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I'm about as sad as I am for Cesaro as I am happy for Dean Ambrose right now.
Coming out of WrestleMania XXX, it was pretty obvious what the immediate route should have been for Cesaro: A match with Jack Swagger at Extreme Rules. Next to Daniel Bryan fighting Kane and Evolution taking on The Shield (rivalries that I think should have come together for that PPV), it was probably the most obvious and pressing match. Instead the WWE looked like they weren't going to do it, because Cesaro was still technically a heel. Then RVD came back randomly and was inserted into things.
Cesaro should have beaten Swagger at Extreme Rules and then moved onto a program with someone like Sheamus at Payback. That did happen, but I don't think it should have had the US Title involved. Cesaro winning the US Title at that point wouldn't have helped him, but losing to Sheamus stunted his growth too. In Chicago, Sheamus would have been just booed enough to make a heel victory for Cesaro exciting. If they absolutely needed to go with Sheamus as US Champion, perhaps Payback could have been the perfect time to do Cesaro vs. RVD? Cesaro could have beaten Van Dam in a crowd that would have eaten up Heyman's history with Van Dam.
The WWE had the perfect chance to make Cesaro a "cool heel." A rough, vicious competitor who oozes credibility and has a stoic charisma. Backed by Heyman, a mouthpiece that could sell that credibility and charisma, you have a lot of "cool" qualities, but also a worminess that a confident Cesaro wouldn't have. Brock Lesnar in 2002 would have been the perfect way to handle the duo.
I can't imagine it was entirely Heyman's idea to focus exclusively on Brock Lesnar during the duo's time together. For example, on the RAW after WrestleMania in a backstage segment, Heyman called Cesaro the next WWE World Heavyweight Champion. It then became "top tier player." It then became "BROCK LESNAR!" all the time.
When the Cesaro/Heyman arrangement ended, I got a little worried, because Cesaro now had no one to talk for him. He was basically where he was when he wasn't working with Heyman on his own. The losses to Ambrose and Cena didn't worry me, because they are top stars working huge SummerSlam programs, but the loss to Van Dam at SummerSlam? Why? I get that it was the Kickoff show and RVD is a face and they may have wanted to pop the audience -- but couldn't Cesaro have beaten RVD after a hard-fought back-and-forth match? I guess Cesaro then beat Swagger on RAW. But I think it would have been more effective if Cesaro was building momentum at the moment.
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