You're the head writer - Help Antonio Cesaro!

[enviousdominous]

He's a tough sell when we're talking about a WWE audience.

Maybe have him become obsessed with keeping the US title because deep down inside he really does love this country.

Like give him a kayfabe injury (ribs) and have it be where he can't compete within 30 days so the belt is being vacated. He desperately wants to remain US champ, so he agrees to compete against Ryback. Ryback wrecks him through the match, only to back elbow the ref on accident. Antonio is asked in an interview why he risked his life, he reluctantly admits a deep admiration for the US and its way of life. Perhaps through that he grows on the fans, hopefully he wouldn't end up like Nikolai Volkoff.

For a heel move.

Have him ally himself with Damien Sandow. More as a hired goon. Damien respects how Antonio speaks many different languages, Antonio respects how Damien has more class than most people. If they became a tag team, maybe call them The Paragons or The Savants.


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[BigThunder]

From where I'm standing, Cesaro's doing just fine. His matches are among those I most look forward to seeing each week. Based on their one match, a feud with Shamus could be fantastic, and I think Cesaro/Cena, when it happens, will be a classic.

The anti-American shtick is not the best gimmick, but it works for now.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

We need memes. This one would be called "the smark who isn't anymore creative than creative but thinks he is" then this particular meme would be called "bashes foreign heel archetype, promotes smart dubious heel archetype".

These gimmicks work. He ads enough of his own stuff to make it work. He did similar stuff in ROH at a time. Who cares if it's a frequent gimmick. The IWC ALWAYS wants the "******** heel who's still a badass and so cool that he's really a face".

Is he over? Yes, fairly over just needs to build more brand recognition. So no, I wouldn't change it. I'd let Antonio do this thing.

It's not one thing or another, guys have different opponents and different opponents (should) cause the wrestler to add a dimension to his character. So basically, keep Antonio as he is, but just let him go through more feuds and flesh out his character.

You also have to understand 2 things. One, the McMahons are republican (so to them, everyone hates foreigners) and two, the majority of wrestling fans are poorer and less educated. Less educated have a tendency to more easily dislike foreigners and be very patriotic. Why else would the marines recruit the kids in the lower 15% of their high school? I'm not saying anything bad about anyone, just facts about demographics. These facts are why the anti-american foreigner is almost a guarantee to work.

 

[mikeyado]

I don't think he needs to do much differently. Just modify it slightly. Remember when Cena capitalised on the whole "Let's go Cena, Cena Sucks" thing. Cesaro needs to do something similar.

The crowd are chanting 'boring' to him during his matches yeah? He needs to capitalise on the sh*t the crowd is giving him and work it into his promos. He can continue along the same theme..."You Americans think Im boring, you don't appreciate my skills and sophistication etc". The crowd will increase the boring chants then and it will become a stick to beat him with. It will at least make him relevant and get him some legit heat as someone the fans love to wind up.

Get him up against a face who's good on the mic (such as R-Truth) and take it from there. They you go, a negative turned into a positive.

 

[M]

I'm really starting to like the guy as he is, but there are some aspects about him/his character that really needs changing - he'll still get to the top eventually either way.

First, the commentators have been hyping him up during his matches as "possibly the strongest man in WWE" so the logical thing for him to do would be to accentuate that and make it a focal point of his character. Have him literally toss around smaller opponents - use variations of the delayed gutwrench suplex thingy he does, kick them until they get back up and throw them down again in different ways before lifting them off the floor into the neutralizer (like what he did to kofi in the 4-way on raw)
if the opponent is bigger than him just have him consistently win the tests of strength and smirk after doing so, simple as that.

Second, he needs to be more animated whilst in the ring, never hurts to yell or grunt a bit - it goes a long way.

Third, please change the pose, it just doesn't look good at all, he needs something with an extra oomph to it, something eye-catching i.e. Roman Reigns' roar + punch to the ground thing.

 

[theBec2101]

I like everything about him except one thing. I like his look, his wrestling, and him being a heel. The only thing I don’t like is the character himself. I don’t care what he says in any language. I would be fine if he just came out kicked ass and left and said a few things kind of like Orton when he was heel. But that is it. He is doing everything else fine. I like the pace of his push I hope they just don’t give him the belt like they have been. I don’t care who it is. I just don’t like that for a push or to get someone over.

 

[Papa Pillman]

Cesaro is an excellent in ring competitor but he really needs some sort of personal feud to get the crowd invested in him. There needs to be more to the Cesaro character and more reason to want to boo him other than "oh he called Americans fat." Otherwise he's just going to end up like the mid card version of Del Rio where the crowd just gets sick of seeing him when he sounds like a broken record for 6 months.

I agree. The WWE writers just aren't good enough to write material that keeps a character like Claudio's fresh and interesting. It's not Claudio's fault, its the fact that no one cares about any of the matches that they have set up for him. What do you expect fans to think?..."Ohh, Antonio Cesaro just beat random babyface Wrestler A, I can't wait to see who they throw him against next with more lame build-up". It just doesn't work.

