Case of the Week - Cesaro's Post-WrestleMania Troubles
At WrestleMania 30, Cesaro had a huge break-out night, breaking out of the Real Americans, officially turning face, and winning the Andre the Giant Battle Royal, all to huge crowd support from the Superdome crowd and its various 'Cesaro Sections'. The night after 'Mania, Cesaro again was over huge with the crowd, as we hummed along to the memorable Real Americans theme, did the fist pumps, chanted 'King of Swing', and went crazy when Cesaro officially announced himself as a Paul Heyman Guy. All the anger at Heyman's association with the Streak-conquering Brock Lesnar disappeared, as everyone began to anticipate all the awesome things Cesaro and Heyman would be able to accomplish as a pairing. Cesaro had an amazing WrestleMania weekend, and looked to be in line for a huge push as a face, even with a heel Heyman managing him.
Yes, a month later and I'm still bragging that I went to WrestleMania. |
First off, the whole 'tweener' thing has to be ditched. Every wrestler needs to be defined as either a
face or a heel, good guy or bad guy, because that's what works in the context of pro wrestling. Just because Game of Thrones has loads of excellent 'shades of grey' characters doesn't mean the same thing is going to work in the campy world of wrestling, and Cesaro is proof positive of that. He was gaining huge babyface momentum heading into and during WrestleMania weekend, as the crowds wanted to react positively to his incredible feats of strength and athleticism. The same was true of The Shield, and WWE was right to pull the trigger on them and make them full-on faces, but Cesaro has been left in a no man's land, where he plays to the crowd to signal his big moves, and then a few seconds later is scheming with his heel manager. The crowd doesn't know how to react to Cesaro right now, and it will hurt his momentum and match quality if something isn't done about that soon. Whether he turns fully babyface, or goes back to the heel character, Cesaro needs a strong identity so the fans can connect to him and his matches, and so that his feuds can become better defined.
Cesaro's association with Heyman may be doing more harm than good. |
Good match, but was it worth it? |
Just to be clear, I think Cesaro is a top notch performer, and quite possibly the best pro wrestler in the world right now, but it's obvious he's going through a bit of a rough patch creatively right now. Let's hope WWE make any necessary changes and get the guy back on track to the main event.
So that's my view, but I want to hear what you have to say as well. The comments section below is yours to share your views about Cesaro, or anyone else you've got an opinion about from this week in pro wrestling.
0 comments: