Daniel Bryan's neck injury may have had his fans yelling NO! when he was stripped of the WWE World Heavyweight Title, but his misfortune brings opportunity to others.

Competing for the vacated title at Money in the Bank this Sunday are Bray Wyatt, Cesaro, John Cena, Kane, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, Sheamus and... The Pride of Mexico, Alberto Del Rio.

Charles Sykes



Ahead of the eight-man ladder match, Digital Spy got in touch with 2011's Mr Money in the Bank to quiz him about ladder matches, CM Punk and Luis Suárez.

Why are you going to be the man to walk away with the belts on Sunday?

"I've won that match before. I'm a former Money in the Bank winner and I'm the one that can bring more to the table."

Kane has just been added to the match - who is it you fear the most in that ring?

"I would say Kane because of his experience and just for the fact that Kane is big and powerful. He's going to be a dangerous competitor that night."

How much do you enjoy a ladder match compared to other matches?

"No - I don't really enjoy them because they're painful! But it's part of the game, and in this case, if you want to be WWE World Heavyweight Champion you have to accept the challenge and prepare yourself and your body for a lot of pain on Sunday."

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Roman Reigns is going to be there - what did you think about the break-up of The Shield?

"I don't really think about The Shield, but I can tell you something - Roman Reigns is a great competitor. He's strong, fast. I would say he is the new rising star for the WWE.

"He's going to a great competitor that night, but unfortunately he's going to be in the ring with Alberto Del Rio, so I don't think he's going to win the title."

There's been a lot of mumbling about the return of Brock Lesnar - if you win on Sunday, how would you feel if Brock goes after you?

"We all know who Brock Lesnar is and how dangerous he can be, but he's no different to any other competitor in WWE.

"All the people, all the wrestlers in WWE are great fighters, great wrestlers, so it doesn't really matter who you need to face when you're the champion. That's the reason someone is the champion... to face everybody in the world."

Brock doesn't do a lot of talking for himself - he has Paul Heyman to do that for him. Would you ever be a Paul Heyman Guy?

"Oh, not at all. Oh, not at all! Not in a million years. I don't want to be somebody's puppet. I'm fine like this, I'm fine solo. Alberto Del Rio fights solo, he fights his own battles, he does his own talking. I don't need anybody to talk for me."

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It was another Heyman Guy, CM Punk, who took the title from you at Survivor Series in 2011 - do you think he'll come back to the company any time soon?

"Yeah, of course. He'll be back soon. I don't know when, but he'll back."

Jim Ross has said that too many heels today don't cheat, bully and disrespect. That too many try to be cool instead. Are too many bad guys looking for the cheers?

"Oh, yeah of course! I would say that 95% of the heels want to be cool, they want to be cheered, they want to sign autographs. They wanna be the bad guys but at the same time they wanna get the cheers from the crowd.

Peter Morgan/AP



"To be honest, for me that's disgusting, because you have to play your role. In life, in the business, if you're the bad guy you're the bad guy - you need to embrace people booing you, when people hate you.

"That's what I do, that's what real heels do. They're still doing it in other places around the world. They still do it in Japan, they still do it in Mexico. The heel is a heel. He's a bad guy, period!"

The one great exception with you was the wonderful fatherhood adverts you, Titus O'Neil and Roman Reigns made - how important is it to be a role model for young people?

"We're on TV all the time and we know we have a lot of young people following us. So it's really important for us to present ourselves to the world in the best way and be a good role model for all of them.

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"In this particular case, the fatherhood campaign, it's something that I really wanted to do. It's something I asked WWE to let me be part of. In real life I always say how important it is to spend time with your kids - the importance of having quality time with your kids.

"As you know, I don't have too much time to be at home. I can't give my kids quantity of time but I can give them quality. That's exactly what my father did with me and my brothers and that's exactly what I'm doing with my son."

You had a feud with Batista when he first came back - are you looking forward to getting in the ring with him again when he returns?

"Yeah, why not? Batista is a big name in wrestling, he's a good competitor. I know we only feuded for a month, but it was fun. Besides being a great competitor he's a great guy, so I would love to be in the ring against Batista."

He's in the movies now, and you've got The Rock, who's done loads of movies - would you be interested in going into Hollywood?

"If there was an opportunity, but that's not something I'm after. I'm really focusing on my wrestling career, and if someday in the future somebody invites me or wants me to do a part in a movie or whatever, I would love to do it."

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A lot of people were recently released from the company including some great guys. You've been around a long time now - is it harder than ever to stay successful?

"It's always hard. Wrestling is no different from any other job - you need to bring your best every single day because there's people behind you trying to take your job. You can see that everywhere, not only in wrestling.

"That's the reason you have to be in shape all the time, you have to try to bring something different every time you're in the ring and you need to make yourself and your opponent good every single time, so you can keep up with the game."

When you one day retire, what do you want the legacy of Alberto Del Rio to be?

"Everybody knows I'm a hard worker and they know that regardless of if you like me or not, I'm going to bring the best matches every single night, because I have pride for this business, I love this business.

"It was passed to me by my grandfather and my father. That will be my legacy: somebody who gave everything in the ring every single night."

What do you think about the rumours of Luis Suárez going to Real Madrid - would you still want him there now?

"They always have rumours... he should be coming to WWE - and the bite can be his finisher! To be honest I don't think we need him in Madrid. I know he's a fantastic player, but we don't need somebody as crazy as Luis Suárez."

WWE's Money in the Bank is live on Sky Sports Box Office on June 29 (Sunday night/Monday morning) at 1am and on the WWE Network in the US

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