So with that said, instead of letting Claudio grow as stale and meaningless to the crowd as they have let Del Rio become, how about this...

You're trying to rebuild your tag team division, while at the same time you have both halves of the best tag team on the planet under contract, and they don't interact at all. Hell, one's not even on the main roster.

You want to kill a few birds while saving stones? Call-up Hero and reform the Kings of Wrestling in the WWE(you don't have to use that name though). It single handedly makes your tag division tenfold better, it keeps Claudio from becoming another random mid-carder with limited fan interest, it gets Hero up to the main roster where he belongs. Everybody wins.

You can even come up with a lame WWE half-assed backstory... here's an easy one- Hero is the guy who trained Claudio to wrestle after he was "kicked out of the rugby league". Whatever works and is easy enough for Cole to mention in every single match. All that is important is that we get to see Claudio and Hero as tag partners again. Let them play it straight. Let them play up the comedy. Do whatever. Both are easily capable of pulling it off, but the point is they should be pulling it off together.

Or... Airplane spins(spinning backbreaker rack style), and giant swings. Ridiculous over-the-top hands-free airplane spins, and giant swings. Airplane spins as good as Claudio's will never draw a "boring" chant. Lock-up, transitionary move, airplane spin or giant swing, innovative way of delivering a european uppercut, Gotch-style Neutralizer <---- That should be the M.O. of every Cesaro squash match. Atleast then he'd be doing fun, visually entertaining moves the crowd rarely sees, that alone would cut back on the yawning reaction.

 

[EchoesFayt242]

I agree with Steve-O-Matt on this one. I find it really annoying how every foreign wrestlers (in particular British and European ones) seem to only fall into two categories: the snobby anti-American heel or the goofy stereotypical babyface. I'm not saying that gimmicks like that don't have their place in the industry but they've been used so much that they are just boring and I think portraying foreign characters as stereotypes is really outdated in the 21st century.

I think with Cesaro, they need to move beyond this gimmick as Cesaro is easily a future star and if WWE carry on the way they are, his character will become stale quickly. His feud with R-Truth has been ok but I don't really see it lasting post-TLC. If WWE seem content with carrying on Cesaro's anti-USA gimmick, I would actually be really down for a feud between Cesaro and a returning Jack Swagger. The two are very strong mat based technicians and while a W'Mania might be asking a bit much of the two, it would be good to see the All-American go up against the foreign heel. However, this all depends on how WWE plans to repackage Swagger (if at all) as it is likely he'll make his return in the 2013 Royal Rumble

 

[#tamale]

Just give him a good feud. That's all he needs. He is building himself up nicely though, but it is slow. Go back to earlier this year, he just debuts, nobody knows of him, now, he is seen as a threat. A guy who dominates in the ring and has recently going at it with the ME guys and upper mid card.

And no to KoW. Seriously, let that tag team go. Plus, Kassius Ohno has been very underwhelming on NXT.

Cesaro has got the great look, good mic work, great in ring skills, great finisher. WWE seems to have a lot of faith in him and he will on his 4th straight PPV event defending his title. Be patient, I predict he will be World Champion in 2013.

 

[Papa Pillman]

And no to KoW. Seriously, let that tag team go. Plus, Kassius Ohno has been very underwhelming on NXT.

You are of course entitled to your opinion, but I wholeheartedly disagree.

In what way has Hero been underwhelming on NXT??

His promo work has been solid if unspectatular, and his matches have been routinely good. The little feud between he and Richie Steamboat produced some good moments and had solid ring work. The program actually had a little heat, instead of just feeling like a pointless filler feud. The Ohno character seems to have gotten over and gets consistent reaction from the Full Sail crowd during tapings.

The only true drawback I can see with Hero is his build, despite being in good shape, and being a solid athlete, he is not very muscled- but the fact that he is 6'5'' helps that to be less of a concern. And that is not to mention that if he is paired with Claudio once he is called-up to the main roster, Claudio is muscled enough for the both of them.

They have been a consistently great team that has had success every where they have gone in front of crowds of fans looking for different things(CZW, ROH, Chikara for example all having fanbases that predominantly admire a different skillset from the others), there is no reason to think that they wouldn't get over equally as well in front of WWE fans. There was a time that people saw Danielson as a guy who was "underwhelming" from a WWE perspective and questioned the level he would be able to succeed at in their environment- and look how that has gone.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

Well first off I'm okay with his current gimmick. I think he plays his "Super-Euro" persona very well & I enjoy watching a performer who has a solid gimmick but isn't too over the top & has a calm, collected, yet competative character.

Also I think just by the hint of aggression in your post, his almost boring, foreigner schtick seems to be irritating most people, including yourself. & while there are different kinds of heat, Cesaro is a heel & is over as a heel aka doing his job.

