Randy Orton is no longer the young, reckless rookie he was during the early days of his WWE career. Orton has transformed into a respected locker room leader who goes out of his way to help his colleagues.
During an interview with Lucha Libre Online's Michael Morales Torres, recently released WWE Superstar Kalisto revealed how Randy Orton pushed for a match against him in the company.
The former United States champion said Randy Orton was one of the most influential people in WWE who tried to help him. Here's what Kalisto had to say:
"Randy Orton always wanted to wrestle with me. He was one of the people who also helped me a lot".
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Kalisto isn't the first released star to sing Randy Orton's praises, as The Bollywood Boyz also disclosed details of The Viper's invaluable assistance during their WWE stint. As we had reported earlier, the former WWE Champion helped get approval for The Bollywood Boyz's pitches.
Kalisto on learning from Sin Cara and The Miz in WWE
Kalisto continued to talk about the stars who backed him in WWE, and he recalled having a compelling storyline with The Miz on the live event circuit.
Kalisto enjoyed working with Miz and admitted to learning a lot from one of WWE's most accomplished heels.
"I had good storyline with The Miz at the house shows. He is good talking and very good heel. I learned a lot from him," recalled Kalisto.
Kalisto spent the most successful period of his career on a tag team with Sin Cara, and the former US Champion stated that the Lucha Dragons always delivered in the ring.
Kalisto revealed that Lucha Dragons were originally slated to be called 'The Lucha Lions', but he was personally not a fan of the name and wanted some Japanese influence.
Sin Cara and Kalisto were the NXT Tag Team Champions on one occasion, and Cara even hid his partner's belt one night. Kalisto said Sin Cara would often joke around and keep him motivated as the duo embarked on a fairly solid run together in the WWE.
"Sin Cara helped me a lot. We always did magic inside the ring. Initially, The Lucha Dragons were going to be the Lucha Lions. I didn't like it so much. I love the Japanese culture. So why not a dragon? Let's try Lucha Dragons. Sounds better. After we won the titles, I was very proud. I went out to make my entrance, and Sin Cara took away the title to start doing his poses. One day Sin Cara hid my title. I was asking myself where I left it, and he told me: 'Don't be nervous.' After that, he gave it to me (laughs). Just before the title match, Sin Cara grabs me by the shoulder to tell me that this was the most important moment of my career and not to screwed it up (laughs). He always joked with me like that, but I needed that to be motivated". H/t Lucha Libre Online
Kalisto endured a challenging phase in his personal life as he went into depression over a wrong medical diagnosis.
During the latest LLO interview, Kalisto opened up about his struggles, WWE release, dream storyline, and many more topics.