"They killed him" – Wrestling veteran blames WWE management for mishandling Cesaro (Exclusive)

Claudio Castagnoli made his in-ring return at AEW Forbidden Door.

Veteran manager Dutch Mantell believes that WWE management mishandled Cesaro (aka Claudio Castagnoli in AEW).

After almost a decade with the Stamford-based promotion, The Swiss Superman quietly departed in February 2022. He recently debuted at AEW X NJPW: Forbidden Door as the surprise opponent for Zack Sabre Jr.

Speaking on this week's episode of Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk, Mantell mentioned that he liked working with Swagger and Cesaro. For those unaware, the veteran managed Cesaro and Jack Swagger as on-screen manager Zeb Colter.

"Well, I love both those guys. Those guys are hard workers and they listen. When they rode with me, that when their tag team schooling didn't start, but I think I helped them along. Then somewhere along the way, they didn't see the worth or the merit of having Cesaro with us," said Mantell.

He detailed that WWE management put him with Paul Heyman after a while to "get some heat" but changed their minds again. The wrestling veteran said that the change "killed" his momentum.

"Next thing I know, on the next TV, without warning, they just give him to Paul Heyman. They say Paul can get some heat on him. And I'm thinking, 'Oh yeah, okay.' Then a month later, they broke him up. He had a little bit of heat when he left," Mantell said. "Then he got with Paul and I don't know what they did. They killed him." (From 2:10 - 3:03)

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Mantell is happy to see Jack Swagger and Cesaro in AEW

During the same episode of Smack Talk, Mantell also stated that he was pleased to see the two stars back together in the same company. He hinted that AEW bookers could capitalize on the pair's long history.

"I'm glad that both of them have hooked up with AEW. I think there's some money with them there because there's one thing about wrestling fans that bookers seem to forget is they have long memories," Mantell said. (From 3:16 - 3:29)

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's @ClaudioCSRO 😤 https://t.co/Zhst19VNzb

Claudio's journey with WWE has been somewhat of a hit-and-miss. It will be interesting to see how AEW utilizes his talent and whether he can break out as a top star for the promotion.

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