Cesaro debuted in 2012 to much fanfare in WWE, the man formerly known as Claudio Castagnoli had made it to the big leagues where the world would now be able to witness the skills this man possessed. The former ROH, PWG, NOAH and Chikara combatant was extremely well known on the independent wrestling circuit, having plied his trade is so many different promotion and countries Cesaro had become a valuable commodity to any organisation that wished to employ his services.
After what turned into a mediocre 2014 for Cesaro he looked to be going nowhere at the end of last year, a much forgotten Andre the Giant Battle Royal win, a failed partnership with Paul Heyman and a series of pointless feuds WWE had seemed to have forgotten about the Swiss Superman. Then in December of last year on the Steve Austin Podcast, Vince McMahon himself shot down Cesaro saying he lacked charisma and didn’t have the ‘IT’ factor, and therefore couldn’t connect with the audience. The comments were met with backlash from those who believed WWE had squandered the chance it had with Cesaro following Wrestlemania 30, I personally felt WWE had screwed Cesaro, not the other way round.
After the podcast character assassination WWE had nothing for Cesaro, the options looked bleak for the man who 8 months earlier was potentially the next breakout star. It was quite shocking that someone with his skills was being sidelined due to not having what WWE required. I’ve noticed more recently with WWE that they only see to focus on a handful of stars these days and completely forget about the rest of their roster, quite alarming I think. Another WWE superstar with superior in ring skills is Tyson Kidd and in early December the decision was made to align these two and basically leave them to sink or swim. As we headed into 2015 not much attention was given to the tag team division in WWE, the Uso’s were champs so why touch it, therefore this lack of attention to a division crying out for it allowed Cesaro & Kidd to quietly flourish. This was the start of something special.
2015 kicked off and Cesaro and Kidd were straight out the starting gate, showing great flair and vigour they were going to show WWE that they had been overlooked and were every part the workhorses everyone knew they were. We all know the tag team division in WWE isn’t the best but these two ignited something and it took off, competing in very competitive matches with New Day, Los Matadores, Uso’s and whom ever else WWE decided to throw together Cesaro & Kidd came up smelling of roses, they could do no wrong. They also made the decision to add in Tyson’s wife Natalya into the fold which was only another reason for their success and it also played into their victory over the Uso’s where they captured the Tag Team Titles. Although heels up this point you couldn’t help but respect and appreciate their work, this therefore caused the tide to turn in favour of the tandem and slowly the cheers started.
Once they had captured the titles they entered into a very entertaining feud with the New Day and it was during this feud that the double turn took place and both team reversed roles, with the natural slow turn now compete WWE had a team on it’s hands that the fans could really get behind, especially since the crowd favourites the Uso’s suffered injuries and had to bow out for a little rest and recuperation. Coming out of the spring into the summer the New Day vs Cesaro/Kidd feud was one of the highlights of every Raw, Smackdown and PPV, they stole the show on a nightly basis and the audience showed their appreciation. Both teams shone brightly in their battles and won plaudits from critics and fans the world over, social media was buzzing after the 2 out of 3 falls match at Payback. However shortly after their failed attempts to win back the titles misfortune struck once more as it was revealed Tyson Kidd had suffered a spinal injury.
This was a terrible blow to the team but also to Cesaro, he had slowly won back his credibility with the WWE hierarchy and the respect of the fans, what would this set back cost him? Thankfully WWE had recognised all the hard work done by Cesaro and after a few weeks he returned to singles competition, most notably challenging John Cena for the US title on Raw, this was the first of two matches between Cesaro and Cena that have become instant classics, unfortunately during this match Kevin Owens cost Cesaro the title therefore the match was null and void they clashed again on July 6th and everyone who witnessed this knew they watching something special. It was a great back and forth match which once more proved to the wrestling community how good a talent Cesaro is, the guy is arguably the best wrestler in WWE. Since these matches took place Cesaro has slowly become the man in WWE, every week his matches are becoming must contests and everything he touches turns to gold.
Since Battleground Cesaro has found himself at odds with Kevin Owens, and this Sunday at Summerslam marks their first one on one PPV match in WWE, not only has this match the potential to steal the entire show but it’s also a wonderful story of two men who five years ago would never have been considered good enough for WWE let alone a spot on arguably the biggest edition of Summerslam ever in WWE’s history. So 2015 has been quite the year for Cesaro, from zero to hero in WWE’s eyes and this Sunday could be the start of something epic, many have even called Cesaro the New ‘Daniel Bryan’ a man that never gives up and will do all he can to reach the top. But the question remains, can Cesaro reach the proverbial glass ceiling and smash through it? We’ve been at this stage before, Wrestlemania 30 with the world at his feet Cesaro depending on how you see it had the chance already and blew it…….he has the skills, he can talk, he has the support of the fans but does he have management behind him?
Personally I think Summerslam is fast becoming a vey important PPV and I also think it could be the kick-off in building to Wrestlemania 32, quite a lot can happen between now and then but there is so much at stake this Sunday, future long term story lines will take affect this weekend. So what of Cesaro and Summerslam, can he take the bull by the horns and reach the proverbial glass ceiling, can he become the star we all know he can be, will management once more adhere to the fans and allow someone of their making to win the big one?
Only time will tell…….Olay!!!!!
@ciaran_1986
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