But I do think WWE should revamp his entrance slightly & definately get him new music first & foremost. Also his list of opponents isn't bad & I'm glad he has started to defend his title alot more but he needs a more consistent feud with the likes of someone that's not R-Truth. Someone like a returning face Jack Swagger that needs to build on top of the fact that most people are irritated by Cesaro (& not just talk about an invisible friend[which is really old now] & get the same bland face reaction) & can really go with him in the ring. Besides that I just hope Cesaro holds onto that US title for a VERY VERY long time!!!! /0/ [<-Cesaro's arm-guns]

 

[Wrestling101]

I apologize if I repeat something that's already been posted, but I don't have the time or energy to read most of this thread.

I think if Cesaro is going to continue with this gimmick for a while, he should be the leader of a small stable. Yes, I'm another one of those stable guys, but there's really no better way to maximize your roster and give more guys important air time without having to personally invest so much time into each guy separately than stables. They don't all have to wrestle each week, and they don't all have to have 3 minutes of promo time for each of them each week, but it'd be a great way to push Cesaro, hopefully with the end prize being him put in the lower main event scene for a while.

Besides that, and possibly after that happens, am I the only one who thinks he'd be a great face? If I was in charge of WWE booking, there's some changes I'd make for some wrestlers in the face/heel dynamic, and for some reason, I keep coming back to thinking that Cesaro could flourish as a face with a serious, take care of business personality. Just because he's from another country doesn't make him an automatic heel.....I think he could be a natural face, but like I said, with a serious personality. Whatever he does as a face, just don't let him adopt anything from Sheamus...not the smirkness, not the half-smile, not the 'I wanna fight, fella' attitude....but I think Cesaro could do reallt well as a face. People already are astonished at him being able to pick up Brodus Clay the way he did, and he did some move in last night's RAW against Kofi that left me wide-eyed for a minute when he caught Kofi and countered a crossbody attempt into something of a backbreaker or something like that. The crowd would get behind him easily, in my opinion.

 

[#tamale]

You are of course entitled to your opinion, but I wholeheartedly disagree.

In what way has Hero been underwhelming on NXT??

His promo work has been solid if unspectatular, and his matches have been routinely good. The little feud between he and Richie Steamboat produced some good moments and had solid ring work. The program actually had a little heat, instead of just feeling like a pointless filler feud. The Ohno character seems to have gotten over and gets consistent reaction from the Full Sail crowd during tapings.

The only true drawback I can see with Hero is his build, despite being in good shape, and being a solid athlete, he is not very muscled- but the fact that he is 6'5'' helps that to be less of a concern. And that is not to mention that if he is paired with Claudio once he is called-up to the main roster, Claudio is muscled enough for the both of them.

They have been a consistently great team that has had success every where they have gone in front of crowds of fans looking for different things(CZW, ROH, Chikara for example all having fanbases that predominantly admire a different skillset from the others), there is no reason to think that they wouldn't get over equally as well in front of WWE fans. There was a time that people saw Danielson as a guy who was "underwhelming" from a WWE perspective and questioned the level he would be able to succeed at in their environment- and look how that has gone.

Ohno's matches have not been spectacular or something that impresses. He's had his moments here and there but what he is doing in my view is just being Chris Hero and get by with just that. In recent weeks he has picked up his game but his mini feud with Richie Steamboat started off okay, but lost steam quickly. Ohno is over at NXT, but what is expected of him (because of his Chris Hero fame) and what he has delivered has been underwhelming.

And how does putting Cesaro in a tag team going to help him? Cesaro is getting over on his own, going toe to toe with the best in the business and is the reigning United States Championship with a possible World Championship match in 2013. Ohno is still on NXT and there are no signs that he is going to be brought up in the near future.

People did question Daniel Bryan's ability and people were right. Up until the end of 2011, he was a cookie cutter face who was barely over. 2012, Daniel Bryan showed everyone how great he is by being a DIFFERENT CHARACTER than the one he displayed in the indies. Something that works in the indies doesn't guarantee success in the big leauges.

 

[Da Solo]

And how does putting Cesaro in a tag team going to help him? Cesaro is getting over on his own, going toe to toe with the best in the business and is the reigning United States Championship with a possible World Championship match in 2013.

Let's be honest here: if Cesaro is getting over (which I dispute), it's going extremely slow, which is weird considering he's held the US title for almost half the year and he went toe-to-toe with the likes of Sheamus, Kofi, Truth and Brodus. The only time the crowd gives a damn about him is when they chant USA at his bland, redundant anti-USA promos or when he uppercuts the shit out of someone (and even then, it's only briefly). Go back and watch the fatal 4 way match they had for his US title on RAW with Truth, Kofi and Barret. The crowd was hot all night, and as soon as he retains, it's dead silence rather than boos or cheers or SOMETHING!

With the KoW, He at least gets the chance to reinvent himself, and can abandon this whole recycled Euro-maniac character. Plus, tag teams get over faster, especially heel tag teams (prime example: Prime Time Players) and especially when it's a tag team as gifted as the KoW.