Did slapping employee cost Alberto Del Rio his gig in WWE?

Published Aug. 9, 2014 8:31 p.m. ET

foxsports

There was much surprise on Thursday when WWE announced it had fired Alberto Del Rio, one of its top performers.

According to reports, Del Rio allegedly was canned because he slapped an employee of the company.

Dave Meltzer, one of the biggest voices in sports entertainment, wrote:

"Based on sketchy stories and what wrestlers have been talking about, at catering, somebody asked [Web producer] to clean off his plate. The person joked something along the lines of how that's Del Rio's job. Del Rio found out and confronted him. As the story goes, he didn't apologize and then smiled at him, and Del Rio slapped him."

Another surreal chapter in the surreal world of WWE.

Then, the company weighed in on its Twitter account, seemingly backing up the belief that an incident had taken place.

(1/2) @VivaDelRio is responsible for his own actions. If you’re angry at anyone, be angry at Alberto.
— WWE (@WWE) August 8, 2014

Triple H, son-in-law of Vince McMahon, husband of Stephanie McMahon and a company executive, retweeted the organization's remarks.

In another piece of the story, The Washington Post Early Lead blog reported it ... and it was the most-read sports story on the paper's website.

Whether this is fact or WWE fiction remains to be seen. It has, however, got attention.