Have We Seen The Beginning Of Cesaro's Babyface Turn & Push?

[Jack-Hammer]

This past Friday on SmackDown!, Cesaro earned a shot at Dolph Ziggler's Intercontinental Championship by winning battle royal earlier on in the night. The match ended with Ziggler rolling up Cesaro for the three count, but Cesaro grabbed the bottom rope before the three count was made and the referee missed it due to being out of position. It's rare to see a heel have a legitimate gripe about the ending of a match via blown call by the referee. There are reports this morning that WWE is teasing a rematch between the two for the IC title on tonight's episode of Raw.

If the match goes down tonight and Cesaro winds up losing due to referee error, submission or disqualification; it leads me to wonder that we might be seeing the start of the long rumored babyface turn and push for Cesaro. Now that Roman Reigns is on the shelf, quite possibly for the rest of 2014, WWE's fairly short on top babyfaces at the moment. Earlier this year, it was reported that Cesaro's turn and push were being put on hold for a bit due to Roman Reigns being given a big push. That's over with, for now, so MAYBE company officials have decided to go ahead with the alleged plan of pushing Cesaro as a babyface. When Cesaro was being positioned for what looked to be a babyface turn and push earlier this year, fans were interested in the possibilities. And, if this is where WWE's going, it's likely we'll see the return of the Cesaro Swing, which was a definite crowd pleaser.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Earlier this year, it was reported that Cesaro's turn and push were being put on hold for a bit due to Roman Reigns being given a big push.

Was that the reason for Cesaro's push being stalled? I wondered what in hell it could be after the company took pains to feature Cesaro as prominently as any future star.

Additionally, there's that babyface turn. It was already here.....then it wasn't.....and it was interesting to see Cesaro feuding with his old partner Jack Swagger; whomever functioned as the babyface mysteriously acquired the power to beat the other. Admittedly, I was much more convinced of Cesaro's prowess than Swagger's and was surprised when Cesaro slipped back into his heel-ish, getting-nowhere-fast mode. Couldn't figure what WWE had in mind.

Did they really abandon Cesaro's push in favor of Roman Reigns? Does one really affect with the other; couldn't they have pushed both? Can you imagine management sitting Cesaro down and telling him his feature status was being delayed: ("For just a short time, Claudio.....no kidding, dude!")

If all this is so, does Cesaro go to bed at night pleased about Reigns' medical problems? Did he find a way to give Roman the hernia? ("Take that, Reigns, you sonnamabeesh!")

Well, I'm sorry for Reigns' problems, but if they result in the Cesaro push we saw the beginnings of months ago, at least there's some good coming out of it. Despite reservations at the start of his WWE career, I've come to really appreciate Cesaro....and hope he can take his act to main event level.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Heaven forbid they have more than one wrestler getting pushed at the same time.

I seriously don't understand the WWE sometimes. Cesaro was red hot after WrestleMania. Now Cesaro has to fight to get back to where he was at.

 

[Navi]

Yea I heard they didn't want to push him as a face because of the Reigns push. That would have meant they had Reigns, Cesaro, Ambrose (through no fault of his own), Cena and a returning Daniel Bryan.

Kind of funny right now when you think about it, as Bryan and Reigns both out with injuries, they don't think Ambrose can carry the company, and the fans don't want Cena with the title anymore. They want someone new up there. I hope they do turn him face, fans loved the Swing and I would love to see it come back as well.

 

[Wolf Pac]

Did they really abandon Cesaro's push in favor of Roman Reigns? Does one really affect with the other; couldn't they have pushed both? Can you imagine management sitting Cesaro down and telling him his feature status was being delayed: ("For just a short time, Claudio.....no kidding, dude!")

My guess is they thought Cesaro would become just as hot as Daniel Bryan was and fans would hijack Roman's matches with chants for Cesaro and would want to see him dethrone Lesnar for the belt instead of Reigns.

 

[L@RISANO]

My guess is they thought Cesaro would become just as hot as Daniel Bryan was and fans would hijack Roman's matches with chants for Cesaro and would want to see him dethrone Lesnar for the belt instead of Reigns.

This.

Indeed, Roman Reigns' push was the reason that Cesaro's was halted(and he was made nailed-on heel as a Heyman guy) for the exact reasons stated above.
Cesaro with his Swing et al, was getting over big time, Daniel Bryan style, and if reports from NoC are true, and the WWE was confiscating Cesaro signs, it is clear, they know he has potential and a huge following and have done everything possible to limit his overness since Mania, as they probably realised(like I did a while ago), that his in-ring abilities could see him being Daniel Bryan no.2 in terms of Fans pushing for him in the Main Event, when the WWE don't actually want him there.


However, what people were able to see in the lead-up to Mania gained Cesaro enough goodwill that now, with their backs to the wall due to Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan being injured, WWE might well have to restart Cesaro's push again since there are only really 2 Top Babyfaces currently.



