After Sin Cara had been sidelined with a shoulder injury in late December 2015, Kalisto defeated United States Champion Alberto Del Rio in a non-title match with John Cena in his corner on the January 7, 2016 episode of "SmackDown". On the January 11 episode of "Raw", Kalisto defeated Del Rio to win the United States Championship, his first championship on the main roster and his first singles title in WWE. He dropped the title back to Del Rio on the January 14 episode of "SmackDown", but won it back at Royal Rumble. On the Fastlane pre-show, Kalisto defeated Del Rio in a two-out-of-three falls match to retain the title. Kalisto defeated Ryback to defend his United States Championship at the WrestleMania 32 pre-show, whereas Sin Cara competed in a seven-man ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship at the time held by Kevin Owens. On the April 11 episode of "Raw", The Lucha Dragons entered a tournament to determine the #1 contenders to the WWE Tag Team Championship, but were eliminated in the first round by The Dudley Boyz. Kalisto then rekindled his rivalry with Ryback, and eventually defeated him once again on May 1 at the Payback pre-show to retain the title. On May 22 at Extreme Rules, Kalisto lost the title to Rusev and failed to regain the title in a rematch against Rusev on the May 26 episode of "SmackDown". On the Money in the Bank pre-show, The Lucha Dragons defeated The Dudley Boyz. On July 19, Kalisto and Sin Cara announced that they mutually disbanded as a tag team and would enter the 2016 WWE draft as singles competitors.