Most people might not associate a face with the name – Emanuel Alejandro Rodriguez, but mention Samuray del Sol, Octagón Jr, Samuray, or better still Kalisto and they will readily know who you are talking about, at least with the various masks he wears while wrestling in the ring.
Kalisto is an American professional wrestler who plys his trade in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) having climbed up the ladder from NXT. He wrestled in the promotions Asistencia Asesoría y Administracion, Dragon USA before going to the 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 is one of the youngest wrestlers in the WWE was born on November 14, 1986, in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. After he was born, he spent the next 5 years of his life in Mexico City, Mexico, and grew up as a fan of Mexican professional wrestling. His favorites then were Tinieblas who loved his mask and physique as well as Octagón who loved his style of fighting.
When his family moved back to the U.S Kalisto was enrolled at Curie Metropolitan High School and he began watching World Wrestling Federation (WWF), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) through which he became a big fan of wrestlers like Sabu, Rob Van Dam, and Rey Mysterio. Watching wrestling wasn’t the only thing he did however as he equally participated in combat sports like taekwondo, jujutsu, amateur wrestling, and lesser combat ones like American football and gymnastics. It can be inferred that these sports aptly prepared him for the career he is having a good run off now.
In the year 2006, Kalisto joined a professional wrestling school in Chicago called Windy City Pro Wrestling (WCPW) and made his debut with the ring name Samuray del Sol wearing a mask just 3 weeks after training. He suffered a couple of losses at the cradle of his career including an injury that threatened his wrestling career. But for his resilience, he made a comeback to the sports he loved from childhood. Between 2011 and 2012, he met Octagon in Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide who adopted him as his protege and gave him a mask similar to the one he wears.
Promotions, NXT, and WWE
Kalisto went on to enjoy a good time in his young career fighting in various promotions and championships like Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), Dragon Gate USA, Open the Ultimate Gate 2012, Mercury Rising 2012, Evolve, Evolve Championship, Open the Freedom Gate Championship, 2012 Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup, Hart Legacy Wrestling (HLW), Full Impact Pro (FIP), Southern California-based Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), the Puerto Rican promotion World Wrestling League’s (WWL), English promotion Southside Wrestling Entertainment’s (SWE) Speed King 2 tournament and others.
On May 26, 2013, he signed a development contract with WWE with the ring name Kalisto revealed 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 as “The Lucha Dragons” and won the NXT Tag Team Championship with him on September 11 at NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way2014. They, however, would later lose the title to Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy on January 15, 2015, and also lost a second time at NXT TakeOver: Rival.
Kalisto fought in the United States Championship between 2015 and 2016 both individually and as “The Lucha Dragons.” He defeated Del Rio on the 11th of January 2015 to become the United States Champion and would repeat the same feat on January 24th at the Royal Rumble to become a two-time United States Champion. He successfully retained the title by fending off contender Ryback twice but later lost it to Rusev in a rematch which brought his 119 days championship reign to an end.
In the WWE 2016 draft, he parted ways with Sin Cara and entered the competition as a singles wrestler. Kalisto got drafted to the SmackDown brand in the 2016 WWE draft but had an unsuccessful run for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
The masked wrestler got drafted to RAW on April 17, 2017, as part of the Superstar shake-up. General manager Kurt Angle signed him to challenge Enzo Amore for the WWE Cruiserweight Champion. He defeated Amore on October 9 RAW. but lost the title back to Amore on October 22 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs and lost it again in a rematch that was held 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 that rubbed off on him while growing up.
As you would imagine, pictures of Kalisto’s real face are rare on the internet and hardly ever seen unlike those of Rey Mysterio which have been revealed. Below are some pictures that were gotten from romanreignswwe.net. which might probably be his real face.
Kalisto Family – Wife
Kalisto is married to the love of his life, best friend, and biggest fan – Abigail Rodriguez. Not much is known about her identity as she mainly became famous for marrying the wrestler. Abigail does wear masks in public events she and her husband attend sometimes.
It is not known whether they have (a) child/ren at the moment but from all indications they probably don’t, the love between the two is strong and unwavering.
Height, Weight, Body Measurements, and Others
| Height | Weight | Chest | Waist | Biceps | Hair Color | Eye Color |
| 5′ 6″ or 1.68 m | 77 kg or 170 lbs | 45′ | 35′ | 19′ | Brown | Light Brown |
