Del Rio made a surprise return to the WWE at Hell in a Cell on 25 October 2015, with Zeb Colter as his manager, and defeated John Cena to win the United States Championship. The next night on "Raw", Del Rio revealed that he and Zeb Colter had started their new country "MexAmerica" and unofficially renamed the United States Championship the "MexAmerican Championship". In November, Del Rio took part in the tournament for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship, defeating Stardust in the first round and Kalisto in the quarterfinals, before being eliminated by Roman Reigns in the semi–finals at Survivor Series.