Of the River will always be a heel to me, dammit!

And he is NXT Champion! :)

lol NXT

What's with the bucket with the Mexican flag?

Ricardo once used it to throw confetti on The Big Show or something during ADR's title win celebration, and then he just started to always bring out the bucket.

I am still confused by the presence of the bucket.

Ricardo himself referred to it as a spit bucket on Main Event last night. Why would there be confetti in a spit bucket? Also, I don't think I've ever seen Del Rio spit in it.

also why would a wrestler need a spit bucket?

Alberto Del Rio turned face when he had that segment with Bret Hart at TLC (I think that's where it happened.) Then DB turned face Monday with his segment with Bret Hart. And let's not forget Stone Cold Steve Austin's epic face turn thanks to Bret.

Del Rio hates bullies, dats why hes a face.

I thought he was a babyface because he stuck his penis into Kaitlyn's vagina on Saturday Morning Slam.

A little thing called charisma , mi amigo .

Dunno, but I remember Victoria carried one to the ring when she managed/was aligned with Kenny Dykstra (the only other remotely notable guy besides Nicky/DZ from the Spirit Squad).

Pretty much all The Spirit Squad had something to them. Well, besides Mitch. He did bang Torrie Wilson, though.

I made a thread about this a few months back. I kind of felt that Del Rio hadn't "transformed" enough. I missed certain things about him (his ring attire changing colours and the cars and pyro shower being dropped), but for the most part, he still feels like a Mexican aristocrat. Del Rio is such a natural babyface in the ring, but as a character, he's a heel. He ran over Big Show's foot with a car to get an advantage over him. He pulled out Rey Mysterio's shoulder. I feel like there needs to be more of a "moment" with Del Rio.

I do like that they put the World Heavyweight Title on Del Rio soon after his face turn. I feel that a big reason The Miz's face turn hasn't really worked is because there has been no benefit. We're meant to cheer for him now, but why? There's been absolutely no credibility to the turn. Del Rio became a hero inexplicably, sure -- but he became the World Champion with the people in his corner, so that relationship has been beneficial. Even if he just credited the people for helping him fulfil his destiny or explained that winning the World Title took a massive chip off his shoulder -- there would be some motivation for the character.

As a heel, Del Rio did show endearing qualities that could have been capitalised on. His badassery, for example. It was only a little moment, but during Kane's dominant heel run towards the end of 2010, Del Rio knocked the urn out of Paul Bearer's hands. That showed balls, and that's something that made early SmackDown run Del Rio awesome. You could buy that this guy would enter the ring with anyone and probably make them tap out.

I kind of think that Del Rio beating Ziggler and becoming World Heavyweight Champion again would not be a bad idea. It would highlight that credibility he has, and I think that is one of the most marketable things about Del Rio. Little things I would tweak:

* Ricardo Rodriguez is great. He's funny and he's likeable. But he was likeable when he was a slimy ring announcer somehow. Maybe Ricardo should still show that arrogant flare he showed when he would interrupt top babyfaces as they were talking and tell them to "shut up" before introducing Del Rio? Give heels a reason to want to punch Ricardo, and that would give Del Rio a reason to protect his friend.

* Del Rio should change his ring attire. He's got a new logo for his t-shirts. Put that onto his trunks. The Mexican-flag coloured attire is pretty hammy. Put Del Rio in black with his logo and he might look less like he is trying to suck up.

* Consider paying a Spanish-speaking band to perform theme music for him. His theme isn't terrible, but it still reeks of the old Del Rio -- the aristocrat. Give him an epic theme that gets people pumped just to hear it. Also, if he is rich, shouldn't he be able to pay to have whatever music he wants?

* The Cross Armbreaker is a good finish, but I think Del Rio could use a finisher that could result in a pinfall. He's done a moonsault a few times, but I kind of feel like that's not "high impact" enough. It could end a few matches here and there, but something like a Superkick would be brilliant if Del Rio didn't use vicious kicks every match. I kind of miss the days when a few wrestlers would use the same finisher, because it could lead to rivalries and discussions as to who did the move better. How about Del Rio uses a Codebreaker? He essentially performs the move to his opponent's back, so why not aim it at their front and in a way where his often larger opponents don't land with their weight directly on him? He could also channel a Hispanic icon in Eddie Guerrero and perform a Frog Splash in certain situations. Or he could bust out some beautiful rolling German suplexes and just bombard his opponents with them.

* He could use a feud with a proper heel. Not just a rivalry or a feud with a character that could really be feuding with anyone that's not American. Say a feud with CM Punk, with Punk reminding Del Rio that he beat him for the WWE Championship and he will now beat him for the World Heavyweight Title. Or perhaps this rivalry with Dolph Ziggler could become more intense?