santino Marella.

Rodriguez and Del Rio were traded to the *SmackDown* brand on the April 20 episode of *SmackDown*. On the May 21 episode of *Raw*, Santino Marella criticized Rodriguez's announcing and then attacked Rodriguez. Rodriguez unsuccessfully challenged Marella to a match on the May 25 *SmackDown*. On the June 8 *SmackDown*, to tie in with Del Rio's feud with World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus, Rodriguez dressed up as Sheamus and mocked Sheamus' mannerisms. On the June 11 episode of *Raw*, Rodriguez resumed his feud with Marella, teaming with Beth Phoenix to beat Marella and Layla. After the match, Marella embarrassed Rodriguez by ripping off Rodriguez's shirt to reveal he was wearing a Justin Bieber T-shirt underneath. Their feud ended at No Way Out, when Rodriguez lost to Marella in a non-title tuxedo match, Rodriguez's first pay-per-view singles match. In September 2012, during Del Rio's feud with Sheamus, Rodriguez suffered a *Brogue Kick* from Sheamus and thus enlisted David Otunga's help as his lawyer to try and ban the *Brogue Kick*. Rodriguez was later pinned in a six-man tag match later that month with Del Rio and Otunga against Sheamus, Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara.

Rodriguez came to the aid of the Spanish announce team at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 16, who were being heckled by 3MB (Drew McIntyre, Heath Slater, and Jinder Mahal). As 3MB turned on Rodriguez, Del Rio came to his aid, signalling a face turn for the duo. The turn was further cemented the next night at *Raw* in a similar situation as Rodriguez came to the aid of Tommy Dreamer, who was being assaulted by The Shield, but Rodriguez ended up being attacked himself. On the December 28 *SmackDown*, Rodriguez was randomly selected to be the next contender for Big Show's World Heavyweight Championship, but Show knocked him out backstage, starting a feud between Del Rio and Show. Rodriguez received his title match against Show on the December 31 *Raw*; as Rodriguez was about to lose, Del Rio interfered and attacked Show, causing Rodriguez to lose via disqualification. After Del Rio defeated Show to win the World Heavyweight Championship in January 2013, Rodriguez started bringing a bucket to the ring. During Del Rio's title defense against Show at the Royal Rumble, Rodriguez duct-taped Show's legs to the ring ropes to ensure that Del Rio won the Last Man Standing match; the next week, Show attacked Rodriguez twice. During Del Rio's next feud with Jack Swagger, Rodriguez suffered a storyline broken ankle due to Swagger's attack. On the edition of April 29 of *Raw*, Rodriguez defeated Zeb Colter and Big E Langston in a triple-threat match, giving Del Rio the right to choose the stipulation for his World Heavyweight Championship match at Extreme Rules.

At Payback, Del Rio reverted to being a heel by ruthlessly targeting Ziggler's head after Ziggler's recent concussion to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Rodriguez was suspended for 30 days for his first violation of the WWE Wellness Policy on July 2, 2013. He returned to television on the August 5 episode of *Raw*, but after he inadvertently cost Del Rio a non-title match against Rob Van Dam, Del Rio viciously assaulted Rodriguez.

Rodriguez returned on the August 19 episode of *Raw*, revealing that he now worked for Rob Van Dam. The next week on *Raw*, Rodriguez cost Del Rio a match against Van Dam, and as per match stipulation, Van Dam would get a shot at Del Rio's World Heavyweight Championship at Night of Champions. Just days before the event, Vickie Guerrero, who was acting in authority, stated that Rodriguez would not be allowed at ringside for the title match at Night of Champions. He was also forced to wrestle Del Rio on *SmackDown*, and he lost. On October 7, he defeated Del Rio, who attacked him after the match. Van Dam and Rodriguez ended their alliance after Van Dam's feud with Del Rio, as he ceased to accompany him to the ring and ring announcing him since after Van Dam returned in April 2014.

Rodriguez started to wrestle as the masked luchador **El Local**, who remained distinct from his ring announcer character, debuting on the November 3, 2012 episode of *Saturday Morning Slam* in a loss to Sin Cara. In late 2013, El Local began teaming up with another masked competitor (Tyson Kidd) to form Los Locales, a team which never won a match. During this time, Rodriguez became a commentator for the Spanish broadcast team for WWE pay-per-views. In May 2014, Rodriguez (as El Local) formed a tag team with the debuting Kalisto on *NXT*, in a winning effort against The Legionnaires (Marcus Louis and Sylvester Lefort). Rodriguez was released by WWE on July 30, 2014.