Ricardo Rodriguez has opened up about his alcohol addiction and how Drew McIntyre helped him get into rehab through WWE.
The former WWE manager had an interview with Chris Van Vliet. He talked about things such as his run with Alberto Del Rio, his WWE release in 2014, and more.
During the session, Rodriguez went into length talking about his alcohol addiction. He mentioned that he got used to the grind during his time in WWE. After leaving the company, however, he had nothing to fill his time with and he turned to alcohol.
The 38-year-old revealed that he was chugging whole boxes of wine by himself at a time before he finally realized that he had a problem. He then put out a tweet asking for help and got a reply from a gentleman named Christopher Dreisbach. Rodriguez later contacted his friend Drew McIntyre to help him get in touch with WWE:
“WWE has this really cool wellness program part where if you’ve been with them and you encounter a similar situation, they can help you out, they’ll figure something out.
So I got in contact with WWE, and this is where a good friend of mine Drew McIntyre comes in. I sent Drew a message, and I was like, ‘Hey, can you find out the information of the wellness policy, who’s in charge or something.'”
Drew Was A Big Part In Making That Connection: Ricardo Rodriguez
The Mexican-American pro wrestler recalled always being angry and bitter during his addiction. He admitted to pushing a lot of his close friends away when they tried to help him because he didn’t care about anyone. It was the conversation with McIntyre that finally led to him getting the help he needed:
“So then he dug around, and he got me the info. I contacted WWE because of that, and it just yeah, it became a thing and that’s how we got connected. I had talked to WWE, and I told who had contacted me up here in Lancaster.
And he’s like, oh, and we’ve done stuff with them before. Go ahead and set it up, and we can figure out the details later. So yeah, Drew was a big part of making that connection.”
Rodriguez mentioned that something like that never goes away but he has learned to manage his addiction better. It remains a daily battle for him but he has learned to be grateful about things in life. He now tries to take a pause when something upsets him instead of reacting instantly and spiraling back into his old habits.
You can check out our exclusive interview with Ricardo on the 10th anniversary of his WWE exit below: