There's a NEW United States Champion....

[Trill Co$by]

And his name is KALISTO. In an incredibly well told match last night, Alberto Del Rio was once again bested by the Slammy Award Winning, high flying, always exciting Lucha Dragon member known as Kalisto. After having his partner sidelined due to an unfortunate injury, it seemed as if Kalisto would become another Uso story by sidelining until his partner returned. However, the WWE saw the chance to capitalize on the growing popularity of Kalisto and let him walk out last night with the United States Championship in his hands. So with that, I have a few discussion questions.

How did you feel about the title match itself? Did it tell the story you felt it should have?

I loved the match, and honestly was once again impressed at how attentive to detail Del Rio truly is in his matches. Anybody who doesn't find him entertaining must be annoying at parties. He was able to demonstrate a side of himself that we don't really get to see. Yes, Del Rio is a technical wrestling wizard... we all know that. He's one of the most well polished performers in the WWE, and the industry alike. But how often do we get to see Del Rio display such a powerful array of power? Last night, Del Rio was able to bully Kalisto throughout most of the match, so much so that it felt genuine at some points. Easily, this match was THE match of the night last night, and Del Rio was a huge part of it.


How do you feel about the title change itself?

I actually loved the change for multiple reasons. For starters, Kalisto now has a nice perch to stand on. He PINNED the man who PINNED John Cena. He also was hand picked by John Cena, who believed Kalisto could do so. So now, if WWE does it right, Kalisto is a champion that is a serious target to the Mid-Card roster. And with more challengers, comes more high profile matches.

And then for Del Rio, after he assumingly loses his rematch on Smackdown this Thursday (USA Network for us Americans!) I can see Del Rio being used as one of LON's marquee world championship challengers to help Reigns through the final stretch of the Road to Wrestlemania while also picking up some steam for a summer program against the champion again.

Basically, this title change happened at an absolutely perfect time. It's not like we have much options in the main event scene right now with Cena, Orton, Rollins, and even Daniel Bryan all injured. So WWE needs heels that can work with Reigns to give him quality matches. And to be honest, Del Rio is the best guy in WWE to do that for him. Del Rio knows how to work to the best of his opponent's strengths, and that's an amazing feat to have.


And finally, how do you see Kalisto's reign going down? Any significant feuds? Who will be the better and take the title from him? How long do you see this reign lasting?

This is a bulk one, because it all kind of plays off itself to me. Personally I like that Kalisto is given multiple storyline possibilities here, and I'm hopeful that WWE can pull them off right. This could be the catapult they need to set up a Sin Cara vs. Kalisto feud, or maybe this could be a chance for us to see a feud that I've been wanting simply because of their styles in Kalisto vs. Stardust... how awesome would something like that be if they can repair some of the damage done to Stardust recently? Personally, I think Kalisto could be sitting on a very decent US title reign that could last well into Money in the Bank timeline. And personally, I'd be happy if WWE booked him as a legitimate mid-card champion... and gave him legitimate mid-card contenders to help re-solidify the mid-card vs. main event scene once again.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Fucking phenomenal, and a bit overdue.


Kalisto has ALL the tools to be the Mysterio lite at minimum. Safe worker, solid promo (better than Rey in my opinion) solid all around. This was phenomenal.


The only thing im sad about is I had SUCH confidence in the WWE doing its usual cock-tease booking and genuinely thought Kalisto had no chance (not in the underdog way I should have, but in the WWE makes me want to rip my hair out and refuses to pull the trigger with this guy way) that I didn't really pay attention to the match, save for the last two minutes...


Like hey, these are some REALLY close near-falls, is this....maybe???


And indeed it was. Kalisto could become huge this year, off the momentum of his spectacular spot at TLC, and now working an old school feud with Del Rio.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Yes, Del Rio is a technical wrestling wizard... we all know that. He's one of the most well polished performers in the WWE, and the industry alike.

Glad to read someone else saying it. It always gets me how some folks regard themselves as wrestling purists....claiming to be deeply appreciative of technical wrestling .....yet are bored to death by Alberto Del Rio.

It's amazing how well the man can work a match and make his opponent look great. Other performers must love working with ADR.

Last night, one of the reasons Kalisto looked so good was because of who he was working with. As it is, in my opinion, Kalisto can do everything Rey Mysterio could....and Kalisto is younger (and hopefully less prone to serious injury) than Rey, giving him a greater upside since the company's intention seems to be tapping into the Latino market with a little guy.

I don't know what they'll do with his title reign. As a WWE minor title holder, he can go for awhile, but I never cared to watch Rey Mysterio cleanly defeat guys 100 pounds heavier than him, and hopefully will avoid that with Kalisto.

 

[J.J.]

