I’d be OK if he didn’t even sign anywhere and just toured all over. Let him be the token mystery guy in the Revolution ladder match and swing around some meaty lads. Then go work a Terminus show and then a stint in NJPW.

Cesaro checks every box for Tony Khan

1. Used to work for WWE
2. Can talk about how WWE held him back

Thats actually the full list :rofl:

Why would Cesaro remind him of Konnan? Cause they are both bald?

But anyways, yeah, he will def end up in AEW.

That name is not marketable. AEW would be wise to change it, but they won't.

Cesaro has knocked Russia/Ukraine out of the top trending spot on Twitter in the U.S.

https://i.postimg.cc/7ZsWFCXY/Screen...5-18-13-PM.png

the worlds most moniest making man will do just fine

Fixed

'Member last year when Cesaro was getting another random push and was beating Daniel Bryan clean on TV, and was in a singles program vs Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania?

Member when Cesaro got the second biggest pop of the night at Wrestlemania XXX and then creative was just like “nah”

This is the only post here that matters.

For the love of God I hope that Cesaro goes to NJPW proper, they need him and AEW doesn't. If that isn't to his liking then him working for ROH would make a lot of sense as well.

A Chris Hero/Claudio reunion in ROH against the Briscoes would be a huge program for them to return with.

I will order the next Bloodsport in a heartbeat if they book Claudio vs. Thatcher

Claudio Castagnoli for New Japan, please.

He’d do so well in Japan. It’s hard to believe he’s never gone over there in his career already.

He’s been in the WWE for a loooooong time. New Japan really kicked it up as a fad in the online community when AJ Styles went over. Cesaro was already in the WWE.

I think that would be the best place for him. He can wrestle there for 18 months and be the “best wrestler in the world” and then weigh up his options then with an appreciable view of the lay of the land.

I’m worried he’s going to sign with AEW and try to show he has a personality or end up as another Brodie Lee, in the sense that they’re treated as this massive deal but when left to their devices they prove Vince McMahon right.

I’m all for Claudio being an anchor in a new promotion too. There’s a flavor of guys out there now that don’t fit that AEW vibe that could basically form their own promotion with an emphasis on the technical side of things.

Cesaro, as great a worker as he is, has his short comings. Mainly, that he can't cut a promo to save his life. His other major short coming is only a short coming in AEW: In that he is a big athletic guy who knows what the inside of a gym looks like. That seems to be the antithesis of what gets pushed in that company. And he'd have a repeat of his time in Chikara, with many of the same players involved. I mean, I'm sure the Bucks would love to put themselves over the Kings of Wrestling, but beyond that, there isn't much for Cesaro there.

Ironically, he'd need to be an even better talker to get over in NWA, where everyone seems to be at least decent. On top of that, he's a big fish in a small pond.

He would be best off in New Japan, strictly because he doesn't have to be a good promo guy to get over there.

What if he teamed with fat Chris Hero? They’d cancel each other out.

Doesn't matter what "creative" has in the works when you have a 76 year old out of touch loon being the one who gives the yay or nay to storyline or characters put forward

Cesaro hit his ceiling. Not World Champ material IMO.

Cesaro to me is the Arn Anderson of the Era. Not a top, top guy but possibly the best tag worker of the Era and a highly valuable upper mid card, but I wouldn't put the World Title on him

Arn was better than Cesaro will ever be for the simple fact that he can cut a promo and a damn good.

Maybe not the one. But I can see value in him being a transitional guy or holding it for a European tour or something. He’s not going to sink the company by holding it, but he’s not exactly going to usher in a new boom period either.

If I were him, I’d actually try and see value in being one of the best ever not to hold one. They’re like candy now. But being in the shortlist of guys like Piper, Anderson, Regal, etc. is lofty company. Unless it makes sense to put it on him because for whatever reason it does make sense for business. A sustained run in New Japan or ROH for example.

'Member the "Cesaro Section"?

Or when Heyman supposedly saw the match between him and Sami Zayn in NXT way back when and wanted to work with him after, and he apparently got vetoed by the office? Grain of salt and all since it's a Heyman story, but the other side of that is actually a very WWE move which makes me inclined to believe Paul.

Meh. That's one of the downsides of the whole "Perception is reality, pal!" things. If they got behind him to be a champion in any sustained way like they planned for Roman Reigns YEARS ahead of him even being remotely ready for it - he was getting that top spot come hell or high water, he would be seen as a champion. It's easy to say Roman's a star *now*, but how about when he cut that shaky "I'm the man" pre-Shield promo in NXT? Nobody bought that shit, not even him.

If you're booked repeatedly to look like a go-nowhere shithead, guess what you'll be percieved as?

That promo was early in Reigns' career. Like in his second year. Cesaro has been doing this for over 20 years, and his promos never got any better.

You can try and build him up as a star all you want, but as soon as he opens his mouth, it's over.

And that's fine. Not everyone can be the guy. That said, he still wasn't used to the best of his abilities. They could have done a lot more with him, but that is par for the course with wwe.

Sadly, I think this is true. I also don’t think he got anywhere near as over as people said. I wanted him to be so over, but he always felt a bit tepid, even if I thought he was brilliant in the ring.

This. This is the feeling I end up with a lot of WWE leavers. They’re not always championship material/top guys but they are to a man not used to their full potential. There is always something “left on the table”.

Cesaro is a perfect example of why managers are important to wrestling. Imagine if he had a Bobby Heenan or Jim Cornette type manager to handle all the promos for him.

It's why I felt Cesaro was paired with Sheamus for that tag run. Both were exceptional workers but if they needed to cut a promo, Sheamus could do it, and Cesaro could sit there and nod and throw in a line or two and it was "good enough"

Cesaro isn't a full fledged main eventer, but in a 2 World Title world where Jinder Mahal was champion, Cesaro could have been a serviceable main eventer in lulls.

Crazy to think. They saw Jinder as a more credible World Champion than Cesaro.

So much of this, right here. Fuck Jinder. For every reason Cesaro is "not the guy" Jinder is that and then some. Token politics for the loss.


Def don't think he's "the man" but he was definitely someone who could have done more.

WWE wasn't trying to expand in Switzerland like they were India

I get the business side of it, but still, it was shit.

The Jinder Mahal title run remains one of the strangest things ever. Jinder returns in 2016 to help flesh out the brand split, works as an undercard guy filling out Raw, gets drafted to SmackDown, wins a #1 contenders match with zero build, then beats Orton and ends up holding the title for ages.

I wasn't averse to pushing somebody new or whatever, but they so rarely have an organic rise to the top in WWE. It's usually somebody being rocket strapped, and in this case it was blithely obvious he only got his push because they wanted Indian expansion. Nothing against Jinder as by all accounts he's a nice dude, but it certainly felt unearned.

Also, they could have expanded to 5 different countries, since he spoke 5 languages.


De kunde också ha expanderat till 5 olika länder, eftersom han talade 5 språk.



Außerdem hätten sie auf 5 verschiedene Länder expandieren können, da er 5 Sprachen sprach.


Také se mohli rozšířit do 5 různých zemí, protože mluvil 5 jazyky.


En outre, ils auraient pu s’étendre à 5 pays différents, puisqu’il parlait 5 langues.

so GTFO India!

Everything about Jinder was so fucking rotten lol

Remember his feud with Nakamura lol

The feuds with Orton and Nakamura both felt utterly endless.

The fucking Punjabi Prison match....

So bad lol

The giant rug he was standing on was more interesting. Nakamura's used mouthguard had more charisma.

Don't hinder Jinder.

But in all seriousness, I see the business aspect of it. But a 2-3 month title run would have been a nice moment. But a super long title run....plus as some people put it, the Punjabi Prison Match. Fuck that. Especially with the Great Khali interfering

Should have lost to Nak

I thought Jinder was released for a second there.

Holy shit, was he terrible. He may be more relaxed in the spot now or whatever, but in 2017 it was between him and Zack Ryder as to who was the absolute dirt worst on the roster.

What did Ryder do in 2017?

I’ll never forget how amazingly nonsensical it was that they had a 6 man match on Smackdown to decide the #1 contender for the IC title and then the next week, the losers of that match had a 5 way match to decide the #1 contender for the WORLD title. Lol

That has always stood out to me as a notably clear statement by WWE saying “lol None of this shit matters, it’s hilarious that you’re tuning in as if it does.”

Mahal is the worst Canadian champion of all time. And one of them even committed double murder-suicide.

Damn sweet theme and entrance though. Pretty much the only thing I can give him.

