"They didn't see any worth in that" – Wrestling legend details how WWE shot down his idea for Cesaro (Exclusive)
Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell recently spoke about a character idea he had for Cesaro that was rejected by the creative.
Claudio Castagnoli made his debut for AEW at Forbidden Door. He had earlier worked with Mantell during their run as the Real Americans in WWE. During that time, Jack Swagger and Cesaro formed a formidable tag team, and the latter even won the first Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
On Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk podcast this week, Dutch Mantell mentioned that he had suggested a James Bond-like gimmick for the Swiss Superman.
"Before I left, I said, 'Listen, why don't you guys think about this? Why don't you guys try to do this James Bond 007 look for Cesaro.' Just see how that'd come out because he looks like a classic European, and he dresses nice, he looks nice," Mantell said.
The veteran further detailed that the creative team may not have understood the concept and decided against it.
They didn't see any worth in that. I don't even think they knew what I was talking about. They said, 'Hell, he doesn't know what the hell he's doing.' But they could've done a lot, lot more with Cesaro had they just sat down and thought about it. That's the problem. They don't sit down and think about stuff," Mantell added. (From 5:40 - 6:18)
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Dutch Mantell feels Cesaro's promo skills let him down
During the conversation, the former WWE manager admitted that The Swiss Superman's mic skills weren't the best. He mentioned that the creative team should have worked with him on that.
"Well he's not very good in promos. They could have worked with him. That's what actors do. They work with him in doing promos." (From 5:29 - 5:39)
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With his recent appearances at Forbidden Door and some subsequent shows, Claudio is now deeply entrenched in the AEW roster. It will be interesting to see how the promotion books him and if he can emerge as a top star for the company like some of his WWE predecessors.
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