Kalisto (wrestler)
Emanuel Alejandro Rodriguez is a Mexican-American professional wrestler, currently performing on the independent circuit under the ring name Samuray Del Sol. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he worked with the ring name Kalisto, as a member of both the Lucha Dragons and Lucha House Party.
In 2006, Rodriguez made his professional wrestling debut on the Midwestern United States independent circuit, working under a mask and the ring name Samuray del Sol. After establishing himself as one of the top high-flyers in the area, he began working for larger promotions in 2011 & was signed by Dragon Gate USA in 2012. That year, he made his debut for mexican promotion AAA, where, in November, he was repackaged as Octagón Jr., the storyline protégé of well-known luchador Octagón. He also worked for Combat Zone Wrestling, Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South, National Wrestling Alliance, Evolve Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.
In May 2013, he signed with WWE and was assigned to their developmental territory NXT, where he was renamed Kalisto. In September 2014, Kalisto won the NXT Tag Team Championship alongside Sin Cara, as part of the Lucha Dragons. In February 2015, Kalisto was promoted to WWE's main roster, where he won the WWE United States Championship twice and the Cruiserweight Championship once. In early 2018, he formed a stable with fellow luchadors Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado, calling themselves Lucha House Party. He then separated from the group in late 2020, before being released from the WWE in April 2021.
Early life
Emanuel Alejandro Rodriguez was born in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago on November 14, 1986. He is a second-generation Mexican-American. Though born in the United States, he spent his first years living in Mexico City. Rodriguez grew up a fan of Mexican professional wrestling, or lucha libre, especially workers like Tinieblas, whose mask and physique caught his attention, and Octagón, whose in-ring style impressed him. As a child, he bought both Tinieblas' and Octagón's replica masks. In the mid-1990s, when he was still in elementary school, his family moved back to Chicago but took regular trips to Mexico City. He started watching World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling, and Extreme Championship Wrestling, becoming influenced by the likes of Rey Mysterio, Rob Van Dam, and Sabu. While attending Curie Metropolitan High School, Rodriguez also started watching independent promotions like Ring of Honor as well as Japanese promotions. Growing up, he participated in a number of sports, including gymnastics, taekwondo, jujutsu, amateur wrestling, and American football.Professional wrestling career
Early career (2006–2013)
In 2006, Rodriguez began training at Windy City Pro Wrestling's professional wrestling school in Chicago, where he was trained in not only American professional wrestling, but also lucha libre by a former AAA luchador. Rodriguez has later noted that his trainers were extremely strict on account of his youth, leading him to contemplate quitting the school. Rodriguez made his debut for WCPW after only three weeks of training. Combining his Mexican and Japanese influences, he adopted the ring name Samuray del Sol, choosing to use the spelling "Samuray" in order to differentiate himself from several other workers using the name Samurai. Much like his childhood idols, Rodriguez also began wrestling under a mask. During his first few years, Samuray began making a name for himself around the Midwestern United States independent circuit.In 2010, Samuray began branching out of the Midwest, making his debuts for Pennsylvania-based International Wrestling Cartel and New York–based East Coast Lucha Libre. On September 25, 2010, Samuray worked in a dark match put together by Berwyn, Illinois-based AAW: Professional Wrestling Redefined for Dragon Gate USA, where he unsuccessfully challenged Silas Young for the AAW Heavyweight Championship in a three-way match, which also included Gran Akuma. During 2010, Samuray made his first wrestling tour of Mexico. During another tour of Mexico in April 2011, Rodriguez suffered a serious injury at an event held by independent promotion Desastre Total Ultraviolento, when he landed on the concrete floor and hit his head on a guardrail after diving out of the ring onto his opponents. In the aftermath of the injury, Rodriguez began suffering from post-concussion syndrome and fell into depression and contemplated retiring from professional wrestling before receiving a call to take part in a three-day tryout camp for WWE. Though he was not offered a contract, knowing that he was on WWE's radar reinvigorated Rodriguez to continue his career and return to the independent circuit.
Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (2011–2013)
During mid-2011, Mexican luchador Crazy Boy, who saw Samuray during his Mexican debut, got him a spot in AAA's reality television program ¿Quién Pinta Para La Corona?. While taking part in the program, Samuray also returned to Crazy Boy's DTU promotion. During the taping of the program, he also underwent further training under veteran luchador Gran Apache, whom he credits with "perfecting career". Although he did not earn a contract with AAA through the program, Samuray was able to make his AAA main card debut on August 19, 2012, when he teamed with Joe Líder and Juventud Guerrera in a six-man tag team match, where they were defeated by the villainous La Sociedad trio of Daga, Dark Dragon and Psicosis. During September, Samuray worked several multi-man tag team matches against Los Inferno Rockers, losing all of them.While training with Teddy Hart in Canada, Samuray received a call from AAA booker Konnan, who offered him a regular spot on the promotion's roster. On October 7, 2012, at Héroes Inmortales, Samuray was placed in his first storyline in AAA, when he approached Octagón backstage after a match. Shortly afterwards, AAA revealed that the fighter had been Samuray del Sol and that he had requested for Octagón to train him, which Octagón accepted after being impressed since seeing him on ¿Quién Pinta Para La Corona?. On November 15, Octagón was ambushed during an in-ring interview by El Consejo members Silver King and Toscano, who were quickly chased out of the ring by Samuray del Sol. Afterwards, Octagón gave Samuray a new mask similar to the one he was wearing himself and officially adopted him as his protégé, renaming him "Octagón Jr." Prior to making his in-ring debut as Octagón Jr., Samuray wrestled one final AAA match under his old name and mask, when on November 18 he teamed with AAA Mega Champion El Mesías to defeat El Consejo members El Texano Jr. and Silver King via disqualification. Octagón Jr. made his in-ring debut on December 2 at Guerra de Titanes, where he, Octagón and La Parka defeated his debuting storyline nemesis, Pentagón Jr., La Parka Negra and Silver King in a six-man tag team match. In May 2013, it was reported that AAA was looking to replace Samuray del Sol as Octagón Jr. due to his busy independent schedule preventing him from appearing for the promotion.
