Opinion: Kalisto Needs the Win More Than Alberto Del Rio

WWE is doing something very interesting with Kalisto. He’s on the path to becoming a star in WWE. All he has to do is go over Alberto Del Rio on Monday to make the semifinals.

No one expected him to go over Ryback on Smackdown this week, but WWE pulled a surprising win and gave Kalisto some momentum. Now, they’re faced with the challenge of how to book the winner of the quarterfinal match.

The obvious choice is Alberto Del Rio to win and move to face Roman Reigns. That’s not a bad choice, but it would stop Kalisto’s momentum immediately. Del Rio is also going to lose to Reigns anyway, so why not build a new star instead of showcasing an old one?

Del Rio is the United States Champion. No one is going to remember that he lost. They’ll remember that Kalisto won. He’ll still have the title and won’t be affected by putting over another Mexican star.

This is Kalisto’s shot. Of course, he’s going to lose to Reigns as well. However, he’ll have a good showing against him and Reigns can easily show respect to Kalisto after the match.

In the tournament, Kalisto will have beaten Ryback, Alberto Del Rio, and taken Reigns to the limit. That’s a lot of value to a tag team wrestler that no one expected to make it past the first round.

After the tournament, Kalisto would have enough momentum to challenge Kevin Owens or Alberto Del Rio for either midcard championship. Owens would be very good at elevating Kalisto as a face against his heel tactics and give the luchador an underdog persona.

Of course, WWE could have Del Rio vs. Kalisto over the “MexAmerican” title and paly that angle. There could be many more options to make Kalisto a valuable new performer to the WWE product instead of a flash in the pan to make the tournament more interesting just to put Roman Reigns over in the end.

The time is now to push Kalisto. WWE has a good opportunity. They just need to take the chance on him.