Paul Heyman calls WWE’s handling of AEW star a ‘tremendously wasted opportunity’
Paul Heyman believes WWE squandered Cesaro’s (aka Claudio Castagnoli) potential. He emphasized that the company failed to capitalize on his unique strengths and missed the chance to position him as a legitimate main event star.
Heyman discussed what he believes was Cesaro’s wasted potential in WWE during his interaction with Chris Van Vliet on the Insight Podcast. He also explained why his partnership with Curtis Axel fell through.
“Because I don’t think it was meant to work out. I don’t think there was ever an overall grand scheme to move Curtis Axel all the way up the ladder. Curtis Axel filled the need for there to be people around me to feed the CM Punk at the time. It’s the same thing that happened to Cesaro.”
Heyman praised Cesaro’s WWE run noting that everyone wanted to work with him. He also recalled John Cena once viewed him as a potential WrestleMania main event star.
“You look at Cesaro and he checked specially at that moment in time, he checked every box to become a top star. Everyone who got into the ring with him came back into gorilla saying ‘Give me him’ everyone, everyone. I remember John Cena worked with him on television and came back and looked at Vince and said I could main event WrestleMania with [him]. And probably could have and should have. Cesaro was placed in that position the day after Brock Lesnar conquered the streak, so that when Brock took his hiatus, I had an excuse to be on television to say my client Brock Lesnar conquered The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania.”
“And you needed an excuse to have me out there on television. If you put me on commentary, I can’t say it for two or three hours. I have to say it with him once a week. Just drill that into your head. Reinforcement, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition. And so Cesaro became the excuse.”
Heyman emphasized that WWE missed a major opportunity by not capitalizing on Cesaro’s ability to speak five languages. He outlined how that unique trait could have been used for promos and also laid out the framework for a potential rivalry with Brock Lesnar.
“If Cesaro was given the opportunity to answer every question in a different language, you’d have seen a side of his personality because he will put emphasis in the dialect and you will see his mannerisms match the dialect that he’s presenting. So I think Cesaro could have been a fascinating promo if he was given the chance to do that in WWE. He wasn’t. And, that’s our fault. That is a major fumble that was a crime that was committed against the career of Cesaro and a crime that was committed against the audience for not allowing this gifted performer to do what at the time, certainly he could do better than most anybody else on the face of the planet.”
“And by the way, when you realize what he’s capable of, what an opponent he could have been for Brock Lesnar. Had I turned on Cesaro and we built him up to be a threat to Brock, the matches the two of them could have had are mind boggling. A tremendously wasted opportunity and no one for us to blame but ourselves, including me.”
Cesaro’s WWE career lasted from from 2011 to 2022. Following his 2014 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal win at WrestleMania 30, Cesaro proclaimed himself to be a ‘Paul Heyman guy’ which briefly sparked their alliance until July of that year.
Rosanne Raphael is a wrestling writer with over three and a half years of experience covering all things related to the industry. From a kindergarten teacher to PR Associate to turning her lifelong passion for the industry into a career, Rosanne is currently writing for F4W Online where she focuses on wrestling news, analysis, and storytelling.
Rosanne previously contributed to Sportskeeda as an Assistant Content Manager.
When not consumed by wrestling, Rosanne is a musician and an aspiring artist.