What the hell is going on with Antonio Cesaro?
 

He was in straight beast mode for months, and now he's jobbing all over the place. As the United States champion, no less. He wasn't on Wrestlemania. He wasn't on Raw. What's the deal? Is there something I don't know about? What did he do to deserve this de-push?

News sites reporting Vince McMahon is not high on Cesaro which could explain his Kofi Kingston like de-push.

A bad run after a push usually means something even bigger is coming up.

Who knows? I mean, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that bad. He's still US Champion.

He's boring as all hell

Tell that to Kofi...and 3MB...

He's got to show he's more than just the overplayed and typical heel foreigner who is anti-USA.

Somehow, he's got to prove he's got the charisma necessary in order to achieve more and go beyond his current status. He's got to take the necessary steps in order to kinda re-invent himself. If the don't open the door for you, bring it down.

Vince McMahon wasn't a fan of CM Punk's once upon a time, but things kinda turned out alright.

He's not really supposed to step outside of the gimmick they gave him, is he?

I love his ring work. Did he ever show charisma as Claudio Castagnoli? Does he have it in him? I never saw.

I don't know, man.

I'm just a positive dude.

"Optimistic" is my middle name.

Half-empty? Half-full, baby!

yes, yes he did. as the most money making man he had plenty of charisma. his whole "aaayyyyyy!" shtick was beautiful. still think he has charisma now, he's just saddled with a generic gimmick. and on top of that, he can literally work with any size guy to perfection. so why not push him?

I was optimistic when he was being pushed to the moon and being competitive with the top dogs. When he's not booked on the main show and they didn't even have him on Raw the next night (3MB, Truth, Santino, and Ryder all found their way onto the show), it makes me worry a bit as a realist.

Well, Dolph was on quite the losing streak.

We'll see.

At least Dolph was on TV. And at Wrestlemania.

He has horrific mic skills though

they are definitely not horrific. great? of course not. but that's part of his charm. it's not like you can't understand him. and it's not like he'll get any worse.

if that's your only reason for not pushing the guy, it's really weak.

Mic skills mean more than wrestling skills, so not really.

Workrate means more than mic skills home skillet

i wish i had as narrow a view of wrestling as you geniuses.

Duh. Work rate is serious rassling.

Mic skills is a pretty large aspect to lack for a main eventer.

But Gertner says Ryback is main event material. Has he ever cut a great promo?

What about Andre the Giant or Yokozuna? They were crap on the mic but they got huge pushes. Maybe b/c they were above average weight??

He gets the crowd to chant louder than anyone else. If the crowd is into it then I have to say yes.

I bet Monday's crowd would have gone nuts for Cesaro.

....maybe that's why he wasn't booked.

Jeff Hardy has shit mic skills and he was/is a main eventer. What got him over? Oh yeah, what he can do in the ring.

With Ryback's look all he has to be is average. Cesaro isn't even that.

Basing it off the past 6 months really. Monday was not a promo for Ryback really. Has he ever cut a amazing one? Naw. But he keeps the crowd interested and that is what will, partly, propel him. Everyone sleeps when Cesaro gets on the mic.

Jeff Hardy was also a once in a generation performer and was hugely over with women.

If Cesaro would have hit Cena with the Neutralizer on Monday, he would've outpopped DX.

Look at the journey Jeff took to get into the main event too.

And all the drugs he took, as well.

When Cesaro speaks he sounds like he's literally reading off a promo sheet. It's awful. He has zero change in his voice.

So there are other factors. I get that. You guys keep talking about his poor mic skills like that's what's holding him back. For one, there are ways around that, and for two, they're not even that bad.

You say he's boring, and it sounds like that's due to mic work for you. You can't shit on what he does in the ring. He's easily one of the most impressive and astute workers on the roster. Why do you feel the need to shit on him?

That crowd was literally a once in a decade crowd.

So is Charlie Haas. Put the belt on him.

because he is an "indy darling" and that's gertner's gimmick

who said to put the belt on him? assuming you mean THE belt.

I understand that. My point was that anybody could have gotten Ryback's reation last night.

Ryback has been getting that for months

Look at his reactions for the past 6 months.

Cesaro actually had me interested when he debuted.....then he opened his mouth and that was it for me.

Ryback is a product of his push. He was shoved down peoples throats until it caught on. At first, all he got was "Goldberg" chants, and he still does sometimes to this day. He's never really done anything spectacular. It's all about what you're given to do. Remember Skip Sheffield on NXT?

As Asksana's rugby-playing boyfriend? Doubtful. I didn't even dig him then.

