On a recent edition of Renee Paquette’s The Sessions podcast, Samuray del Sol (formerly Kalisto), recalled going through a life-threatening period shortly after his release from WWE.
On April 15, 2021, Del Sol was released from his WWE contract, ending his 8-year tenure with the company.
Del Sol was hospitalized due to COVID-19 and the deadly virus nearly took his life. On top of that, the luchador was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer and two heart attacks.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On getting Covid and how hard it hit him: “After me getting released from WWE, like, I’m gonna get back on the grind. I’m motivated. It just hit me out of nowhere. I waited two weeks, because I didn’t want to pay a damn hospital bill (laughs). That was my mistake, because I was starting to be delusional, like my brain was frying. My wife, too, was sick, but she wasn’t as sick as me. My fever would not go down. I was literally coughing up blood every day for [that] two weeks. I was white. I didn’t tell anybody, not even my parents. They were pissed off when they found out!”
On his heart stopping several times in the hospital: “I don’t like showing my medical history to the world. I didn’t want any sympathy. I’m a private person. I can take care of myself, I can do this, but man… it scared the shit out of me. At the time of the hospital, they were gonna put me in a coma and my wife said no. Cause he’s not gonna come back, he’s gonna die. Heart’s stopping. They need to revive me. My heart stopped, and I came back. It was like three times. I was in and out of that. I just didn’t know what was going on. I was super tired and I wanted to sleep. What my wife was telling me was really bad, and I ended up staying in the ER for two and a half months. Every day I was on close watch because my heart kept stopping.”
On finally getting out and back to his home: “It was so scary because I was alone. Not even my wife could visit me. I was really bad. Only a few people know, only a few. I got out and I just remember brushing my own teeth at home and crying. My wife is like, why are you crying? I’m brushing my teeth for the first time, it feels so good.”
On considering retirement: “In my mindset, what I was going through, I was already set for retirement. Because I don’t think I have the lung power. I tried walking outside, I couldn’t even breathe. I already had light asthma. I was getting blood clots in my lungs. My high pressure, I almost had diabetes on top of that. It was just crazy. It was a life scare.”
On Tony Khan calling him just a few weeks after he got out of the hospital: “Once I got out of the hospital, three weeks later I’m having dinner with my wife. My phone rings. It’s Tony Khan. We talked, and he offered me a match with FTR. I’m excited, I’m not even thinking of me being sick (laughs). I hung up, I looked at my wife, like, what the hell did I just do? I just got out of the hospital! So everything’s running through my mind. Everything’s hitting me. I went to the bathroom and started bawling. Can I do this?”
On how FTR helped him prepare for the match and took care of him: “So I had to tell FTR. I worked with them for a long time. They took care of me. That’s why they’re the best. That’s why I’m forever grateful because I told them hey, if I have a heart attack, just roll me underneath the ring (laughs).”
