Paul Heyman Calls WWE’s Handling Of Cesaro A ‘Tremendously Wasted Opportunity’

Paul Heyman says WWE wasted Cesaro.

In 2014, the night after his Andre The Giant Battle Royal Win at WrestleMania 40, Cesaro aligned with Paul Heyman. The legendary manager was in the midst of his time alongside Brock Lesnar, and, with ‘The Beast’ coming off of breaking The Undertaker’s streak, many were excited to see where Cesaro’s career would go with his new cornerman. However, the Swiss’ career remained largely stagnant, and the partnership is looked back on as a missed opportunity. Now, Paul Heyman has reflected on his time with Cesaro.

Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Paul Heyman called WWE’s handling of Cesaro ‘a major fumble’.

“You look at Cesaro and he checked, specially at that moment in time, he checked every box to become a top star. Everyone who got into the ring with him came back into Gorilla saying, ‘Give me him.’ Everyone. I remember John Cena worked with him on television and came back and looked at Vince [McMahon] and said, ‘I could main event WrestleMania with him.’ And probably could have and should have. Cesaro was placed in that position the day after Brock Lesnar conquered the streak so that when Brock took his hiatus, I had an excuse to be on television to say, ‘My client Brock Lesnar conquered The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania.’ And you needed an excuse to have me out there on television. If you put me on commentary, I can’t say it for two or three hours. I have to say it with him once a week. Just drill that into your head. Reinforcement, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition. And so Cesaro became the excuse to see me say the line. — If Cesaro was given the opportunity to answer every question in a different language, you’d have seen a side of his personality because he will put emphasis in the dialect and you will see his mannerisms match the dialect that he’s presenting. So I think Cesaro could have been a fascinating promo if he was given the chance to do that in WWE. He wasn’t. And that’s our fault. That is a major fumble that was a crime that was committed against the career of Cesaro and a crime that was committed against the audience for not allowing this gifted performer to do what at the time, certainly he could do better than most anybody else on the face of the planet. When you realize what he’s capable of, what an opponent he could have been for Brock Lesnar. Had I turned on Cesaro and we built him up to be a threat to Brock, the matches the two of them could have had are mind boggling. A tremendously wasted opportunity and no one for us to blame but ourselves, including me.”

-Paul Heyman

Heyman and Cesaro spent around three months together, with their incredibly brief partnership coming to an end once Brock Lesnar returned to our screens. When it became clear that ‘The Beast’ would be going after WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena, his advocate shifted his focus back to Lesnar heading into SummerSlam.

By the end of that year, Cesaro had formed his much-loved tag team with Tyson Kidd. The pair would go on to win the WWE Tag Team Championships in February 2015, although they only got to have one reign prior to Kidd’s unfortunate injury.

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As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Paul Heyman as soon and we hear more.

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