Antonio Cesaro is great in five languages, but for some stupid reason, he’s not even on the card for this weekend’s Wrestlemania. Cesaro has been a great champion, and has a good, strong character that was being given plenty of time to grow. What the hell happened? I know it’s Wrestlemania season and some guys have to look better, but why is the United States Champion consistently losing? Why did Cesaro’s push stop all of the sudden? He’s entertaining, he’s got a good look, he’s strong, and he has a good moveset. You say he’s boring? OK, I’ll meet you halfway. He’s supposed to be that way, he’s foreign and he’s carrying himself better than he thinks Americans are. It’s part of the act, and he wants you to hate him.
Cesaro works because he is a unique heel that is missing from WWE’s shows. He is a foreigner, and he thinks he is better than Americans. (OK, I’m American, I will boo you. Job well done.) Cesaro is different than most heels in a face-friendly WWE because he is backing up what does just by winning. He comes out, says why he is better than his opponent, and convincingly beats them before leaving. Santino is a goofball character who showed a lack of skills as a face and a heel, and you could even say the same for Zack Ryder. Both are talented and their characters have grown, but would you pick them in a fight? Cesaro should win out every time. His track record in a young WWE career should already speak for itself, and he even looks good when he loses, like this past Monday on RAW. Cesaro put on a great match with Sheamus and there were many times where I thought he would pull off the win. He has looked strong at almost every point so far, which can’t be said for many guys. I strongly believe you should protect any guy in the match, win or lose, because they are the product and it’s what needs to sell the fans.
I wrote the previous passage in November, and I still feel like Cesaro can be more than what he’s doing right now. Yes, he’s putting up a fight in losses, but he should still be featured on this Sunday’s card. I’m not asking for some huge push into this weekend, but you can have him be a vulnerable champion at the very least. Miz had a program going with Cesaro, but it was basically dropped in the last month. Why couldn’t he hypothetically come out and say he deserves to be on the card, and put his title up against both Barrett and Miz in a double title match?
If you never saw it, the Wrestlemania 2000 match between Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit for Angle’s Intercontinental and European titles was awesome. There’s no way they couldn’t take a chance and do this again, and Cesaro, Barrett and Miz are more than capable of putting together a good match. I can sit here and come up with ‘what if…’ scenarios all day, but the point is Cesaro should be on the card.
This time last year, I wrote about another exclusion from Wrestlemania, former Tag Team Champions Primo and Epico. At the time, I felt like they were wronged, much like Cesaro is this year. The team hasn’t really had a big profile recently, and was basically relegated to losing squash matches. Cesaro is losing, but I don’t think he disappears like that. He’s too good not keep around. Primo and Epico, sure, we know WWE goes back and forth with tag teams, but this year is different. It’s not like Cesaro was hotshotted the title; he’s been champion since Summerslam. He’s currently the longest reigning champion in WWE, so again, why isn’t he on the pay-per-view?
WWE may have plans for him this weekend, or this month, or whenever, but he’s the one big omission from the ‘grandaddy of them all.’ We can play fantasy booker all you want, but I do know I’m not alone in thinking Cesaro should be on the card and something else could be moved to the preshow. At this point, you could put him on the preshow defending against someone, considering the show will be an hour. I get that they can’t please everyone and there’s a plan for the show, but this one seems worth arguing for because it seems so out of place. WWE had a habit of ignoring the Intercontinental Championship at Wrestlemania for a few years, and I hope they don’t start another trend, especially at the expense of a solid worker like Cesaro.