It was good timing to continue to ride his momentum. He has been the biggest improvement since all these injuries have occurred. Hopefully this will open up a program with Del Rio that gives them both something to be invested into. Del Rio is a solid worker and I can see these two putting on more great matches.

 

[YatesA]

I'm eager to see Neville vs Kalisto, have a best of 7 mutual respect type of storyline. Could easily steal the show.

 

[ShinChan]

I am too happy to see him win the title. I love Kalisto and was hoping that he gets a deserved push and thats what happened

I hope he elevates the US Title again and be booked rightly and not like Alberto Del Rio. He can have stellar matches with Sincara & Neville. Even Stardust too.

 

[Good Golly It's Ollie]

How did you feel about the title match itself? Did it tell the story you felt it should have?

Thought it was good yeah. It definitely falls into the standard "token decent Raw match" booking, but there were nice spots and actually you're right about del Rio's attention to detail in the ring.

How do you feel about the title change itself?

Very positive. It's one all-too-rare example of WWE taking advantage of absences to take a chance on a wrestler (I mean they've been scrambling for a new lucha to push since Mysterio left but it's still good).

And finally, how do you see Kalisto's reign going down? Any significant feuds? Who will be the better and take the title from him? How long do you see this reign lasting?

First reigns in the midcard tend to be good because they're new, exciting, and the champ generally defends the belt quite frequently. Another one I recall was Rhodes' IC run where he brought the classic belt in. Defended frequently = fighting champion. And fighting champion feels legitimate.

As for Kalisto's reign I'm sure that in light of the multiple absences there is quite a bit of screen time on the cards for him, which is good. I'm not sure I care for him to ever reach main event but he's really a cool midcarder.

del Rio is obviously the starting point, and from there I think the chief feud during his run should go against either a rival lucha/highflier, or a monster. This will make him shine by comparing or contrasting in the ring, because his feuds at this point are unlikely to be built on promos.

I don't care who takes the belt off him but I don't think it should be del Rio again. Another up-and-comer might be nice.

 

[OYDK]

How did you feel about the title match itself? Did it tell the story you felt it should have?

I thought the match was terrific. A rare showing of superb storytelling in the ring, lots of emotion, and a damn good match to boot. That was a great example of how to make fans buy into a wrestling match. Del Rio seems to do his best work when he's the bully going against an underdog. His feuds with Mysterio and Ziggler were his best to date (in my opinion) and this program with Kalisto looks like it may have some legs. Beating Del Rio again would give Kalisto a great rub.

How do you feel about the title change itself?

I didn't mind it at all. Del Rio has done nothing since winning the belt and at this point it's better suited for somebody that can build off of a championship, like Kalisto. I predicted Kalisto winning the strap at Mania, so the fact that it happened 3 months early doesn't bug me a bit. He's got a lot of momentum right now. Smart move by WWE to give him the ball and let him run with it.

And finally, how do you see Kalisto's reign going down? Any significant feuds? Who will be the better and take the title from him? How long do you see this reign lasting?

I think he'll face Del Rio again at the Rumble, presumably going over. I like the Neville idea that was posed by another poster. These two guys seem to be neck and neck right now, so why not let the title elevate them both? It may not be the best program in terms of fantastic promo work, but the matches would be incredible. Honestly, I don't really know who else would work right now. Kalisto's gimmick will work best against bigger opponents, so maybe somebody like Luke Harper or (god-forbid) Mark Henry? No it's not John Cena or Alberto Del Rio holding the title, but Kalisto seems in a good enough position right now to have a great title run.

As for who takes it off of him? Really have no idea but I see a decently long reign in Kalisto's future. WWE wouldn't have gone through with giving him the belt and a win over Del Rio if there weren't bigger plans in store for him.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As for Kalisto winning the United States Championship, I'm not sure he's ready for it but, at the same time, he's shown every bit as much character development, personality and charisma that Rey Mysterio ever did.

The match itself was a great performance from both men that featured classic storytelling and pacing. While the fans didn't seem invested for the first several minutes, the near falls, strong storytelling and the action did pull them into it when it was all said and done. I'm just hoping it's not gonna be one of those 24 hour runs where the new champ drops the title back to the former champ at the next set of TV tapings. I hate when promotions play hot potato with titles and if that's what the plan is for tonight's SmackDown tapings, I'd have much rather seen Del Rio retain.

 

[Spencesc11]

You build Del Rio up as this world beater who takes out Cena clean and then he loses consecutive matches to Kalisto???

Another seriously iffy booking here.

If Del Rio was going to drop the title to a face I think Neville, a retuning Cesaro, and maybe even Kevin Owens in an interesting match at Rumble or Fastlane. Kalisto though??? Gotta say bad call.

 

[J.J.]

You build Del Rio up as this world beater who takes out Cena clean and then he loses consecutive matches to Kalisto???

Another seriously iffy booking here.

