Is it just me, or is WWE really blowing a great opportunity to develop a new potential main event Superstar with the way they’ve handled the solo push of Cesaro thus far?
Coming off the split of The Real Americans tag-team, two things caught my attention:
1. It was painfully obvious that Cesaro should have turned baby face and Jack Swagger should have turned heel.
B. They should have done a full-length rivalry between Cesaro and Swagger to blow off their program and set Cesaro up as a new solo Superstar to watch out for.
Instead, WWE split up the team, never really had them feud together in a meaningful capacity and then decided to align Cesaro with Paul Heyman.
On the surface, putting Cesaro with Heyman seems like a great idea. If there’s one area that Cesaro isn’t particularly strong at, it’s promos. Who better than Paul Heyman to do the talking for you?
The problem is, all Heyman does is put over Brock Lesnar while Cesaro stands mute in the background looking like “daddy’s second favorite child.” I’m not sure how much this is benefiting “The King of Swing.”
Lately, WWE has booked Cesaro to get beat in fluke losses to Kofi Kingston on RAW. Last week they had Kingston upset Cesaro during a commercial break, and then had Cesaro trash Kingston for beating him. This does nothing to help Cesaro, obviously, and doesn’t really help Kingston either, as two seconds after scoring a victory, he’s getting the living crap beaten out of him by the man he just defeated.
Last night on RAW, it was even worse. Kingston scores another fluke victory over Cesaro, which again does nothing for Cesaro, and Cesaro goes and beats down Kingston after the match, taking away any steam Kingston may have garnered. To make matters worse, where the previous week you could say that at least Cesaro beat down Kingston after the upset, at least making himself “whole” again, last night they had Big E. come out during Cesaro’s beat down and chase him off.
How in the world is this helping Cesaro?!
There’s no doubt in my mind that if the company really got behind Cesaro, he could be one of their key players in due time. If they keep going the direction they’re headed now, he’s going to end up being solidified in a mid-card role, as eventually the fans will give up on him. You could make the argument that Cesaro is less over right now than he was when he was one-half of a nothing-happening tag-team.
When he was with the Real Americans, he was getting super over. It seemed inevitable that when they split the team up and each guy went their separate ways, that Cesaro was going to get over like a monster on his own. When they paired him with Heyman, it seemed even more likely that he was going to become one of WWE’s next big stars.
I’ll say this much — if WWE doesn’t book the inevitable Cesaro-Brock Lesnar program in a way that portrays Cesaro as an equal to Lesnar, then that could be the final nail in the coffin for Cesaro. It’s obvious that at some point, much like when Heyman was representing CM Punk and Lesnar simultaneously, that the two guys would go at it and Heyman would side with one or the other.
Obviously in the present-day scenario surrounding Lesnar and Cesaro, Heyman is going to side with Lesnar. WWE is going to build Lesnar as an unbeatable monster coming off of the win over Undertaker at WrestleMania XXX. Basically put, Cesaro is probably going to be looking at the lights for a three-count when he and Lesnar square off. Guys can get over stronger in losing, it’s not an impossibility. In fact, it’s been done countless times in the past. Hopefully WWE books the eventual Cesaro-Lesnar program in a way that enhances Cesaro’s profile with the “WWE Universe” as opposed to squashing him to further establish Lesnar as “the man.”
In my opinion, however Cesaro is used now isn’t that detrimental to his long-term future status in the company. I believe that Cesaro’s future depends heavily on how he is booked when he and Lesnar finally have their program together. If they book Cesaro in any manner that resembles the way he is currently being used, like I mentioned earlier, it’s likely going to result in Cesaro being solidified as a permanent mid-carder in the eyes of the fans.
What a waste.
What do you guys think about the way WWE has booked Cesaro’s singles run thus far? Leave your feedback in the “Comments” section below. You can also hit me up on Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBooneWZR and/or on Twitter @MBoone420.
