WWE Doghouse - What is up with Cesaro?

Cesaro

A couple of weeks ago, it was speculated that Cesaro was being punished for a statement he made in one of his interviews. Ever since then, he hasn’t won a match. He has been a piñata for Dean Ambrose. Some of their matches have been competitive but there are countable matches which, to begin with, can’t even be called a match. Those instances involved Cesaro getting rampaged by chairs and the microphone. He isn’t part of the Survivor Series PPV yet but he still is in contention for the Intercontinental Title matches. This week’s Smackdown features a match between Ziggler, Cesaro and Tyson Kidd.

If Cesaro is being punished, then why is he still around giving such entertaining matches.

Now, for a hardcore fan to call a match entertaining means that it isn’t a one sided match or a squash match, unless it involves Cena, which is why Lesnar’s victory at Summerslam was so appreciated. Cesaro has been a part of many entertaining matches. And he has been on the losing side but he did not lose them without a fight. Even after losing, he did not look weak. He looked as strong as he’s ever was.

If the report about him hadn’t come out, nobody would have guessed that Cesaro is being punished and his loss to Ziggler at Hell In A Cell was an exhibit of that. The report came after the recent PPV match. That match was one of the best matches of the night which Ziggler won in two falls. But Cesaro dominated most of the match.

Been there,done that

Like him, his opponent Ziggler was punished as well. But his punishment was much more apparent. He was not only on the losing side, he was made to put over many new guys, who since have either faded or remain in the same position as they were before. But the fans never really left their support. The WWE was wise enough not to give the Zack Ryder-treatment to Ziggler. The fan support was as high as ever. Even in the most obvious cases where Ziggler was expected to lose, the fans still hoped for his victory, for another breakthrough.

That finally did come when he very unexpectedly defeated The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship. He, very expectedly, lost the title soon enough but again unexpectedly won it back 24 hours later. And right now, the IC title looks more important than it ever did in the past couple of years.

Back to Cesaro

That statement obviously mentioned Randy Orton and John Cena. It is that obvious because for the company to punish any promising and popular superstar as Cesaro, that has to be one of the few reasons. Cesaro stated what the hardcore fanbase always talks about. Randy Orton and John Cena’s feud or rivalry is one of the most overrated rivalries ever. Sure, it was much anticipated during 2004-05, when both men were young superstars trying to climb up the WWE ladder. But over the years, it has just been played on repeat mode. It is such a well discussed fact, even a fan sign was focused upon at HIAC which went like this “Orton V Cena #121”

Despite all of this, he is still put into the IC title picture. WWE realizes what it has with Cesaro. So, right now, Cesaro will remain stagnant and not move up anytime soon. His push has been put on hold, it seems. He wasn’t really having any major storyline to be involved in ever since Heyman was made to focus only on Lesnar. He wasn’t reportedly getting buried or punished then.

And Cesaro has been involved in ridiculous matches and gimmicks when the WWE did not see much potential in him.

His ‘punishment’ might be a poor excuse for not knowing what to do with his character, which Creative is much used to.