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mad gyno tho

Jinder as a foreign heel worked better than Cesaro because Cesaro is too good in the ring to be truly hated. I dont believe he was only champion to expand in India considering when they actually went to India he got jobbed out to Triple H. I think it was certainly part of it, but it was also how jacked he got and Vince loving evil foreign heels.

I still think it came out of resentment for finding himself pushing a bunch of independent style no-marks. The eventual history with India will be valuable, but it wasn’t something that was going to pay dividends there and then, and you could tell it wasn’t right away.

That or Vince also accepted a bet and lost.

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Wait, wait, wait...they put the fucking World Title on JINDER FUCKING MAHAL?????https://i.imgur.com/ufzCrrF.gif

They sure did.

It was at a time when Smackdown was feeling fresh and new and great right off the brand split and had a lot of promise.... then they kinda killed it with Mahal

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Well, WM 32 was my cut-off day so I most definitely avoided that shitshow. SmackDown! around that time was most certainly not feeling fresh and new and great.

I didnt even mind Jinder winning it, but they then proceeded to book him like a worldbeater for like 5 months, which made no sense.

The brand split was after WM32, or so Wikipedia tells me..... It was feeling real good for a bit right after the split, with Ambrose as champ, then AJ Styles... even Dolph Ziggler got a little push and was interesting in the main event fighting for the title.... the Orton/Wyatt story....

Then Mahal won the title and it was just like "what" and all Smackdown momentum seemed to kind of grind to a halt..... Styles eventually won the title off Jinder but by then the damage was done and it was like "who cares now"

I totally was fine with given Mahal a chance as champion. He came back from absence (injury? released?) looking like a million bucks! However, he still sucked in the ring and on the mic. But props to him for getting in such great shape!

He was fired because he wasn’t very good.

Mad props to him turning his life around, don’t get me wrong.

Ignorant question here: is Jinder getting jacked the reason why Drew McIntyre also got jacked?

That's a personal question

I want to repost this: not as a sign of shitting on slik, because I would have agreed with pretty much this whole list except maybe Omos - because when you're that tall in WWE, being immobile and "not good" isn't enough to be shown the door. I mean, they put The Great Khali in the goddamn HOF! WWE has a track record with that. But everyone else? Yeah, I would have absolutely cosign'd.

I also would have gone the extra mile and suggested an ongoing timer clock for Veer's debut much like the timer website for JTG's WWE employment.

And we'd have both been very wrong.

Anything really can happen in the WWE.

Dakota Kai
Draco Anthony
Harland (Parker Boudreaux)
Malcolm Bivens
Persia Pirotta

Released

i'm surprised they didn't release dakota kai sooner. love her tho.

Dexter Lumis gone

worried about Indi Hartwell!

She recently tweeted a gif of Snitsky punting the baby.

So shes cool in my book.

he can go back to impact and be sam shaw again

yeah at nxt since 2016, if they did not see anything before now they would never push her.

That Harland must have been poor in the ring then. Had a good look and they were very hot on him when they brought him in.

Yeah I'm surprised by Harland being on the list.

Diamond Mine is the most cursed faction ever.

somehow roddy still has a job!

about the last of the black and gold trips nxt.

They took any look Bordeaux had away from him the moment he debuted on screen looking like Snitsky.

He looked straight out of American History X

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Apparently Bivens signed an extension to his last contract but had rejected a new deal. Same for Dakota. Surprised they never even tried her on the main roster. Could have even kept her with Raquel <s>Gonzalez</s> Rodriguez and boosted the Womens tag division to 2 teams. Bivens could have been great with any number of talents, my first thought was pair him with “Zero Peesence” Gable Stevenson but I guess he’s a long way off yet. Who else on the main roster packs personality/charisma/presence? Ricochet? Put him with Lashley to counteract MVP with Omos? Dunno. The dude was with the company 3 years and only recently made TV, guess he had enough.

Crazy how good NXT was at one time under Triple H's leadership. I mean it really changed wrestling on a main stream level. It feels forgotten now, at least by me. I'll never forget NXT selling out arean's for Takeover's and those shows being absolutely nuts. Nakamura vs Zayn ... my lord.

I guess it wasn't "sustainable" not really prepping guys to work for Vince, at all. But still, it was a huge thing, and aside from some booking differences AEW isn't all that much different. All of these companies that are blooming in the last 5 years are pretty much extensions of ROH. Evolve and PWG were evolutions of ROH in ways, the talent went between all of those companies. And then that talent was hired for NXT, and then for AEW.

I can't really watch NXT right now they really need to tour.

everything is the child of something. everything Gabe learned that allowed him to craft RoH he learned working under Heyman in ECW. we're all someones child.

Not Phil, who filed legal protection against his own Mother :rofl:

https://www.tmz.com/2013/06/26/cm-pu...-mother-court/ :rofl::rofl::rofl:

I fail to see the humor or a valid point.

Ummm, Phil sucks as a human :rofl:

What’s humorous about that? We don’t know enough about their relationship either.

Don’t bother using logic with him. It’s a waste of your time.

What is the normal reaction to an xrod post.

None of those releases seem crazy at all. Dakota Kai could have maybe been a solid hand, but I didn’t find her particularly interesting. And who knows what circumstances were behind it?

Harland was probably the drizzling shits, plus he seemed to get heat.

Malcolm Bivens was lucky to have a job as a manager in modern WWE, really.

I still believe the initial plan was for HHH to be obstensably running shit while Vince was busy with the XFL. All of "Hunter's kids" would have been called up and put in prominent spots, so when Vince came back to take a look, they wouldve been things he wasn't particularly high on (mainly shorter in height), but there would have been a roster of varied talent led by talent that had been fostered and pushed in NXT. He can't bitch about it if it's already in place and working, with popularity and merch sales. Better to ask forgiveness than permission.

Instead, Vince folded the tents of XFL well beforehand (in something wildly unforseen), then immediately went "what the fuck?!" about things like size, and proceded to put stupid touches on callups like name changes or tennis skirts or Demolition masks... and instead of taking the good shit from NXT and introducing it to the main roster, they're going the other shit by infecting NXT with the more garbage aspects of the main roster.

I was surprised he was even there ever, given how much Vince apparently hates the idea of managers anymore, Paul Heyman excepted... possibly begrudingly since he's attached to Brock personally. I'm honestly even surprised that MVP has been doing mouthpiece and corner work for folks for the last few years. And I don't mean that as a knock on MVP.

Remember, this is a company that actively discourages using managers and tag team wrestling as a division, and has about a two decade track record at this point that proves exactly how much by deeds instead of words. I'm willing to bet if young prime versions of Jim Cornette, Jimmy Hart, or even Bobby Heenan existed now in their capacity as manager, they would not likely find a home in WWE and end up as post 'Mania release fodder.

I said it before, but NXT's failure is solely Vince McMahon's fault. Triple H got at least 20 different acts ready to be big stars in WWE, and Vince went out of his way to bury each and every one of them.

He astonishingly went out of his way to push the few people that came from NXT who had little to no impact on the black and gold brand whatsoever. Alexa Bliss was a manager for almost her entire NXT run. Ditto for Carmella. Elias was just a weird outlier that Graves would trash on commentary. Mojo got a few start/stop pushes, way more of a push than anybody expected considering he was jobbing to the likes of Bull Dempsey. Xavier Woods didn't do much of anything in NXT. Then of course you have guys like Strowman and Omos who were in developmental but never even made it to having a match. He actually pushed Jackson Ryker for a while :rofl:

Jackson Ryker :lol:

It’s mental that more effort was put into pushing him than a dozen other names.

I don’t think Vince is against using managers and tag teams. I mean, WWE has better managers and a better tag division than their nearest rival, easily. But I’m not sure how hungry they would be to get new people into that role when they’ve got a whole bunch of talkers already up there. But I guess it was his choice to leave, so good for him.

There’s definitely a “sweet spot” when it comes to things like managers. AEW has far too many to the point where more people have them than don’t and so it doesn’t feel special. Apparently they pitched him pairing with Omos and he turned it down. Not sure what his next step would be, another manager in AEW? He’s a standup comedian too so maybe he wants to concentrate on that.

It’s possible. He seems to go back a fair way with ROH and EVOLVE, so it’s possible he’s looking to take a job with either ROH or doing something with Gabe? Or he’s just ready to quit.

It would have made the most sense to train him up as a referee or commentator, in my opinion.

RODERICK STRONG HAS CENA NUFF

(and requested his release)