The role of an underdog is an unusual one for a 6-foot-5 muscle-bound wrestler, but it’s a role that Cesaro has been all-too-familiar with over the course of his tenure in the WWE. The 35-year-old “Swiss superman” has seemingly had to fight for every inch and accolade he has achieved on wrestling’s biggest stage, but he has faced down each challenge as it has come along — becoming a popular character in the WWE universe in the process.

This has been especially apparent over the last few weeks on Raw, as Cesaro took on Sheamus in a best-of-seven series between the two European giants. He was once again positioned as the lesser of the two superstars in going down three wins to none against Sheamus. Yet despite his character being backed into a corner with several different parts of his body encased in kinesiology tape, the series is now tied 3-3 with the deciding match set for Sunday at the Clash of Champions on pay-per-view.

Both the concept and the execution have received polarized reactions from fans, but in getting the opportunity to play out on screen the kind of uphill battle he has faced in his career, and getting to do it in a format that hasn’t been used in the WWE in upwards of a decade, Cesaro has relished the opportunity.

“I do love this kind of program,” Cesaro said during a conference call with several media outlets Monday afternoon, as part of a promotional effort for the WWE’s upcoming U.K. tour in early November. “It’s not often we get the chance in WWE to do something like that. To me, it’s the closest to the old days when it was all about the wrestling, all about me against Sheamus in the ring without anything on the outside. It has this real sports feel. I kind of had my back against the wall, you know, it’s best-of-seven. I do definitely love it.”

“Well, I feel, from a company standpoint, like there’s a lot of trust that goes into this,” Sheamus concurred before the start of the series. “Because to have seven matches, or at least a best-of-seven … there’s a lot of confidence bestowed on both of us. People know we can go. People know we hit hard. We bring a lot of realism to our matches.”

“I think over my career, if you look at it in WWE, Sheamus has always been one of my biggest adversaries,” Cesaro said, “and one of the ones I would like to say I had some very memorable bouts with. It’s definitely fun to be in the ring with him.”

The winner of the series is set to receive a title opportunity, and it could be another chance to jump-start Cesaro’s often promising WWE career. It remains a work in progress, to this point, as the 16-year veteran, who made a name for himself as Claudio Castagnoli on the independent scene in promotions such as Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla before signing for WWE in 2011, tries to break through a ceiling that has kept him from reaching the very top of the wrestling world. Cesaro was seemingly on the cusp of such a breakthrough as a singles star in late 2015 when a torn rotator cuff in his left shoulder halted his momentum.

He underwent surgery and returned to action in April, and Cesaro has built a growing fan base which has supported him with entire swaths of the crowd holding up “Cesaro Section” signs — establishing a persistently visible presence among Raw crowds. The Lucerne, Switzerland, native has already tasted a certain level of success in WWE, winning the United States championship, the tag-team championships with Tyson Kidd and the first Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at Wrestlemania in 2014. But it is not enough for Cesaro, who feels he has what it takes to reach higher.

“I wanted to be [world] champion by now, and I haven’t achieved that,” Cesaro said, when asked if he felt he had made the progress he wanted to since returning from injury.

Despite the tape he wears on his previously injured left shoulder, and other areas of his body at times, Cesaro is back at full strength and attempting to prove he has what it takes to grab the ball and run with it.

“The journey ahead seems still so long, but I’m happy I came back 100 percent,” he continued. “I didn’t come back 70 percent or something. I’m getting better every day. I’m just enjoying myself. Trying to approach it a little bit different. Just having more fun, especially in the ring, and letting the fans have fun with me together, from my new entrance to the whole thing.”

The ‘Swiss superman’ character Cesaro has portrayed on WWE programming since returning has been a big positive step for him. His entrance features Cesaro walking out in a suit in front of a TitanTron video that mimics the famous opening credits sequence of James Bond films; he then tears off his Velcro tux and “transforms” into the Swiss superman before walking down to the ring for his match.

Cesaro’s tale of frustration was a similar one to Kevin Owens’ early this year, as he and his former running buddy on the independent scene languished with the mythical “brass ring” seemingly just out of both men’s reach. Their perceived places in the WWE hierarchy were solidified in July during the WWE brand separation draft as Owens was drafted in the fourth round, 18th overall, and Cesaro didn’t go until Round 6, 28th overall.

That all changed with Owens’ shocking Universal-title victory on Raw in late August.