If Del Rio was going to drop the title to a face I think Neville, a retuning Cesaro, and maybe even Kevin Owens in an interesting match at Rumble or Fastlane. Kalisto though??? Gotta say bad call.

I don't think ADR quite connected like they were hoping and plus it was a good way to bring ADR back in while getting Cena off TV. If we take away the fact Cena had surgery then there was a program in place for Cena/ADR over the title. ADR laid out the blueprints for them to continue their program when he returns. I feel Kalisto being booked to win came off Cena going down to injury.

 

[Prince Vee]

Alright, it was really a good match to watch and was the only entertaining segment in the whole Raw that night. It really told the story, yes. You know, it was inevitable that Kalisto is going to win the US Championship, after being embraced by John Cena at the Smackdown last week. But none of us expected it to be happening at the Raw!

The match itself spoke a lot with Del Rio controlling most of the match with Kalisto trying to surprise every now and then. Del Rio, for the very first time since his return to WWE, seemed to be entertaining. The end was unexpected and surprising, through wheel barrow roll up.

Nicely done by WWE. I hope they would continue his push and keep the title relevant with proper storylines. Props for whoever wrote and choreographed this segment.

 

[MoRtAnDaD]

Kalisto IMHO is way better than rey, at least the last 14 year's Rey.

Great in ring skills, decent promos from what can be expected of his character, and connects with the audience.

And i want to express my view on Alberto, he is an amazing performer, he maybe doesnt have a ton of charisma, but the guy is a master in the ring, cut promos that suits his character, and he is praised by his peers. Lots of guys in the locker room think that the guy is gold to work with.

Most important, he did his job to put over Kalisto in a great way, and when you do your job right....you are good at what you do.

 

[MERPER]

Pretty happy with the belt switch as Kalisto is fun as hell to watch and I find Del Rio extremely boring.

With that said, as someone else mentioned prior to this, the booking doesn't make a lot of sense. Del Rio takes belt from a guy like Cena and holds belt ever since but loses back-to-back matches to Kalisto in similar fashion?

Probably, at worst, should have had Del Rio win in "questionable" fashion on RAW setting up a Royal Rumble match and switched the title there.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

I love this title change and not just because I'm a Kalisto fan.

ADR did nothing for me as champion. He beat John Cena in one of the biggest surprises of 2015 and did fuck all after that. I love a sneaky heel champion that gets out of matches (ala Edge) but still defends the title. We went from countless awesome matches in Cena's open challenges to nothing for months of Del Rio's title reign.

I'm not saying they should bring back the open challenges but I hope they make Kalisto a fighting champion and for the love of God I am praying they don't just give the title back to Del Rio.

 

[Azane]

I've never seen an angle dropped as fast and hard as the MexAmerican gimmick that Del Rio had for like, 1 PPV Cycle.

I think the titles being hot potatoed a bit too much already, but Del Rio's life story is always a life of Aborted Storylines, they could have worked Kallisto in with the MexAmerican gimmick and used that to dump Zeb.

I'm a little intrigued to see how Kallisto does as a singles competitor though, dropping Botch Cara is definitely an improvement.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

I would be suprised and shocked about that victory, but I'm not confident in the creative for the midcard treatment. Also, I didn't like the fact that the match took place and Kalisto grabbed such a huge victory withouht a proper story behind it. Had there been a story, Del Rio would have built heat and then Kalisto would be more over as a face after beating Del Rio.

On RAW like that? It was just for the shock value. There are also other things I'd like to say and rant about, but I won't. I just hope that Kalisto gets to keep the title and not drop it in like an instant. Everything Cena did for the belt disappeared in thin air..

 

[Navi]

I've never seen an angle dropped as fast and hard as the MexAmerican gimmick that Del Rio had for like, 1 PPV Cycle.

I think the titles being hot potatoed a bit too much already, but Del Rio's life story is always a life of Aborted Storylines, they could have worked Kallisto in with the MexAmerican gimmick and used that to dump Zeb.

I'm a little intrigued to see how Kallisto does as a singles competitor though, dropping Botch Cara is definitely an improvement.

I never understood the MexAmerican thing anyway and why it even went on as long as it did. The only thing that would have really made sense was to either have Swagger feud with Del Rio, or to bring in Kurt Angle. As neither one of those happened, except for a couple of matches with Swagger, kind of glad to see it gone.

Will wait for the rematch which Del Rio has to see if the WWE finally takes a step in the right direction leaving the belt on the more popular Kalisto. Del Rio while he's excellent in the ring during a match, is incredibly boring any other time. Del Rio has the wrestling skills to main event, and his match with Reigns last year was a good one. That's where he should be heading. He did nothing with the US title since he won it.

As for Kalisto dropping Sin Cara, the only reason that happened was because of an injury. As a tag team they were really good, and needed in that division.