From Lucerne, Switzerland, to the world. Claudio Castagnoli started training pro wrestling in his own country, and made his in-ring debut on German soil before venturing to the United States and becoming Cesaro, WWE’s Swiss Superman.
Born on December 27, 1980, he played tennis (in which fellow countryman Roger Federer is one of the best ever), football and basketball before making his pro wrestling debut in the German city of Essen, just days away from celebrating his 20th birthday. .
After having participated in some events on North American soil, in 2004 he received a permanent permit in the United States, where he began to fight frequently in Ring of Honor (ROH) and Chikara. In November 2006, he signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and participated in a segment (alongside EC3) officer, as a policeman, on an episode of Monday Night Raw that also featured Triple H , Shawn Michaels and Shane McMahon, but left afterwards.
After another five years on the independent circuit, he re-signed to WWE in September 2011, starting in the developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) before debuting on the main roster during the April 20, 2012 episode of SmackDown . .
Since then he has won the WWE United States Championship once and tag team titles on seven occasions (five with Sheamus, one with Tyson Kidd and one with Shinsuke Nakamura). At the same time, he won the André the Giant Memorial Trophy in 2014. A short record, from what is considered one of the most undervalued fighters by the company in recent years. That’s why it’s worth remembering Cesaro’s ten best WWE matches, in chronological order.
WWE Main Event (May 1, 2013)
WWE United States Championship:
Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Cesaro
A champion for 239 days, Cesaro surprisingly lost the United States Championship to Kofi Kingston on the April 15 episode of Raw , after the Ghanaian defeated the Swiss in a non-title match three days earlier on SmackDown!. Cesaro was given the opportunity to get even about two weeks later on the May 1 episode of the Main Event.
Monday Night Raw (February 17, 2014)
John Cena vs. Cesaro
A qualifier match to the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Elimination Chamber 2014 , which featured champion Randy Orton , Daniel Bryan , John Cena , Cesaro, Christian and Sheamus. On the last episode of Raw before the pay-per-view , Cena went to the ring to talk about the match, but was interrupted by Cesaro and his manager, Zeb Colter, who said that the Swiss would be the future champion. The former Claudio Castagnoli himself took the microphone and said he was going to become the new face of WWE and the new face of America. Cena responded that although Cesaro had defeated Randy Orton on the previous week’s episode of SmackDown , that didn’t mean the Swiss was on a winning streak, but rather that Orton was on a losing streak.
Meanwhile, Sheamus, Christian and Daniel Bryan also participated in the segment, which led Kane, who at the time was in an authority role in WWE, to schedule two matches for that night: Christian vs. Daniel Bryan and John Cena vs. Caesar. For the same show , a Randy Orton vs. Sheamus.
NXT Arrival (February 27, 2014)
Sami Zayn vs. Cesaro
On the May 22, 2013 episode of NXT , Sami Zayn made his debut on the show and achieved a surprise victory over Cesaro in what was the second match of the night for both of them. However, the former Claudio Castagnoli won their second and third matches, the last of which was a two-out-of-three falls match in August of that year. On the January 22, 2014 episode of NXT , Zayn revealed that he was obsessed over the final duel between the two, as he came out defeated in what has been dubbed by many the “best match of the year”. That said, Zayn challenged Cesaro to another rematch, but the Swiss rejected the challenge. On the February 12 edition of NXT , Cesaro again rejected Zayn’s challenge, but Triple H made the match official for the NXT Arrival event.
Monday Night Raw (June 29, 2015)
WWE United States Championship:
John Cena (c) vs. Cesaro
A United States Champion since WrestleMania 3 1 on March 29, 2015, John Cena had a habit of issuing an open challenge to anyone who wanted to fight for the title on every episode of Monday Night Raw. On the June 29 episode, Kevin Owens responded to the challenge, but later said he would wait until Battleground , then went to the commentators’ table to watch the match. That said, the former Claudio Castagnoli ended up answering the Open Challenge.
Monday Night Raw (July 6, 2015)
WWE United States Championship:
John Cena (c) vs. Cesaro
After Cena and Cesaro had a memorable fight the week before, the Swiss returned to answer to the champion’s Open Challenge. During a period of great John Cena matches, Cesaro hung with the very best without a drop of a sweat.