He's lost pretty much every ppv match he's had and he's still very over. How was he shoved down peoples throats? He had no feud until September, wrestled in 2 minute squashes and never spoke and didn't fight for any titles. If anything he hasn't been pushed hard enough.

He had a decent look. Hell, Fandango has a dancing with the stars gimmick and is the talk of the wrestling world and people were going nuts here before he even debuted.

I think to be great a rassler needs to rule in the ring and on the mic. That's why Bret Hart is best rassler ever. He was super awesome in the ring and cutting promos. Someone who was shit on the mic but great in the ring was "dogs are by the pool" Canadian murderer, forgot his name though.

He's built up as an incredible, unstoppable machine. That's easy to get behind. Only because he's booked that way. Mason Ryan could have been given his role and gotten a following, I bet.

You know what I've never gotten about Ryback naysayers: they complain that no new talent is over or being developed and here comes Ryback who gets over and just because he's not a workrate king they shit on him.

Mason Ryan is horrific in every which way.

I'm not even a Ryback naysayer. I'm just asking you to tell me what Ryback does so much better than Cesaro. There's room for more than one in the main event.

Mason Ryan could pull off Ryback's move set. His look is impressive. His promo is probably lateral movement. I'm reminded of Batista all of a sudden, too. He wasn't even a good promo until he turned into a cocky douche.

He's got a better look, sadly better on the mic, not as good a wrestler though. Cesaro isn't a main eventer, but I have no problem with him being upper-mid. People think just because you label a guy not a main eventer that it's a huge diss, but the problem with the company is there is a huge lack of a supporting cast and Cesaro slots in well. Just not in the main event.

Ryan has almost Khali level stiffness. Ryan could get over. In a bodyguard role, but not on his own. He doesn't have Ryback's explosiveness, but then again, Ryback doesn't have Goldberg's either.

FWIW...saw a bunch of people wearing Cessaro's shirt at WM.

If the back of it wasnt terrible, the front of it is one of the better logos for a shirt they have.

i agree that he's not main event material right now. but that doesn't exclude him from working his way there over time.

Somehow, this came off to me as you shitting on Cesaro.

He's got to improve on his promo's. If he does than I have no problem moving him up.

And he still deserves TV time over Brodus Clay, I feel.

Ryback is not better on the mic than Cesaro. Cesaro at least sounds like he has all of his chromosomes

#CesaroMarkRybackH8er

Right now he is. His mic skills are holding him back and with his size he's the type that Vince would like.

Thing is, I never even mentioned him main eventing in this thread. I was just wondering where the hell he's been. He was a highlight of many Raws for me over the past few months, and his downplay has been quite noticeable to me.

a million times over, yes.

I still think Ryback's catchphrase is more over than he is.

I think he should go back to "YUP YUP YUP...WHAT IT DO!"

Clay is in a comedy tag team going nowhere.

A team that still gets exposure.

I would like to hear Ryback say in his intense Ryback voice "Yup Yup Yup, What it do"

Also I would like to hear Titus O'Neill's weird awkward make it a win speech again.

I miss NXT :'(

I need Rufus Pancake Patterson to return

Paul Heyman likes him, so let's see what he can do in the next few months.

I still have no idea what the point of that segment was, but I was entertained.

Omg it was so random and people on 411mania just shit all over it, and I thought it was funny as hell.

I'd love to see a feud between Ceasaro and a returning Christian

Cessaro will win the WHC MITB match..or at least be on the short list of contenders..

I see Cody or Sandow winning it.

There just aren't really that many midcard guys at the moment for him to do anything with without it getting repetitive. There's a bunch of lower and upper mid guys so they could bump someone up or down, but they're all a bit busy right now.

I wouldn't mind seeing him and Christian though, could probably get some big spots from them with Cesaro' strength and Chrisitans size and ability to bump.

Hmm, Christian.

I wonder if we get Dolph Ziggler vs Christian for the WHC at some point.

That would make Christian a face and he's bland and dull as a face, so God no.

lol, just read the Smackdown spoilers.

Why does he even still have the belt.

As someone who recently came around on him, I was there at Axxess when he was being interviewed for the few hundred people standing around the ring.

I was hoping he would show a little something extra since he wasnt on TV and didnt have to totally stay in character.

He was trying, but I thought he was pretty bad.

I love Antonio Cesaro, but there just wasn't room from him around WrestleMania time where it's basically the top stars and a few other guys. They will now give a babyface the chance to try and take the US Title off him, but probably keep him going over for a few weeks before he loses to a face that they think would make a great long-term opponent for Cesaro. Christian is actually a pretty good choice for that. They could also go with Sin Cara, given that Cesaro is one of the few guys that can work easily with Sin Cara.

I don't care if his promos are weak, his in-ring skill makes up for it. If he can make me interested in a match with Brodus Clay or The Great Khali, he must be doing something right.

xREDxONxYOUx makes a strong point

The only thing cared about in those matches is if Cesaro could actually pick them up without either Kahli or Clay "helping".

Brodus Clay is more entertaining than Cesaro

I'd say that's not really comparable, since Fandango was already entertaining as Johnny Curtis.

Poit gains points merely for his avatar.

I find Tensai more entertaining than Brodus Clay.

Tensai was wasted on his return.

Maybe Cesaro has been obviously boinking Sara del Ray.

some might argue that he didn't help his own cause

Ehhh. They brought him in with a gimmick that related to almost no one.

Tensai's gimmick was out-dated it was not funny. Does anyone remember his motivation for doing things? No?

As far as I could tell, he failed in America, moved to Japan, got really good there and tattooed his face, then he came back to finish what he already failed at. Sakamoto was to be blamed for all of his failures. For no good reason. Whatsoever.

He should've wrestled in that sweet mask he wore to the ring

Or, is Clay's gimmick more entertaining than Cesaro's gimmick?

Exactly this. How about a story where he chose to leave the WWE after he failed to defeat the likes of The Undertaker and Eddie Guerrero on the SmackDown brand and got injured, realizing that he needs to step things to the next level. He vowed to never return to the WWE until he was ready to be a World Champion.

There's history there of him competing against some top names. There's a reason he left and a reason he came back. And there's a mission. You don't bring him back and shove him right into the World Title picture, but you bring him back on Superstars and have him work his way up. Don't give him such out-dated finishers and let him use stuff like the De-Railer, a Vader Bomb and a Train Wreck for smaller opponents. If it looks like he's going to lose a match, he spits Mist in his opponents faces and then beats them to a pulp viciously -- giving people a reason to boo him. Not just because he's angry and speaks Japanese.

There was nothing actually wrong with Tensai himself, but his motivations and achievements were brushed over and he was shoved too far too quickly.

Coming out of the TPWW woodwork to say that literally all the points each of you make, make sense. No-one's wrong it's all down to opinion... But to the casual wrestling fan/guy-who-watched-in-attitude-era-still-has-soft-spot-so-watches-a-couple-of-PPV's-a-year.... Ryback should be head and shoulders higher than Cesaro. He looks nuts, he's super intense, he's just a really credible monster. Goldberg, Batista, Lesnar... he's the current 'that guy' and after watching Mania and Rumble with a group of casual/twice a year wrestling fans they were all seriously into Ryback.

And Brodus Clay/Tensai would also generate more interest to casual viewer than Cesaro. The mid-card/lower card needs big comedy characters, unfortunate as it may be, and hard for some to accept actual in-ring talent as your shining quality means you'll take a long time to get over, and IMO correct push for Cesaro is the long and slow one. There's nothing wrong with being involved in healthy upper-midcard feuds with occasional IC/US title runs for next 5 years then once it's obvious that he's over and everyone's into him enough to push him to the next level.

The worst thing for Cesaro in terms of fans would be a main-event push now. He'd be another Jack Swagger, Miz, could even argue Del Rio. Where the majority of fans (not TPWW posters) are just like why the fuck is this guy champion? Crowd reactions mean by far the most, best judging stick really. And the 'this guys a good wrestler push him!' clearly doesn't do well on said stick. Del Rio gets a slight reaction largely thanks to his announcer. Miz is mildly over now, 4 years later and Swagger's only getting any heat cos of his new controversial, yet, has-to-be-short-lived gimmick.

Gotta stop kidding yourselves thinking that in-ring skill is the most important thing for main-event success. It's a few notches down. When you scrape the barrel for names who made it through in-ring-skill (and no, not Y2J, Punk, Angle, HBK etc - they made it through being 'the full package') you know suttin' up... the only guy I can think of in recent times is the man erased from all WWE memory. But even he just had *something* about him, extremely good ring skills and an intensity which turned out to be a little too much.

Total tangent to the original point of thread just throwing in some NR analysis and opinion not seen in some time on TPWW. Continue :kiss:

I would just like to see a great wrestling match close out a PPV, opposed to whatever that was that The Rock and John Cena did at Wrestlemania. Cesaro has a better probability than most of making a great match happen. I understand that's not exactly how it works, but a boy can dream, damn it. Even if his great matches aren't at the top of the card, I still wish they were...you know...on the card.