Still, as I mentioned in other threads, it is strange why WWE couldn't still push Cesaro as a credible Babyface(Imagine Cesaro in Jack Swagger's current role), and Bray Wyatt and his family as credible Heels(They'll need someone to take over as the Big Bad Heel from Brock and the Authority eventually) regardless of the Shield trio getting the major attention of Creative.
Instead, both guys have been in limbo and have lost a ton of momentum built up around Mania season of 2014.



PS: I have read it elsewhere, but this Roman Reigns injury could prove to be a huge blessing for Reigns himself(I say this as huge fan of the guy) in the long run, and also could force the WWE into pushing someone else also.
I salivate at the prospect of Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns returning eventually. There is also some "Bad News" to look forward to in time also.

 

[Pedigree1]

Let me get this straight! Cesaro's push was being delayed because Of Romans Big Push??? This is stupid at least IMO! Cesaro since winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal really has done nothing.. His career seems to have come to a stall.. If the rumored babyface turn for him are true,then why not have him take out Rusev for us americans!

He is american at least he was when he tagged with Swags. Zeb said as much. I hope Cesaro beats Sheamus for the US title,and challenges Rusev! That could be a great feud. BTW his push is coming way too late,it should have happened by now Cesaro people do like him and he has a good set of in-ring skills and is good on the mic! Sure Heyman really didnt do him any favors but i dont think Cesaro necessarily needed him..

 

[OYDK]

Honestly, I wouldn't look too much into it. That finish was probably done to set up a IC title match tonight or a feud leading into HIAC. This seems like just another lazy booking decision with the Champ getting a cheap win setting up a title match... It seems WWE's favorite booking decision when it comes to starting title feuds is to either have the contender go over the champ in a non-title match, or have the champ "steal" a victory. How often have we seen this done before?

I hope this is the beginning of a Cesaro push, however with Mania 31 already seemingly pretty stacked, I think WWE will push this until after Mania. Reigns is scheduled to be back sooner than later after all.

 

[Kayfabe]

Big fan of Cesaro, doesn't matter if he's a heel or face...

... I do believe he is one of the very few wrestlers who could make for a believable and formidable challenge to Lesnar's title reign. His brute strength and wrestling acumen would match up pretty good against Brock inside the ring.

 

[Navi]

Big fan of Cesaro, doesn't matter if he's a heel or face...

... I do believe he is one of the very few wrestlers who could make for a believable and formidable challenge to Lesnar's title reign. His brute strength and wrestling acumen would match up pretty good against Brock inside the ring.

Oh I wouldn't go that far. I would say however, that he's one who could go up against Rusev and win. If they put Cesaro into a feud for the US Title and he wins it off Sheamus, then Rusev can get involved.

Seriously think that Cesaro would be a believable opponent for Rusev, and the outcome could be a surprise. Right now Rusev is feuding with Big Show and Henry and neither one of those two need to win, but Rusev does. Would love to see Cesaro go over Rusev and finally beat him.

Neither one would really be the loser as Rusev has to lose eventually. The US/Russia gimmick can only last so long, there aren't that many wrestlers available to feud over it. You've already gone through Swagger, Henry and Big Show. Stop with the gimmick and promote him as a monster heel, lose the Russian bullshit and get him into a feud with someone that actually has a chance against him.

That's been my biggest problem with Rusev I think so far. Everyone they've put him up against, with the exception of Swagger, the outcome has been set in stone before the match even starts. Against Cesaro though might be a different story.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

I really hope it is. It is clear the crowd wants to cheer for him (or at least it was) and aren't doing so because he fights the good guys. Bring back the swing, let him pander to the crowd, SOMETHING. It doesn't do anything for anybody to have him as a loser. A victory over him means nothing since he hasn't won a match in god knows how long. Just turn him face and start from scratch since they obviously fucked up since Wrestlemania.

Cesaro is a hot commodity and has put on exceptional matches and has gotten strong crowd responses before. It's why I never understood why Del Rio was in the spot he was in. Evil boring rich foreigner who wasn't worth a damn at all. If they wanted that evil foreigner in the main event why not Cesaro? They could have been switched easily. It just pains me to see someone with so much talent be treading water for this long.

 

[L@RISANO]

Oh I wouldn't go that far. I would say however, that he's one who could go up against Rusev and win. If they put Cesaro into a feud for the US Title and he wins it off Sheamus, then Rusev can get involved.

Seriously think that Cesaro would be a believable opponent for Rusev, and the outcome could be a surprise. Right now Rusev is feuding with Big Show and Henry and neither one of those two need to win, but Rusev does. Would love to see Cesaro go over Rusev and finally beat him.

Neither one would really be the loser as Rusev has to lose eventually. The US/Russia gimmick can only last so long, there aren't that many wrestlers available to feud over it. You've already gone through Swagger, Henry and Big Show. Stop with the gimmick and promote him as a monster heel, lose the Russian bullshit and get him into a feud with someone that actually has a chance against him.

That's been my biggest problem with Rusev I think so far. Everyone they've put him up against, with the exception of Swagger, the outcome has been set in stone before the match even starts. Against Cesaro though might be a different story.

I've said in a number of threads before, but...I'd dearly love to see Cesaro do the Giant Swing to both Lana and Rusev at some point. Surely, that would blow the roof off of any building!