9 WWE Wrestlers For Whom 2017 Is Make Or Break

4. Kalisto

Kalisto TLC
WWE.com

When 2015 turned into 2016, it looked like it was going to be a gold star year for the Lucha Dragon. 11 days into the new year he became the United States Champion, and after passing that title back and forth with Alberto Del Rio he managed to successfully defend the strap all the way up until Rusev snapped him in half at Extreme Rules in May.

Since losing that title Kalisto has had something of a nightmare. The draft was shambolic for him, arguably more damaging to Kalisto than to any other performer. For some unbelievable reason he was put on SmackDown Live away from the cruiserweight division, a move that still baffles today. He followed this up with what was undoubtedly 2016’s worst WWE promo, a horrible talk that still makes viewers wince today.

Kalisto is immensely talented, but right now he’s in something of a rut. WWE seems to want him to become their new Rey Mysterio yet are completely unwilling to do the hard yards to make him so. Kalisto doesn’t help himself by being sloppy in the ring sometimes, but when you’re working such a high octane style this is to be somewhat expected.

2017 is going to be a big year for Kalisto, and will tell us us whether WWE has another Rey Mysterio on their hands, or just another Sin Cara.

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Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.