Most people can’t associate a face with the name – Emanuel Alejandro Rodriguez, but mention Samuray del Sol, Octagón Jr, Samuray or even better Kalisto and they’ll easily know who you’re talking about, at least with the different masks he wears during the fight in the ring.
Kalisto is an American professional wrestler who plies his trade in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) after rising through the ranks of NXT. He wrestled in promotions Asistencia Asesoría y Administracion, Dragon USA before heading to NXT where he won the NXT Tag Team Championship with the Lucha Dragons before making it to the WWE roster in February 2015.
Kalisto WWE – Biography (Age)
Kalisto being one of the youngest wrestlers in WWE was born on November 14, 1986 in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. After birth, he spent the next five years of his life in Mexico City, Mexico and grew up as a fan of Mexican professional wrestling. His favorites then were Tinieblas for whom he liked his mask and physique, as well as Octagón for his fighting style.
When his family returned to the US Kalisto was enrolled at Metropolitan Curie High School and began watching World Wrestling Federation (WWF), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), through which he is became a big fan of wrestlers like Sabu, Rob Van Dam, and Rey Mysterio. However, watching wrestling wasn’t the only thing, as he also participated in combat sports like Taekwondo, Jujutsu, amateur wrestling and lesser ones like American Football and Gymnastics. We can deduce that these sports have prepared him well for the career he is doing well now.
In 2006, Kalisto joined a professional groupWindy City Pro Wrestling (WCPW), a wrestling school in Chicago, debuted under the alias Samuray del Sol wearing a mask just three weeks after training. He suffered a few defeats at the cradle of his career, including an injury that jeopardized his wrestling career. But for his resilience, he made a comeback to the sports he had loved since childhood. Between 2011 and 2012, he met Octagon within Lucha Libre. AAA Worldwide adopted him as their protege and gave him a mask similar to the one he wears.
Promotions, NXT and WWE
Kalisto then had a great time in his youth fighting in various promotions and championships like Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), Dragon Gate USA, Open Ultimate Gate 2012, Mercury Rising 2012, Evolve, Evolve Championship, Open the Freedom Gate Championship, Jeff Memorial Cup Peterson 2012, Wrestling Hart (HLW), Full Impact Pro (FIP), Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), Puerto Rican promotion group World Wrestling League (WWL), Southside Wrestling Entertainment (SWE) Speed King 2 English tournament promotion ) and others.
On May 26, 2013, he signed a developmental contract. Kalisto revealed his name in the ring on August 29, but made his NXT debut on September 20 in a match against Baron Corbin. He formed a tag team with Sin Cara under the alias “The Dragons of Lucha” and won the NXT Tag Team Championship with him on September 11 at NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way2014. However, they would later lose the title to Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy on January 15, 2015, as well as a second time at NXT TakeOver: Rival.
Kalisto fought in the United States Championship between 2015 and 2016, both individually and as ‘Lucha Dragons’. He defeated Del Rio on January 11, 2015 to become United States Champion and would repeat the same feat on January 24 at the Royal Rumble to become a two-time State Champion. He managed to retain the title by twice fighting his opponent Ryback, but then lost it to Rusev in a rematch that ended his 119-day reign in the championship.
In the 2016 WWE Draft, he parted ways with SinCara and entered the competition as an individual wrestler. Kalisto was drafted under the SmackDown brand during the 2016 WWE Draft, but his run for the WWE Intercontinental Championship was unsuccessful.
The masked wrestler was drafted to RAW on April-March 17, 2017 as part of the Superstar shake-up. General Manager Kurt Angle signed him to challenge Enzo Amore for the WWE Heavyweight Championship. He defeated Amore on October 9 RAW. but lost the title to Amore on October 22 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs and lost it again in a rematch which took place on November 19 at the Survivor Series Kickoff Show.
Some of his unmasked photos
Kalisto doesn’t wear masks for any reason other than the influence of his favorite wrestlers who robbed him growing up.
As you can imagine, real-life images of Kalisto’s faces are rare on the internet and rarely seen unlike those of Rey Mysterio that have been revealed. Below are some images from romanreignswwe.net. what could possibly be his real face.