10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE In 2016

2. Kalisto's Disastrous Promo Wasn't Even On Television

Triple H
WWE Network

Kalisto's cards felt marked within WWE after an infamously awful promo that only existed to give him the time the main show wouldn't.

The future Lucha House Party leader was drafted to SmackDown when the rosters split in 2016, but - as with the bulk of the undercard - he had to make do with discussing it on the post-show. Was he going to talk about how he was a former United States Champion and how he wanted to build on that success by taking the blue brand's own secondary strap? Perhaps he'd reference a nascent cruiserweight scene that was hot that summer. Or, with Rey Mysterio gone, would the former NXT star cut a promo for the ages and become the new masked hero WWE had been looking for years?

Or.

Or or or, he could promise "Good Lucha Things". Three words that didn't act as a barrier to a speech careering off a cliff, Kalisto's panicked closer was followed by the man himself literally running and screaming away from the shot, safe in the knowledge that he'd just laid an egg the size of The Gobbeldy Gooker's.

Much of what happens on those post-shows gets missed completely unless something happens to be really, really good, or really really bad. Cesaro's promise to get his sh*t together against the odds on Raw was a decent example of the former, but what chance did it have of making the news by the time the latter got out.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett