Cesaro (wrestler)

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Claudio Castagnoli SwitzerlandSwitzerland
Cesaro in 2016.

Cesaro in 2016.
Data
Surname Claudio Castagnoli
Ring name Antonio Cesaro
Cesaro
Claudio Castagnoli
Additions to names The Swiss Sensation / Superman / Cyborg
King of Swing
The Professional
Double C
height 196 cm
Fighting weight 105 kg
birth December 27, 1980
Lucerne , Switzerland
Announced from Lucerne, Switzerland
Trained by Chris Hero
Dave Taylor
SigMasta Rappo
Skayde
Mike Quackenbush
debut 2000

Claudio Castagnoli (born December 27, 1980 in Lucerne ) is a Swiss wrestler . He is currently under contract with the WWE and appears in their wrestling shows under the ring name Cesaro . His greatest success so far was receiving the United States Championship once .

Private life

Castagnoli acted as an extra in the film The Wrestler . In an interview with the German wrestling magazine Power Wrestling , Castagnoli said he was a big fan of the Austrian band Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung . Castagnoli took part in the 13th Wok World Championship on March 14, 2015 in Innsbruck and took seventh place in the Swiss four-wok together with Björn Dunkerbeck , Miriam Rickli and Stefanie Heinzmann .

Wrestling career

Independent Leagues (2000-2011)

Castagnoli played his first match on December 24, 2000 at westside Xtreme wrestling (wXw for short) in the Essen discotheque "Roxy", when he played as Double C against SigMasta Rappo . Castagnoli played several matches in various independent promotions . He performed mainly in Switzerland and Germany. On June 24, 2001 , Castagnoli won the SWF Powerhouse title with the Swiss Wrestling Federation (SWF) . On February 3, 2002, Castagnoli won the wXw-Tag Team title together with Ares as Swiss Money Holding .

In September 2002 Cesaro also appeared for the first time in the USA (at IWA Mid-South ). A year after his first appearance in the USA, he returned to Switzerland and performed there in several independent promotions . There he also appeared again with Ares as Tag Team Swiss Money Holding . On December 27, 2003, Castagnoli won the wXw World Heavyweight title. From autumn 2003 he appeared again more regularly in the USA as Claudio Castagnoli .

In February 2005 he formed the tag team The Kings Of Wrestling together with Chris Hero . Since February 2005 he has appeared regularly in the independent wrestling scene such as Chikara Pro Wrestling . On September 10, 2005, Castagnoli won the CZW tag team title with Hero.

Since August 27, 2005, Castagnoli has also been a member of the regular squad of IWA Switzerland , which among other things arose from the then Promotion Swiss Wrestling Federation (SWF) . There he was the only one who held the title of IWA Switzerland Heavyweight Champion for 703 days until his doctorate was canceled .

On June 11, 2006 he was also allowed to win the CAPW Unified Heavyweight title at the US promotion Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling . Together with Chris Hero, he won the ROH World Tag Team Championship for the first time on September 16, 2006 .

With Chris Hero Castagnoli entered on October 14, 2006 at the Promotion Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) at the Last Team Standing Tournament for the CZW Tag Team title. In the final they defeated their opponents Human Tornado & Justice Pain and won the vacant title for the second time.

In October 2006 Castagnoli signed a development contract with the WWE and played a dark match at Deep South Wrestling against Kofi Nahaje Kingston . Then Castagnoli should actually compete in Ohio Valley Wrestling . But the contract has not yet been honored for unknown reasons. After a brief appearance on RAW , where he was allowed to portray a police officer, he appeared again in the international independent scene.

After losing the RoH Tag Team title, the Castagnoli - Hero team was dissolved and both were involved in a feud program against each other. But after this feud was not accepted by the audience as desired, they joined together again to form a tag team ( The Kings of Wrestling ).

In 2007, Castagnoli tagged Matt Sydal for several matches .

Castagnoli at a RAW wrestling event in 2011.

Castagnoli played his first matches in Japan at Pro Wrestling NOAH from February to early March 2008 . There appeared among others with Chris Hero and Douglas Williams. In June 2008 he performed at the wXw event wXw / NOAH Dead End VIII . At wXw, Castagnoli also appeared in September 2008 at the wXw / CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix 2008 .

At CHIKARA, Castagnoli joined the stable The Brotherhood of the Cross in 2010 , which also includes Castagnoli's close friend and long-time tag team partner Ares. On March 20, 2010, Castagnoli won the CHIKARA Campeonatos de Parejas Championship with Ares. In Pro Wrestling Guerrilla , Castagnoli won the PWG World Championship on October 9, 2010 at PWG The Curse Of Guerrilla Island .

Ring of Honor (2005-2011)

Castagnoli made his Ring of Honor debut in 2005 . With Chris Hero he won the ROH World Tag Team Championship in 2006 . In July 2007, Castagnoli won Ring of Honor at the Race To The Top Tournament and could be so final in the Upper Card established by Ring of Honor.

In 2009, Castagnoli joined the Stable Embassy (comprised of Prince Nana, Bison Smith, Jimmy Rave, Claudio Castagnoli, Joey Ryan, Erick Stevens, Shawn Daivari, Mr. Ernesto Osiris, and Necro Butcher) at Ring of Honor before joining the September 2010 was dissolved again. On April 3, 2010 he again won the ROH World Tag Team Championship with Chris Hero.

WWE (since 2011)

Florida Championship Wrestling (2011-2012)

In September 2011 Castagnoli signed a contract with the WWE and appeared under the name Antonio Cesaro in the Farm League FCW.

United States Champion and Paul Heyman Guy (2012-2015)

He made his SmackDown debut on April 17, 2012 . On August 19, 2012 , Castagnoli won the United States Championship of Santino Marella at the Pre-Show of SummerSlam . On April 15, 2013 at RAW he lost the title to Kofi Kingston .

From June 2013 to April 2014, Castagnoli had his first manager at his side in Zeb Colter. With his protégé Jack Swagger , he formed the Real Americans tag team . In February 2014, his ring name was shortened to Cesaro . At WrestleMania XXX on April 6, 2014, he became the first winner of the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. In the RAW issue the next day, Paul Heyman Castagnolis became the new manager, which also meant the end of the Real Americans. Only a few months later he separated from Paul Heyman.

Tag Team with Tyson Kidd and Cesaro Section (2015-2016)

WWE Tag Team Champions Cesaro and Kidd in 2015.

After a few unsuccessful months, he teamed up with Tyson Kidd in early 2015 and both started a title feud against The Usos as a tag team . On February 22, 2015, Castagnoli won the WWE Tag Team Championship at Fast Lane with Tyson Kidd . At Extreme Rules on April 26, 2015, they lost their title to Kofi Kingston and Big E from The New Day . After Tyson Kidd sustained a serious spinal injury in early June 2015, Castagnoli began to become more active as a single wrestler again. He was introduced to the action for the United States Championship, which at the time was being held by John Cena . Castagnoli competed twice against Cena in the so-called Open Challenge , but lost in both fights. With Castagnoli and Cena, Kevin Owens and Rusev were also in the feud for the title, with Castagnoli in the SmackDown issue of July 16 as the second man (after John Cena) to pin Rusev in a singles match. After Owens had repeatedly attacked in his matches in the following years, Castagnoli finally played a match against Owens at SummerSlam , which he lost. After some time without much relevance Castagnoli was seen on October 25, the first time in a PPV when he to the kick-off show Hell in a Cell , together with Dolph Ziggler and Neville's team Sheamus , Rusev and King Barrett defeated . In November, Castagnoli was part of the tournament for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship , but was defeated in the semifinals by Roman Reigns . This was his last match for the time being, as it was announced a week later that Castagnoli had been suffering from a shoulder injury for some time. This injury resulted in an approximately six-month break and thus prevented Castagnoli's participation in the largest event of the WWE, WrestleMania 32 .

On April 4, 2016, Castagnoli finally returned, now with a new James Bond- inspired gimmick. He replaced Sami Zayn in a Fatal-4-Way Match that was to determine the main challenger for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and was eventually won by AJ Styles . He then began a feud against The Miz for its Intercontinental Championship, the match at Payback Castagnoli lost after a distraction by Owens and Zayn. In a fatal 4-way match at Extreme Rules for the Intercontinental title between him, Miz, Owens and Zayn, Castagnoli was again unsuccessful. The following evening at RAW, Castagnoli was able to defeat The Miz and thus secure a place in the Money in the Bank match at the PPV of the same name. The match, in which Dean Ambrose , Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Chris Jericho and Alberto del Rio also stood alongside Castagnoli , was won by Ambrose.

Feud with Sheamus and The Bar (2016-2019)

Raw Tag Team Champions The Bar at WrestleMania 34 .

