Is the US Championship hiding?

[Heartbreak_Kid_707]

Okay i jnow Kalisto has the belt. I swear the best thing to happen to the US title was John Cena's Open Challenge. Defended almost every week. And then, its off radar. I love watching Kalisto's matches. Lightening in the bottle.

But what's going on with the belt? Last month it was defended in pre show kick-off show. ❓❓❓❓and let along no match at Mania yet, is he even in can feud? I've not seen ADR and Kalisto with very little interaction. Let along already having a match. Has he moved on yet?

Not entirely related to Wrestlemania so I put it here. Do you guys honestly think Kalisto is world champion material? Everyone mentions Mysterio. And he was great but he shouldn't have been champion, just like Kalisto shouldn't be.//

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If I may ask a Mania question.. We know
McMahon/Undertaker
Charlotte/Lynch/Banks
Probably Jericho/Styles
Ambrose/Lesnar
Probably USOS/Dudley's ..
Triple H/Reigns
?
I know there's speculation Cena will b healthy but where to put him? He's fought great matches with Owens but do we wanna see Owens/Cena for any title. Bigger
question If the Jericho heel turns Monday happens as planned then that puts Jericho/styles together. Who goes with New Days Tag Team in a big title match,... Maybe Enzo and Cass debuted????

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

On a more serious note, Kalisto should be 100% defending the U.S Title at Wrestlemania. Who he fights or what kind of match, who knows?

Perhaps Sin Cara can turn heel out of pure jealously at Kalisto for having success while he was injured. Then to open the main card at Mania we can have a very fast paced Kalisto vs Sin Cara for the U.S Title.

 

[MINISTRYrising]

Outside of the WWE World heavyweight title picture, WWE really don't seem to know what there doing at the moment. It looked as if Kalisto was going to get a nice singles push once he won the US title but since then he has sort of reverted back to being a tag team wrestler again and with Wrestlemania just around the corner, WWE Could really have done with having him feud with somebody like Rusev or Sheamus to help create a have descent Mid card match to help fill up the card.

 

[roipdh123]

It should be defended in a multi man ladder match. Now to see who will be the participants lets look at the rest of the Mania matches in my eyes:
- Owens (C) vs Styles vs Jericho for the IC Title.
- The New Day (C) vs The League Of Nations (Rusev & Sheamus & Alberto Del Rio) in a six Man Tag Team Match for the Tag Titles (It looks like that's what they are going to do)
- The Usos vs The Dudley Boys in a Tables Match.
- Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Now I hope to see RyBack winning the battle royal by last eliminating Strowman. Now lets get to the US Title Ladder Match. This should be the opener with a lot of options to go and an unknown finish. So...

Kalisto (C) vs Sin Cara vs Neville vs Bray Wyatt vs Luke Harper vs The Miz vs Tyler Breeze vs ??? (Sami Zayn).

Now we can go like this:
Kalisto - retaining the title having his mania moment. Next night on Raw starting a program with Sin Cara.
Wyatt - Finally to get a title. Going into a program with Harper (who turns on him the next night on Raw).
Harper - To betrayl Wyatt who almost wins the title, throw him off the ladder then winning the title himself.
Cara - betrayling Kalisto, thus turning heel and feuding with him.
Neville - First title win. Feuding with Miz afterwards.
The Miz - As a veteran respect causing either Neville or Kalisto the match then feuding with them and having an alliance with Breeze.
Tyler Breeze - With help from The Miz forming an alliance together against Neville.
Sami Zayn - Debuting him here in the ladder match (if he's not winning the ATGMBR instead of RyBack. If so then switch places and have RyBack in this ladder match). Zayn wins the title in his debut holding it until a champion vs champion (unification?) match at Summer Slam against Money In The Bank winner and IC Champion Kevin Owens.

My prediction: Zayn debuts in the ATGMBR, so Wyatt wins the US title. Then have the family turn on Harper the next night on Raw after Wyatt retains against Kalisto.

 

[shafe_41]

I would hardly call Kalisto "lightning in a bottle." He's not that special. Pretty much the totally incorrect term. The term "lightning in a bottle" is when you capture something really really special and run with it as long as possible. Austin and The Rock on the roster at the same time. That's lightning in a bottle. Daniel Bryan's rise was lightning in a bottle. The Boston Red Sox sweeping the Yankees after being down 3-0 in the ALCS in '04 is lightning in a bottle. Kalisto has little to nothing special about him. He's a typical lucha guy. Hasn't cut any promos. Does literally nothing to build the title up at all. For some reason they threw the title on him when "Sin Cara" was injured and now that he's back, they put them together and have no clue what to do with it.

As for the US Title itself... it can't be hiding when it was never that visible to begin with. Was Cena's US Open Challenge good for the title? Sure. But when it's essentially forcibly defended every week, it loses its luster. The title defenses themselves weren't that interesting. It was interesting seeing who may/may not come out on a weekly basis. A title's importance isn't elevated by one person. It's a long process. The title needs to come off Kalisto. He's doing nothing with it. Doing nothing for it. I couldn't care less if I ever saw Kalisto again. He just does nothing for me at all.

