Emanuel Alejandro Rodriguez is a Mexican-American professional wrestler. He is best known for his work with WWE under the name Kalisto.
Rodriguez began training in 2006 at Windy City Pro Wrestling's (WCPW) professional wrestling school in Chicago. He wrestled for several promotions like WCPW, IWC, ECLL, DTU, DGUSA, and AAA, before signing with WWE.
In 2013, Rodriguez signed with WWE and started working with NXT. Rodriguez's name was changed to Kalisto. He formed a team with Sin Cara called The Lucha Dragons.
At NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4 Way, The Lucha Dragons defeated The Ascension to become the new NXT Tag Team Champions. The reign ended after 126 days by Wesley and Blake at NXT TakeOver: Rival.
In 2015, Kalisto debuted on RAW with Sin Cara. They pursued the WWE Tag Team Championship for over a year but were unsuccessful.
In 2016, Kalisto defeated Alberto Del Rio for the WWE United States Championship on RAW. However, he lost the title back to Del Rio on SmackDown. They faced each other in a third match at the Royal Rumble, where Kalisto won the title for the second time.
At Extreme Rules 2016, Kalisto lost the title to Rusev, ending his reign at 119 days. At the Draft, they drafted Kalisto to SmackDown, which ended The Lucha Dragons. Kalisto had a brief feud with Baron Corbin. At TLC, where Corbin won and ended their rivalry.
Cruiserweight Championship and Lucha House Party (2017-2021)
In 2017, they drafted Kalisto to RAW. After a few successful wins, Kalisto moved to the cruiserweight division. In October, Kalisto won the Cruiserweight Championship from Enzo Amore. He lost the title in less than a month to Amore.
After failing to regain the title from Amore, Kalisto joined forces with Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik forming Lucha House Party. The trio spent years in the cruiserweight and tag team division and switched brands during the draft. They disbanded the team when Kalisto was drafted to SmackDown, and they drafted the teammates to RAW. In 2021, Kalisto ended his relationship with the company after eight years.
After being released, Kalisto appeared on AEW Dynamite to face the AAA World Tag Team Champions FTR and lost.
Kalisto's real name is Emanuel Alejandro Rodriguez.