Monday Night Raw (August 10, 2015)
#1 Contender – WWE World Heavyweight Championship :
Cesaro vs. Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton
At the start of the August 10 episode of Raw , world champion Seth Rollins took to the ring to brag about winning the previous week over Neville in an Open Challenge for his title . However, he was stopped by the former Claudio Castagnoli, who challenged him to a title match that night, but Rollins replied that the Open Challenge had only existed the week before.
However, Kevin Owens joined in the conversation, saying that Cesaro had done nothing to deserve a title shot, but that he himself had already defeated John Cena . Minutes later, Randy Orton also appeared on the scene. That said, Triple H scheduled a triple threat match between Cesaro, Owens and Orton to determine who would fight Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event at the end of the show .
Monday Night Raw (November 16, 2015)
Cesaro vs. Roman Reigns
After Seth Rollins retained the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Hell in a Cell by beating Kane , eight wrestlers who also won their matches on pay-per-view competed in singles matches , with the winners advancing to a Fatal 4-Way match. to ascertain the new main candidate, status that was eventually achieved by Roman Reigns. However, on 4 November Rollins suffered a knee injury at the live event in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, which led to the title being vacated.
To determine the new champion, a 16-man tournament was organized, starting on the November 9 episode of Raw and scheduled semifinals and finals for Survivor Series . Since Reigns was the main contender, Triple H offered him the possibility of advancing directly to the finals if he joined The Authority, but Reigns declined, preferring to participate in the tournament from the first round. In the first round, Roman Reigns and Cesaro beat Big Show and Sheamus, respectively, and scored a duel for the quarterfinals.
Extreme Rules 2016
WWE Intercontinental Championship :
The Miz (c) vs. Cesaro vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn
At WrestleMania 32, Kevin Owens lost the intercontinental title to Zack Ryder in a ladder match that involved seven wrestlers, including Sami Zayn and The Miz .
On Raw the following night, The Miz won the belt after his wife, Maryse, distracted Ryder. The following week, Owens interrupted Shane McMahon and demanded a title shot, but instead Shane scheduled a match between Owens and Cesaro to determine the leading contender, which Cesaro won.
At Payback, Owens beat Sami Zayn and stayed to comment on the intercontinental title match, but was attacked by Zayn. The fight between the two went to the ring, which distracted the former Claudio Castagnoli, who when trying to throw Owens and Zayn out of the ring ended up suffering the settlement of The Miz. Then the four men got into a fight that ended with Owens lifting his belt .
On the following night’s Raw , Owens and Cesaro clashed again in a match to determine the new main contender, but the match ended in a No Contest after The Miz , who was on the commentary table, attacked Cesaro. Meanwhile Zayn appeared on the scene and another fight ensued between the four, which ended with Zayn holding the belt.
Three days later, on the May 5 episode of SmackDown , The Miz faced Sami Zayn and was defeated following interference from Kevin Owens . Then Cesaro joined the party and, after another fight between the four of them, lifted his belt.
That said, on the May 9 episode of Raw, Shane and Stephanie McMahon scheduled a triple threat match for Extreme Rules between Owens , Miz , and Cesaro. However, Zayn demanded to be included in the match and, after beating The Miz once more, was added, turning the feud into a fatal four way match .
WrestleMania 37 | April 10-11, 2021
Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins
After two months away from the ring to spend time with his newborn daughter, Seth Rollins returned at the 2021 Royal Rumble, having been eliminated from the Royal Rumble match by Edge . On SmackDown , Rollins returned on the February 12 episode, having stated before the entire blue brand roster that he was the leader SmackDown needs and that the roster needed to “ embrace the vision ” of him. As he spoke, all the fighters that surrounded the ring headed towards the backstage , except for one: Cesaro. However, Cesaro also ended up leaving the ring area on his way to the backstage . However, Rollins intercepted him on the ramp and brutally attacked him. At Fastlane, Rollins defeated Cesaro’s former tag teammate Shinsuke Nakamura , having on the following episode of SmackDown challenged the Swiss to a match at WrestleMania 37.
WrestleMania Backlash | May 17, 2021
WWE Universal Championship :
Roman Reigns (c) vs. Cesaro
On the April 16 episode of SmackDown , the former Claudio Castagnoli confronted brand blue managers Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville, and asked to face Roman Reigns that night, even if it was in a title match . However, the Swiss ended up facing Jey Uso, in a match that ended with Seth Rollins attacking Cesaro, who had defeated him at WrestleMania 37 . On the May 7 Throwback SmackDown, Cesaro faced Rollins in a match that would have earned him a shot at the Universal Championship at WrestleMania Backlash and won.