 

[enviousdominous]

I think Weird Al would make a sequel to Word Crimes if he read that introduction.

The WWE tends to dump on their mid-card belts, and for all I can imagine they do it because they're focused more on the world title and on keeping people who they want to eventually compete for the world title engaged in air-time consuming feuds.

I believe that the decision to put the belt on Kalisto was a knee-jerk reaction to someone pitching the idea based on the buzz that Lucha Underground is generating. Now the belt seems more like a prop to answer critics who might say that the WWE doesn't portray their Hispanic talent strongly enough.

The trouble with this is that while Kalisto is mega-talented, his wins don't come across as strong wins. Every match he's in, even as the champion, makes him look like the underdog. The magic of an underdog overcoming the odds wares off if we're seeing it happen over and over again with every damn match, and Kalisto becomes just another Rey Mysterio clone. It's not Kalisto's fault that his act isn't considered strong enough to warrant a spot on the WrestleMania card, but the WWE is used to promoting talent that can get over in spite of how useless WWE creative can be. The US Open Challenge was awesome, but John Cena wearing the US belt made the US belt significant by himself.

The only significance I could see to having Kalisto defend the US title in a big money match would be to establish an up and coming heel. I don't want to see Del Rio win the belt again, pretty much everyone involved with the League of Nations is out in my opinion. Maybe have Tyler Breeze lose his temper from having lost so many matches and beat Kalisto in a sadistic manner.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Championships have no value in WWE. It's no big deal if the champion goes two-three weeks without a challenger. It should be, but in today's WWE it isn't.

At WrestleMania 32, we'll likely get Kalisto defending the US Title in a multi-man Ladder match, similar to last year.

No Kalisto isn't World Championship material. His lack of mic time and having an actual character will hold him back. Regardless he should have a great career in the upper mid-card, and he MIGHT be World Champion some day.

 

[Aquaman6686]

That's what happens when the United States Championship is held by nobodies like Kalisto. Nobody cares about Kalisto, nobody is going to shows to see him, so now the US title is meaningless. Hopefully the belt will go to someone meaningful at WrestleMania.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

That's what happens when the United States Championship is held by nobodies like Kalisto. Nobody cares about Kalisto, nobody is going to shows to see him, so now the US title is meaningless. Hopefully the belt will go to someone meaningful at WrestleMania.

You keep on talking about how the old stars get no respect.

You do realize those old stars (such as HHH, Kane, Show, Rock, Austin, etc.) were at one point "nobodies" just like Kalisto and became stars because of title runs and opportunities like this.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

If what I've read is accurate, there's talk of Kalisto having one more match against Alberto Del Rio for the title at WrestleMania. While I think they've put on a great series of matches, I don't really see the point in another one when a bout like a 2 out of 3 falls match is usually used as a blow off to programs.

As far as the US title "hiding", c'mon people, it was just defended at Fastlane approximately 2 weeks ago today. Since when does the champion have to wrestle in singles matches every single week? Let's not go crazy here; the United States Championship was "hiding" when Dean Ambrose held it as WWE had him carry it around for almost a year and had him defend it a total of maybe 3 times and that's combining TV and ppv matches. Over the last 6 weeks, Kalisto has already had more title matches than Dean Ambrose had in nearly 52.

As for Kalisto being a "nobody", I have to agree with BSE in that calling fresh wrestlers getting a push nobodies is a HUGE part of what's wrong with wrestling these days and it's a situation that falls on the shoulders of fans. In WWE, whenever someone fresh gets pushed into a title run, someone always finds something to nitpick over; Kalisto has been champ for almost 6 weeks now and we've seen him have a strong series of matches with Alberto Del Rio, so I'm happy at the progress he's making thus far. He gets a good response from the fans, they've gotten behind him solidly since TLC and things are coming along fine in my opinion. Considering that roughly 3 months ago he was viewed as essentially just a body to help fill up the tag team division, he's come a good distance and so what if he hasn't shot right to the stratosphere? In terms of how over Kalisto is on a scale from 1 to 10, I'd say he's about a 7, but that's not quite high enough yet to justify some sort of mega push. Now I'd personally prefer it if WWE concentrated his energies exclusively in the singles scene right and I'm hoping they return to that focus over the next few weeks for WrestleMania; however, don't let yourself get spoiled by John Cena's US Open Challenge, though it's already too late in some cases. They're not going to run a similar program with every other guy who comes along to win the title; if they did, WWE would be better off renaming it or creating a television championship that'd be defended on TV each week or every other week.

 

[Azane]

I think they need to blow up the Lucha Dragons if they want Kalisto to go anywhere, Botch Cara is just holding him back at this point.

 

[Hem]

I think the US Title has been buried. Losing a match isn't burial but being part of one of the most enjoyable and important part of the week to not even having a feud is sad.

The US title has fallen again. Kalisto can still make it matter if he stops being a tag team guy. I'm not saying straight up break these guys up but let Kalisto say I've got a singles title to defend and that means I can't be your partner right now.