Various promotions (2012–2013)
After returning from his ¿Quién Pinta Para La Corona? stint in Mexico, Samuray, looking to showcase the "new Samuray del Sol", made his debut for Combat Zone Wrestling on February 4, 2012, in a match, where he was defeated by A. R. Fox. Samuray credits the match with opening doors for him to bigger promotions, including Dragon Gate USA. On March 10, Samuray and Uhaa Nation survived an eight-man elimination match to qualify for the Best of the Best 11 tournament. The tournament took place on internet pay-per-view on April 14 and saw Samuray defeat Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano in a three-way first round match. Later that same event, Samuray was defeated in his semifinal match by A. R. Fox.In March 2012, Dragon Gate USA announced that the promotion had signed a "mystery luchador" to a contract. On March 29, Samuray made his Dragon Gate USA main card debut at an event co-promoted by DGUSA and CZW, appearing as Masato Yoshino's surprise opponent and defeating him in the following singles match. The following day, Samuray made his pay-per-view debut at Open the Ultimate Gate 2012, defeating Johnny Vandal. On the third and final day of the triple shot weekend, Samuray wrestled in a six-way match at Mercury Rising 2012, which was won by El Generico. On April 13, Samuray made his debut for Evolve, a promotion closely affiliated with Dragon Gate USA, losing to Chuck Taylor in a three-way match, which also included Johnny Gargano. Samuray then had two singles matches against El Generico; the first on June 28 at Evolve 14 was won by El Generico and the rematch the following day at Evolve 15 was won by Samuray. Samuray returned to Dragon Gate USA on July 28, when he and El Generico were defeated in a tag team match by A. R. Fox and Cima. Samuray and El Generico finished their trilogy of matches against each other on September 8 at Evolve 17, where Samuray was defeated in a main event. On November 4 at Dragon Gate USA's Freedom Fight 2012, Samuray teamed with El Generico in a tag team match, where they defeated Genki Horiguchi and Ryo Saito. The two continued their winning ways on December 8 at Evolve 18, where they defeated the Super Smash Bros.. Samuray then qualified for the Evolve Championship tournament, but was eliminated by Sami Callihan in his first round four-way match, which also included Jigsaw and Rich Swann. On June 2 at Evolve 22, Samuray unsuccessfully challenged Johnny Gargano for the Open the Freedom Gate Championship, submitting after being unmasked by the champion.
On December 14, 2012, Samuray del Sol entered the 2012 Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup, defeating Eddie Rios in his first round match. He went on to defeat Jonathan Gresham in the quarterfinals, Jon Davis in the semifinals and finally A. R. Fox in the finals to win the tournament. On January 18, 2013, Samuray del Sol worked on the Hart Legacy Wrestling promotion's inaugural event in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In the opening four-way elimination tag team match, he and El Generico were victorious over the teams of Cam!kaze and Pete Wilson, Brian Cage and Trent Barreta, and Andrew Hawkes and Ryan Rollins. As a result, the two earned a spot in a main event ten-man tag team match, where they teamed with Barreta, Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Jack Evans in a losing effort against the team of Teddy Hart, Brian Cage, Cam!kaze, Flip Kendrick and Pete Wilson. On March 15, Samuray del Sol made his debut for Full Impact Pro, unsuccessfully challenging Jon Davis for the FIP World Heavyweight Championship. On March 22, Samuray del Sol made his debut for Southern California-based Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, teaming with A. R. Fox in a tag team match, where they were defeated by the Inner City Machine Guns. The following day, Samuray was defeated by T. J. Perkins at another PWG event. On March 24, Samuray del Sol defeated Paul London, A. R. Fox and Ricochet during a one night single-elimination tournament to become the 2013 King of Flight. On April 21, Samuray del Sol, as Octagón Jr., appeared at Puerto Rican promotion World Wrestling League's inaugural pay-per-view, Idols of Wrestling, unsuccessfully challenging Sicodélico Jr. for the Zero1 Mexico International Championship in a four-way match, which also included Axel and El Hijo de Rey Mysterio. On May 25, Samuray del Sol appeared at English promotion Southside Wrestling Entertainment's Speed King 2 tournament, losing to Marty Scurll in his first round match. After signing with WWE, Samuray del Sol wrestled his farewell match for his longtime home promotion, AAW, on June 28, where he and Colt Cabana were defeated by The Irish Airborne.