Kalisto

Emanuel Alejandro Rodriguez (born November 14, 1986) is a Mexican-American professional wrestler, currently performing under the ring name Samuray Del Sol.

He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Kalisto, as a member of both the Lucha Dragons (whom he won the NXT Tag Team Championship as a member, with Sin Cara) and Lucha House Party.

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 (WWF), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), 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 (ROH) as well as Japanese promotions.

Growing up, he participated in a number of sports, including gymnastics, taekwondo, jujutsu, amateur wrestling, and American football.

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 (Spanish for "Samurai of the Sun").

In 2006, Rodriguez began training at Windy City Pro Wrestling's (WCPW) 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 (IWC) and New York-based East Coast Lucha Libre (ECLL).

On September 25, 2010, Samuray worked in a dark match put together by Berwyn, Illinois-based AAW: Professional Wrestling Redefined for Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA), 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.

After establishing himself as one of the top high-flyers in the area, he began working for larger promotions in 2011 and was signed by Dragon Gate USA in 2012.

The same 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 has also worked for Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA-MS), National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), Evolve Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG).

During another tour of Mexico in April 2011, Rodriguez suffered a serious injury at an event held by independent promotion Desastre Total Ultraviolento (DTU), 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.

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 [his] 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 (Devil Rocker, Machine Rocker, Soul Rocker and Uro Rocker), 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 (was not identified, referred to only as a "mysterious fighter") 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.

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 a 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 company in April 2021.