Kalisto Vs. Neville is the way to go for the US championship. Neville attacks Kalisto for destroying all the prestige that Cena added to the title. He says its time he make the championship matter and challenges Kalisto to a simple one on one at WM. And please don't put any championship match on the pre show...feels so bad.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

It's gone back to what it was before John Cena held it, absolutely nothing.

While I would love for Kalisto to get a match on the Main WrestleMania card I see him defending his title on the preshow if at all depending if on if they want the Lucha Dragons in another tag match.

I agree with those who have said they need to break up the Dragons but my reasoning is a singles champion shouldn't be predominantly a tag team wrestler. Let Kalisto do what he's shown already and that's put on exciting matches with whoever challenges him for the title.

 

[Navi]

That's what happens when the United States Championship is held by nobodies like Kalisto. Nobody cares about Kalisto, nobody is going to shows to see him, so now the US title is meaningless. Hopefully the belt will go to someone meaningful at WrestleMania.

I think you used the wrong word when you said "Nobody cares about Kalisto", what you really meant to say is "I don't care about Kalisto". And that's okay for you not to care, but please don't tar us all with the same brush. The title isn't hiding he's been defending it in a feud with Del Rio. What's the matter with some of you people, have you not been watching or something?

Personally I happen to like the Kalisto and am willing to give him a chance. As for the fact nobody goes to shows just to see him could also be attributed to half the roster, that's why they have headliners. It in no way means the title is meaningless though. Sure Cena's open challenges were great, but if Del Rio had stared doing it he would have been accused of copying Cena. So dammed if you do, dammed if you don't. I think we can all agree that was a John Cena thing and leave it at that.

Hopefully Kalisto will get to show off at Mania in a singles match for the title, I'll be waiting for it to happen, and not on the pre show either. Put the ATHBR there instead, or another Diva's match. Leave the title challenges for the main show.

 

[kadroan]

On a more serious note, Kalisto should be 100% defending the U.S Title at Wrestlemania. Who he fights or what kind of match, who knows?

Perhaps Sin Cara can turn heel out of pure jealously at Kalisto for having success while he was injured. Then to open the main card at Mania we can have a very fast paced Kalisto vs Sin Cara for the U.S Title.

Since we're only a few weeks away from WM, they may just need to do a multi ladder match for the US title like they did for the IC title last year.

I'd have Kalisto, ADR, Ziggler, Miz, Ryback, Stardust and Neville in the match.

 

[whoopin' ass]

You guys don't get it - Vince wants a latino star he can market but that's it. That's why we haven't gotten a US title match on the card. Vince could care less about it right now, he has his new star that he can market in Mexico so he is happy but as for anything big like this, he is an afterthought. My guess is that it will be the pre-Mania match.

 

[Sai the Uganda Guy]

So apparently Ryback is being speculated as a possible opponent for Kalisto at Mania.
As far as the title hiding, it really isn't. Kalisto and ADR had a good thing going, and I loved their 2 out of 3 falls match.
I'd like Kalisto to defend in a multiman ladder match, he was great to watch at TLC, but I won't mind a program with a heel Ryback, I think they could work well together.

 

[sikkbones]

A thought? Money in the bank this year being for an actual title?

 

[NegativeFeedback]

* Bray Wyatt should start a mini-feud with Kalisto and beat him for the US title at Mania. If it's anything like SES vs. Rey, it could be really good.

* Luke Harper and Erick Rowan should win the Tag Team Championship before Mania and retain it in a 4-way tag against The Dudleys, The Usos and Golden Truth.

* Post-Mania, Kalisto continues feuding with the Wyatt Family, but he goes for the tag titles with Sin Cara instead. Bray Wyatt can feud with Dolph post-Mania.

 

[MartialHorror]

I think it was a mistake to turn Ryback heel, but I guess WWE wasn't doing anything with him as a babyface, so why not? The problem is...Ryback seems weirdly irrelevant right now. I give shit to the Wyatt Family, but at least they are always put into important storylines- even if they are ultimately the losers. Ryback is just...there...So if they follow through with this plan, they need to do a better job building him up than just having him eat the Social Outcasts.

Otherwise, I'd be interested in Bray getting a shot. Or maybe they can rebuild Barrett and give him a worthy send-off if he decides to leave.

 

[Noshowers]

The real answer to this question is...With 3 Hours every Raw they should be able to get some mid card feuds going and make these titles mean more. I am fine without a title defense on Raw (those should mostly be saved for PPV's imo anyways), but if Kalisto is a singles champion there should be something in place for his belt. Whether it's some kind of challenger (Sin Cara angry he was upstaged, ADR still angry, KO wanting to have both belts, Stardust wanting to not be obscure, etc etc) or a semi tournament (4 guys 3 matches) to determine a #1 contender or a ladder match to determine it or whatever, those things should be happening and right now they aren't.

Roadblock would have been perfect for a 4 person tournament of Sami Zayn, Stardust, Neville and Tyler Breeze or something (I know Neville and Breeze were in Atlantic City, but substitute a mid carder in there). I say Roadblock would have been perfect because this Tourney could have started that Monday on Raw and the finals there or something.

I don't care who the champion is, if John Cena held this title and then went into tag matches and skipped Raws and all the other things happening to Kalisto the US belt would be invisible still.