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Top 7 Cesaro Moments In WWE

February 25, 2022 | Posted by Steve Cook
Wrestlemania Backlash Image Credit: WWE

Word came out this past Thursday that Cesaro’s WWE contract had expired. He is now apparently a free agent, which is something that many wrestling fans have been waiting for years to be see. Let’s be honest: it’s never a good thing when one loses their job, but it can open up some new opportunities. Fans that remember Cesaro from back in the days before he went to WWE are excited to see him return to some different environments. Preferably some different environments where Cesaro’s talents will be utilized to their full potential.

Cesaro has been considered one of the most underrated wrestlers in the business during most of his time in WWE. Not only did Internet wrestling fans love his work, but some of the biggest names in the business did too. Jim Ross, Ric Flair & Mick Foley were outspoken about their love for Cesaro. So was Steve Austin, and he even asked Vince McMahon why Cesaro wasn’t utilized at a higher level.

Today, we look at some of Cesaro’s best WWE Moments. We’ve got seven of them, and one honorable mention.

7. United States Champion

Antonio Cesaro debuted on the SmackDown roster in April 2012, and worked his way through a win streak with the lovely Aksana by his side. He received his first title shot on the Summerslam pre-show, and took advantage of the opportunity, defeating Santino Marella to win the U.S. Championship. Cesaro would go on to hold the title for 239 days, which still stands as the fourth-longest WWE U.S. title reign.

Unfortunately, Cesaro’s title reign didn’t get as much attention as one would have hoped. He made the first few PPVs as champion, but was stuck defending the title on the Royal Rumble pre-show and didn’t even make the WrestleMania card. Amazingly, it wound up being Cesaro’s only reign as a singles champion in WWE. You’d think he would have won this title again, or maybe the Intercontinental Championship at some point.

6. Main Eventing Against The Tribal Chief

Not counting the times he appeared in the Royal Rumble Match, Cesaro appeared in two PPV main events during his time in WWE. One was at TLC 2017, where he was one of five people fighting Kurt Angle, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambose. The other was a Universal Championship Match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania Basklash 2021. Reigns had already established himself as an unbeatable champion, and as much as people wanted to believe that Cesaro had a bit of a chance, it didn’t seem all that likely.

Yep, Roman retained. The match got plenty of time, and Cesaro got to look good in the process. There was some hope for a second that Cesaro would get more time in the main event scene. Unfortunately, Seth Rollins took Cesaro out a couple of weeks later and moved him back to the mid-card.

5. Challenging John Cena

Plenty of people within WWE saw Cesaro’s skill and thought he deserved better than he got. One of Cesaro’s biggest supporters was John Cena. Cena was the United States Champion during the spring & summer of 2015, and was working an Open Challenge gimmick. It resulted in folks like Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn making their main roster debuts, and other overlooked talents getting a chance to shine.

Cesaro had been teaming with Tyson Kidd, but when Kidd injured his spine in a match with Samoa Joe, Cesaro was left without a partner. Cesaro wound up having two Raw matches with Cena that stood out from the pack and re-established him in the eyes of the fans as somebody that deserved a bigger push. Cena put Cesaro over huge on the microphone after the second match, saying that he deserved to main event every night. Unfortunately, Cena’s bosses didn’t agree with the assessment. Cesaro didn’t really get a main event run until he challenged Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship

4. Setting The Bar

Cesaro has been one of the most successful tag team wrestlers of his generation. Before he got to WWE, his teams with Chris Hero & Ares won championships across the globe. His tag team expertise would come in handy in WWE. as he won seven tag team championships with three different partners. While his teams with Tyson Kidd & Shinsuke Nakamura definitely had their moments, his best pairing was with Sheamus.

They started off as opponents on Raw, booked in a Best of Seven series. When that ended in a draw, General Manager Mick Foley decided that Sheamus & Cesaro could be best as a tag team. They didn’t get along at first, but after bonding during a bar fight they became a dominant force on Raw. The Bar won the Raw Tag Team Championship four times, then won the SmackDown version once after getting drafted over there. Sheamus took some time off due to concussion issues, leading to the quiet breakup of the team. Had they stayed together, they might still be winning championships.

3. William Regal’s Last Match

Regal took countless wrestlers under his wing and got them through the doors of WWE. He had matches in FCW with Dean Ambrose & in NXT with Kassius Ohno & the Wyatt Family. Regal was winding down his career, and he knew that Cesaro would be the perfect opponent for his final match. The last NXT episode of 2013 featured some of the best moments of the year and the match between Regal & Cesaro.

Regal cut a pretty amazing promo prior to the match, talking about his career and how Cesaro was ten times the man & wrestler that he could be on his best day. It was as good a job of putting an opponent over as I’ve ever seen. Regal had previously put Cesaro over on Raw in June, and in Geneva in April. He was going to do whatever he could do at that point in his career to make Cesaro. It’s nice when you have people like that taking an interest in you.

2. NXT Feud with Sami Zayn

Sami came into WWE as one of the most popular independent wrestling stars out there. He was widely considered one of the best in-ring babyfaces of the time. WWE knew they had something in him, and that he would get over huge in NXT. He just needed the right opponent to establish himself against, and nobody fit the bill better than Cesaro. Even though Cesaro was working the main roster, he returned to NXT to feud with Sami, having a series of classic matches.

Cesaro & Sami’s feud would culminate in the very first match on NXT’s first WWE Network special, ArRIVAL. They tore the roof off of Full Sail Live and helped set the tone for what would come on future NXT WWE Network specials. Sami lost in the end, but Cesaro did his job of establishing him as a top star in NXT that could compete with anybody.

Honorable Mention: The King of Swing

Cesaro is an insanely strong human being that can do some pretty incredible things. Including getting the Giant Swing over with wrestling crowds. Prior to Cesaro utilizing the move, the only person I remember regularly using it was the Fabulous Moolah. It didn’t have quite the same effect when she did it.

1. Winning the first Andre the Giant Battle Royal

We remember WrestleMania XXX as the night Daniel Bryan won the WWE Championship & cemented his status as one of the top stars in WWE. We also remember it as the night the Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak came to an end. There was one other moment where it seemed like a new star was born. Much like Daniel Bryan, Cesaro was a longtime Internet favorite. He’d done well before coming to WWE, and many fans felt that he deserved more than he was getting from the company. There was the feeling that the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal would be a big deal, as certainly WWE wouldn’t downplay a match paying tribute to such an important figure in the company’s history.

Cesaro winning the first Andre Battle Royal, and slamming the Big Show over the top rope in the process, felt like a big deal. It seemed like it was leading him to bigger & better things, especially when Paul Heyman became his manager the next night on Raw. Things didn’t work out though, as Cesaro remained mired in the mid-card while Heyman used his promo time to build up Brock Lesnar.

Thanks for reading! Hit me up on the Twitter or down in the comments with any thoughts, concerns or suggestions. Until next time, keep on swinging.

article topics :

Claudio Castagnoli, WWE, Steve Cook