WWE Rumors: Arn Anderson Reveals Why He Thinks ‘SmackDown’ Superstar Won’t Get Pushed By Company
Despite being widely considered as one of WWE’s most talented in-ring performers, Cesaro has spent almost all his time in the company as a mid-carder, winning his share of titles but very seldom coming close to the main-event picture. While it may be possible that, even at the age of 39, the “Swiss Superman” might get a significant push, former WWE producer Arn Anderson recently explained why he believes this may have never been possible, to begin with.
As quoted by WhatCulture, the latest episode of Anderson’s eponymous ARN podcast saw him look back on the 2015 edition of the Extreme Rules pay-per-view, where Cesaro, then teaming with Tyson Kidd, lost to The New Day. The WWE Hall of Famer explained that the Friday Night SmackDown superstar, for all his talent in the ring, doesn’t appear to be among the company’s favorites.
“He’s not a favorite guy, as you know, of the front office, for whatever reason that is. They’re the only ones that know because everyone else across the planet seems to think he’s a superstar. But he continued to get leaned on to stop doing all that stuff [impressive moves] as a heel. It was just too flashy and all that stuff.”
In addition, Anderson opined that WWE’s alleged decision to prevent Cesaro from using crowd-pleasing moves is akin to “cheating the audience.”
The #NXTUK Universe counts 4??0??rotations as @UNBESIEGBAR_ZAR goes for a swing courtesy of @WWECesaro!!! #NXTUKTakeOver: Cardiff pic.twitter.com/EPP6VQfFgx
— WWE (@WWE) August 31, 2019
Now an eight-year veteran of the main roster, Cesaro has won only one singles title since getting called up in 2012, winning the United States Championship that same year, as noted by Give Me Sport. The outlet also pointed out that he hasn’t won a singles match on Monday Night Raw or SmackDown since the summer of 2019. He has, however, enjoyed far more success in the tag team division, where he is a six-time tag team champion, with most of those title wins coming when he joined forces with Sheamus as one-half of The Bar.
In recent months, Cesaro has been teaming up with fellow mid-card heels Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn, mostly playing a supporting role to Zayn, who currently reigns as WWE’s Intercontinental Champion.
Anderson, who currently works as an on-air personality for All Elite Wrestling, isn’t the only notable former WWE employee to publicly comment on Cesaro in recent weeks. According to Bleacher Report, AEW executive vice president Cody Rhodes responded to a fan’s tweet earlier this month, describing Cesaro (aka Claudio Castagnoli in real life) as the “most underrated guy on the planet” and a wrestler who could “do anything” in the ring.