“Kevin was drafted higher than me, and he was frustrated. I’m even more frustrated than him,” Cesaro said. “He had quite the run. If you look at it, he’s been in WWE for a little over two years. The things he achieved in a very short period of time — it might be unprecedented. As a fellow colleague of his, who’s been on the independents with him — I’ve known him for over 10 years — I’m very happy with his success. He definitely deserves it.”

As Cesaro pursues similar levels of success, it’s clear he realizes that his path to the WWE’s top championships will have to be different.

“For me it’s a little bit of a different road,” Cesaro said. “But if there are mountains to climb, I think as a Swiss man you’re the proper mountaineer to do it. So that’s something I’m looking forward to.”

When you pursue the level of success that Cesaro seeks in the WWE, it’s hard not to second guess yourself sometimes. There’s no real sense of self-doubt with Cesaro, but he does acknowledge that his approach to the business and low-key demeanor don’t lend themselves to self-promotion.

“I feel like I’ve been working magic for the past four years in WWE,” Cesaro said, “and maybe it’s the European in me, or the Swiss in me, that I’m not at the forefront bragging and constantly boasting about my achievements. I let my actions do the talking, and that might take a little bit longer for people to see.”

During his WWE tenure, Cesaro has had to deal with the added pressure of trying to be as entertaining on a microphone as he is in the ring, but feels he’s undeservedly stereotyped as being a poor talker.

“I actually can talk if you let me,” he said. “That’s always funny, because people always say that I can’t, but the thing is, you haven’t seen me on the mic a lot. I don’t really get that many chances. And if I do, it’s usually pretty good.

“Certain people get maybe a reputation, and people keep repeating it, and that just becomes their stigma,” Cesaro continued. “I’m not saying I’m ‘Mr. Microphone’ over here, but I can certainly hold my own. I’ve been fortunate enough to get the chance to prove it lately, and I’m looking forward to getting to prove it some more going forward. The guys who talk are a select few, and I’m working my way to get there.”

One person Cesaro has seemingly struggled to fully win over is Vince McMahon. The WWE owner told Steve Austin on an edition of the Stone Cold Podcast in December 2014 that Cesaro was lacking in charisma, verbal skills and the “it factor,” and Austin said he did not know what Cesaro needed to do to raise his game.

WWE legends including Austin, Ric Flair and Mick Foley have all previously criticized WWE for not pushing Cesaro as a main-event talent, given his natural ability in the ring.

“I feel like I’m connecting pretty good,” Cesaro said, however. “If you see the ‘Cesaro section,’ when I go out there, it is definitely not silent, and I have a huge fan base all over the world. Of course, there’s always room for improvement. I’m the first one to always criticize myself, and I’m trying to find ways to get better. If people say stuff like that, that I maybe not agree with, I’m doing my best and working my hardest to prove them wrong.”

Again, the timing of his injury couldn’t have been much worse. He was part of a tournament to crown a new WWE world heavyweight champion, with several high-profile showdowns with true main-event talent just before going down in November.

“I got hurt when I was starting to really take off,” Cesaro said. “Now I feel like I have to start from scratch again, which I have [had] to do so often. But it definitely felt like I was on a roll. And I’m still on a roll. It’s just definitely being in the right place at the right time or being the right person. It’s kind of hard sometimes, but I feel like if I’m consistently delivering, which is what I do, sooner or later it can’t be denied.”

Whatever the future holds for Cesaro in WWE, he is still humble.

“Sometimes I have to kind of stop and take it in,” he said. “To me, I don’t like to look back, I just like to look forward. It’s such a long journey still ahead for me. Every now and then I see a picture of when I started, or I go to an arena — we were just at the O2 [Arena in London] last week, and that’s where I made my WWE debut on WWE TV. It’s just crazy to think that that was over four years ago. If I look back on when I was on the indies in the U.S., and ever further when I was in Europe, it’s just kind of amazing how I made it this far.”

Source:Espn.Com

Don’t call it a comeback. With two straight wins against Sheamus in their Best of Seven Series, Cesaro cemented his reputation as one of Team Red’s most resilient Superstars, shaking Sheamus’ confidence in the process. He’s also among the most crafty, using the ropes as leverage — when the referee wasn’t looking — to steal that second win this past Monday night.

With the score now at 3-2, The Swiss Superman is just one victory away from evening up the series. If he can defeat The Celtic Warrior just once more, he’ll force the competition to go to Match No. 7. Will Cesaro’s whatever-it-takes attitude prove effective Monday night, or will Sheamus halt The King of Swing’s momentum with one swift Brogue Kick?