In the WWE Draft , which was carried out for the first time since 2011 on July 19, 2016 , Castagnoli was drafted in the sixth round for the Monday show RAW . In a subsequent interview, which later turned out to be unscripted, Castagnoli spoke out very negatively about his move, he criticized, among other things, the focus on the authority figures on RAW and said that he was on the more wrestling-oriented Tuesday show SmackDown would have been better off. Following the draft, Castagnoli began a feud against Sheamus , which he defeated in two matches. This brought him a fight for the WWE United States Championship against the champion Rusev , which he lost after an intervention by Sheamus. It was announced that Castagnoli and Sheamus would play a best-of-7 series of matches in the ensuing period, the first of which was at SummerSlam and was won by Sheamus. This also won the second and third match before Castagnoli could equalize with three consecutive wins. The decisive seventh match took place at the PPV Clash of Champions , but was abandoned without result because both men were no longer able to continue the fight. The following evening at RAW, Castagnoli and Sheamus were tagged by General Manager Mick Foley to get a chance at the RAW Tag Team Championships. After a string of victories against various opponents, Castagnoli and Sheamus finally faced RAW Tag Team Champions The New Day at PPV Hell in a Cell , but failed to win the titles. In the November 7, 2016 edition of RAW, Castagnoli and Sheamus were announced as members of the 10v10 Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination Match at the PPV Survivor Series of the same name . At this event they were the last remaining team and thus won the team for Team RAW. On December 18, 2016 at the PPV Roadblock: End of the Line , he and Sheamus defeated The New Day and won the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship . They lost the title to Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows at the Royal Rumble on January 29, 2017 . On June 4, 2017 at Extreme Rules he won the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship for the third time and with Sheamus as a tag team for the second time , after they defeated the Hardy Boyz in a steel cage match .

SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bar in 2018.

At SummerSlam on August 20, 2017, he and Sheamus lost the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship to Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins as a tag team . On November 6, 2017, Cesaro and Sheamus won the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship again against Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins after they took advantage of a distraction from SmackDown's The New Day. On January 28, 2018 they were able to win back the titles of Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan at the Royal Rumble, this reign then lasted another 70 days and then finally lost the title on April 8, 2018 at WrestleMania 34 to Braun Strowman and his 11-year-old day -Team partner Nicholas.

As part of the Superstar ShakeUps 2018, Cesaro switched to SmackDown with his tag team partner . There they won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The New Day at SmackDown 1000 on October 16, 2018 . This reign lasted 103 days and then finally lost the title at the Royal Rumble 2019 against The Miz and Shane McMahon .

Return to Raw (2019)

As part of the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up , Cesaro switched from SmackDown to Raw on April 22, 2019 . Thus, the tag team The Bar was separated and Cesaro has been a singles wrestler again since 2013 after he lost the United States Championship . On July 14, he played a singles match against Aleister Black at Extreme Rules , but he lost this match.

Return to SmackDown (since 2019)

As part of the WWE Draft, Cesaro switched from Raw to SmackDown on October 15, 2019 . On October 31, 2019, he lost a match against Mansoor at WWE Crown Jewel in Riyadh , Saudi Arabia . In July 2020 he formed a team with Shinsuke Nakamura . Together they won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship from The New Day Kofi Kingston & Big E.

Wrestling successes

United States Champion Cesaro in 2012.
  • Chikara Pro Wrestling
    • CHIKARA Campeonatos de Parejas Championship (1 × with Chris Hero, 1 × with Ares)
  • International Pro Wrestling United Kingdom
    • IPW: UK British Tag Team Championship (1 × with Ares and Marc Roudin)
  • Juggalo Championship Wrestling
    • JCW Tag Team Championship (1 × with Chris Hero)
  • Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling
    • CAPW Championship (1 ×)
  • Swiss Wrestling Federation
    • SWF Powerhouse Championship (1 ×)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Profile of Claudio Castagnoli on cagematch.de. Retrieved February 24, 2012 .
  2. ↑ Niklaus Riegg: Blood, Sweat and Swiss German. In: 20 minutes online. Retrieved February 24, 2012 .
  3. ↑ Royal Rumble 2017 results and report wrestling-infos.de, accessed on January 30, 2017
  4. ↑ Results of WWE SummerSlam 2017. bleacherreport, accessed on August 21, 2017 .

Web links

Commons : Claudio Castagnoli  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Cesaro
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cesaro, Antonio; Castagnoli, Claudio (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH December 27, 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH Lucerne , Switzerland