Global Force Wrestling (formerly TNA/Impact Wrestling) released a statement this morning that they have suspended Alberto El Patron indefinitely. The suspension comes in light of this past weekend’s domestic violence incident at an Orlando, Florida, airport.
Below is the company’s full statement, at this time:
Videos by PopCulture.com
“Global Force Wrestling has indefinitely suspended Alberto El Patron, effective immediately, until the investigation is resolved following a recent incident in Orlando, Florida.”
As reported by Wrestling Inc, GFW founder and CEO Jeff Jarrett will address this and other matters concerning the company in a previously scheduled media teleconference call later today, at 1pm ET.
El Patron (Formerly known as Alberto Del Rio during his time with the WWE) is the current GFW World Champion. He unified the company’s Global Championship with the Impact Wrestling Championship at last weekend’s Slammiversary PPV. Unfortunately for GFW, several weeks of Impact episodes have already been filmed with Del Rio obviously front and center for the promotion.
Up Next: Audio Released of Alberto Del Rio’s Altercation With Paige
As we have been reporting this week, Alberto and fiancรฉ Paige were involved in an airport altercation on Sunday (possibly with another female) that resulted in El Patron being detained by Orlando police. Although he was not arrested nor are any charges currently pending, the matter is still open and under investigation by local authorities, as well as internally by GFW.
The company issued a prior statement two days ago, saying “Global Force Wrestling takes all legal situations very seriously and is looking into this matter. GFW is a privately-held company and will thoroughly investigate this incident and fully cooperate with law enforcement.”
More: Paige’s Brother Worried She’ll End up Like Whitney Houston
While Paige denied the two were having any troubles despite previous rumors of their break-up, TMZ has since released troubling audio of the couple’s interaction, which contradicts Paige’s earlier tweet about the incident, in which she stated that the police were called simply because of an angry fan throwing a drink at Del Rio.
Paige’s family is now starting to weigh in, voicing their concern over her relationship with Global Force Wrestling’s World Champion. The couple have become known for their volatile nature and public outbursts. Del Rio made headlines last week for an expletive-ridden Instagram post where he challenged both Triple H and Xavier Woods to a fight, as well as trashing the WWE in his Impact Slammiversary PPV victory speech.
How El Patron’s suspension will effect upcoming episodes of Impact Wrestling and GFW as a whole is unknown at this time, but with the company trying to shed it’s negative past image as TNA, having its top star causing these sorts of problems does not bode well for their reputation and re-branding efforts.