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Continuing his streak from WWE London, Cesaro bested his opponent Sheamus during the opening round of the highly-anticipated WWE Manila.

The exceptionally-athletic wrestler proved his mettle even with no sleep—a fact he disclosed at a media roundtable before the first WWE house show in the Philippines in seven years. –

In the session, Cesaro discusses how his current rivalry with Sheamus is bringing the focus back on superstars and how tournaments like PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles and the Cruiserweight Classic is breeding new talent.
The Swiss Superman also talks about how he keeps up with the WWE’s grueling travel schedule and the Talking Smack segment between Daniel Bryan and the Miz.

During the draft central program with the WWE Network following the draft, you had a lot to say about being drafted on the last televised round. It’s been about two months since the draft and you’re still on Raw. Do you still feel the same way after the draft and right now?

You know, I was feeling a little bit frustrated that day. I still think Smackdown is a really, really good show—I’m just trying to make Raw the better show. That’s what I’m trying to do right now, I’m making Raw the wrestling show and I think the best of seven between me and Sheamus, that’s the best way to do so because that is just me and Sheamus and it’s about wrestling, and it’s not about the Authority, it’s not about general managers, so I figured we just get a little bit more away from that and back to focusing on the superstars which is done pretty good on Smackdown.

It’s a great rivalry and I’m happy to be on Raw.

BoLA 2016 happened. Did you have time to watch it and if you did, what was your favorite match and if you didn’t, what was your favorite year competing in it?

I don’t think it’s out on DVD yet and unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to go there live. I’ve seen some snippets online, I can’t really say which one my favorite match is because I haven’t seen it completely.

Honestly, I don’t even remember the years the years I was competing in it, but to be (in it) — it was always a very special experience. When I was competing in the independents, there was two tournaments that were big. There was the TPI (Ted Petty Invitational) in NWA South and Battle for Los Angeles for PWG. And Battle for Los Angeles is still going strong; you can see every year there’s new competitors that people discover and WWE is trying to take advantage of that with the Cruiserweight Classic on the WWE Network. You see a lot of guys that are on the indies that are competing on BoLA were actually competing on the Cruiserweight Classic as well. So you can see where the breeding ground for that talent is.

You regularly perform feats of superhuman strength on the show. Can you share your routine?

Oh, I can’t, ‘cause otherwise everybody will be a Swiss Superman. No, to me, the most important part is consistency and dedication. In order to be able to pull off the feats of strength is, just to me, to be able to pull it off in any match at any time—for example, today, we landed after (a) 13-hour travel day so I haven’t slept in 24 hours and I think I ate something and went to the gym because that’s the dedication you need to have to be as good as I am.

Would you be willing to wrestle Samoa Joe even after what happened — the incident with Tyson Kidd and the muscle buster?

Yes — maybe without the muscle buster. There’s a couple of moves outlawed in the WWE, and I think that one maybe be added. But I wrestled Samoa Joe before, and why not again?

Your best out of seven series with Sheamus is extremely interesting because it’s a mix of styles and it’s fascinating to see you two work outside the structure of championships and as you’ve mentioned, the Authority. Do you think that you can win this and in the future, get the WWE Universal Championship?

Uh, yeah, a hundred percent. Anything is possible. I was three to nothing behind. Yesterday—actually, it kind of is today—I won my first match and made it three to one and I think the momentum completely shifted. Now, I’m on a roll and it’s kinda hard to stop me once I get on a roll and with Sheamus, it’s… You know, we’re very evenly matched, I would say we’re around the same height, the same weight, we both come from a different country, we have a very physical style.

On a good night, it can go either way. That’s why the best of seven series is the best way to settle this ‘cause then we can find out who’s the better one, more physically dominant over that period of time. What is very important is to have momentum and he had the momentum from the first match, to the second match, to the third match. I was able to break that momentum. Now I have the momentum and I just don’t think he’s gonna be able to take it away from me.
And then of course, that will give me a championship opportunity and maybe I will sit here with one of these (the belt) as well.

Can you tell us how challenging it is on a daily basis to try and balance the athletic and the entertainment side of wrestling?

Monday night, we had Raw, right? Then Tuesday we flew to London which is about an eight-hour flight overnight. We wrestled that night in London. Then Wednesday morning we flew to Hong Kong, just 13 hours—can’t even think—then we flew here to Manila, we arrived here today at 11:30 in the morning, got to the hotel at 12:30, went to the gym at 1:30 and here at 4 o’clock.

That’s the side that people don’t see. They only see us be on Monday or Tuesday on television. They think, oh, they work one day a week, they have one day of curtain- no! It’s not that easy! Even in just the United States, we have Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday—all WWE events. And when you get home, you maybe have autograph signing, you have interviews, you need to stay in shape.

It is a lifestyle. It’s not just a job, it’s a lifestyle that you have to love. For me, it’s awesome. I love the travel, I love (going) to different countries. This is my first time here in the Philippines and I’m kind of sad because we’re here for, what is it, 14 hours maybe and all we get to see is the hotel and the arena. Wish we get to see a little bit more. That’s the fun of it, but you have to have a knack for it.

What’s your opinion on the divide stemming from the Daniel Bryan segment on Talking Smack? How do you plan to strike a balance between wrestling a safe, injury-free style and at the same time, being able to go out and entertain crowds and to be noticed?

I think there’s a big divide between. It’s not necessarily the styles, I think there’s a big divide between Daniel Bryan and the Miz in the philosophy of how they approach wrestling. If you look at somebody like Daniel Bryan whose been wrestling for years and I’ve known for over 10 years, going independent in Japan and everywhere, that’s his life. While if you look at somebody like the Miz, he did the Real World and he came to wrestling and he does movies and stuff, so it’s like, he approaches it more from the entertainment side while I feel Daniel is probably approaching more from the sports side.
There will always be a clash, but that’s what makes the WWE so interesting—it’s the clash of styles, that’s what makes match-ups. I love Talking Smack, I think it’s a great show, mainly because it’s live and people just get put on the spot and you get something like that.

I think it’s just a difference in philosophy and you know, there’s always that fine line that you have to walk that you wanna be performing at your best every single time you step into the ring. Through my WWE career, on average, I have 200 matches every single year. I’m one of the handful of people that actually wrestle that many matches. To me, that’s why I’m so focused on being in shape because I feel that helps me being able to perform at that level every single time I step into the ring no matter if I had no sleep, doesn’t matter.

It’s the balance you have to find. I figured, over the years, you will see who can separate themselves from the pack ‘cause they’ll be able to go out there and deliver every single time.

How involved are you in crafting the storylines?

There’s a lot of stuff that’s kind of out of our hands. I’ll just leave it at that. But everything you see me do in the ring is what I wanted to have control over and that’s what I’m trying to get the best of ‘cause there’s a lot of stuff…I guess, with everybody’s life, there’s a lot of stuff you have absolutely no control over what happens to you. You just need to take what you have control over and make it the best, and own it.

Is it a challenge in this unique situation to come up with something new to entertain the fans?
No, absolutely not. No match is ever the same. and if you watch—well, please don’t watch all of my stuff back—but if you would, you would see that it’s never the same. I get bored relatively fast, so to speak, so I always try to keep it interesting for myself and everybody else involved.

Plus, to me, wrestling is my creative outlet. If you think about it, it’s probably more of an artist type thing, as if I’m almost like an artist, and I wouldn’t wanna paint the same picture twice. This best of seven series is great. I get the chance to go in the ring and do something different every single night.

On top of that, wherever you go in the world, the fans are different. The fans in London are different than the fans here in Manila than the fans when we come over in Shanghai or on Monday in Baltimore. That’s what we always say- you feed off the WWE Universe. We feed off the WWE Universe, and the feed off us. Whatever they give you, you need to go with that. And that’s the fun part. That’s why we travel all over the world and that’s why the WWE Universe is so passionate.

It was a shocker to see Kevin Owens win the WWE Universal Championship. He works had and he probably deserves it, but will he get that shot? He got that shot. Did that give you faith that someone like yourself who really works hard will get that opportunity as well?

I think that’s two completely different circumstances. Kevin Owens won the NXT championship about a week after he got on NXT. I think it was his first NXT… He won it pretty fast after he debuted on NXT. And he came on the WWE main roster challenging John Cena right away and he won the WWE title within his first year or close to his first year. He’s been extremely successful and he definitely deserves the title.

For me, it’s been a completely different road and I’m hoping that I’ll get to the point where I’m gonna be the WWE Universal Champion. I wanna be the proof that hard work pays off.

Do you consider your win in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale as your biggest achievement in WWE?

Yes, definitely. Looking back, that’s definitely my biggest achievement. It was in WrestleMania 30 and it was the first ever. My name is always gonna be on the top of that list. So suck it, Big Show and Baron Corbin.

When Tyson Kidd comes back, do you wanna team up again?

If he comes back, a hundred percent. — AT, GMA News

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