Swiss Superman: Antonio Cesaro in 2013

Move over Federer and Wawrinka there is a new Swiss Superman in town and his name is Antonio Cesaro.

It was a good run Fed, it is Cesaro's time now

The year 2013 is the most I enjoyed the current WWE product since I was a kid in 2000. Now I would say the latter they dropped the ball in terms in of booking with the Daniel Bryan story and a stagnant mid-card, but as we speak they may be rebooting the booking due to the "crowd hijackings" of the shows and seems like Sheamus and Shield are being moved up. Iin terms of presenting quality in-ring entertainment WWE just plain kicked ass throughout the year. It felt like every RAW had at least one great, long match and the wrestling content was through the roof thanks to extra hour. Now, even this dye in the wool wrestling fan cant make it through a RAW in a single sitting without the magic of DVR, but spread over the course of the week, RAW has become my favorite TV show behind only General Hospital (which has been on an incredibly booking hot streak since the summer). 

However, WWE does not just produce three hours of original content of a week, that really only scrapes the surface. There is also two hour Smackdown!, one hour Main Event, one hour Superstars and NXT each week. Part of the point of this blog was to seek out some of the hidden gems that did not make it out on the A-show. The wrestler who was a big part of kicking ass on RAW and all the shows is Antonio Cesaro. Cesaro came to WWE through super-Indies like ROH and Chikara as Claudio Castagnoli. I actually watched Castagnoli as part of the live ROH events I would attend, but never thought much of him except that he had an exceptionally better body than the scrawny ones you typically see on the Indy scene. He was definitely the wrestler who most looked the part of a wrestler. I was a little tardy to the Antonio Cesaro party as my eyes were not opened until after he was paired with Zeb Colter in the summer of 2013 even though he had a lengthy run with the US title at that point. 

Cesaro brings a Very European sensibility to how he wrestles with a tough. gritty manner, which is on display in his rough 'n' tumble encounters with Sheamus. He works snug and very nuanced having to watch his every motion like how he and Zayn made the chinlock matter as an integral part of their match. His most visually striking part of his performance are his incredibly strength spots. These strongman spots are the gateway to Cesaro's awesomness. You could to see do the Giant Swing to Khali, or deadweight light someone into a gutwrench suplex or hoist someone around the ring only to toss them up and catch up them with an European Uppercut, but you stay for the storytelling, the double stomps, the aggression and the struggle. My one recommendation to Cesaro is he needs to heel it up some more. Cheat and trash talk. He wrestles too Japanese sometimes, which is to say he is stiff and roughhousing, which comes off heelish here in America, but he is not going full tilt with it. He ratcheted it up in the Zayn match where he felt like he was bullying him, but that may have been due to the size differential. Regardless of this recommendation, Cesaro had one helluva 2013 with multiple great matches and one clear cut MOTYC. Cesaro is definitely a practitioner of Steve Austin's "Think Shoot, but Work" and that is why I have become a huge fan of the Swiss Superman.

Ranking the top Antonio Cesaro matches from 2013:

1. Antonio Cesaro vs Sami Zayn - NXT 8/21/13

2. Antonio Cesaro vs Sheamus - Main Vent 06/05/13

3. Antonio Cesaro vs William Regal - NXT 12/25/13

4. WWE World Tag Team Champions Goldust & Cody Rhodes vs Big Show & Rey Mysterio vs Real Americans vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel - WWE TLC 2013

5. Antonio Cesaro vs Dolph Ziggler - Superstars 8/30/13

6. Daniel Bryan Gauntlet - RAW 7/22/13

Swiss Superman

Antonio Cesaro vs Sheamus - Main Event 06/05/13

"Think shoot, but work" - "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

These two had to work for every inch of this match. From the outset, Cesaro worked so hard to overcome Sheamus' resistance to have a headscissors applied to him out of his headlock. That is pro wrestling. Once Cesaro was in a control, he bit Sheamus' hand. That is pro wrestling. Sheamus has a Cesaro in a tight wristlock so he covers Sheamus' mouth to back him in the corner and hit a monster European Uppercut. That is pro wrestling. Everything was so gritty from Cesaro and Sheamus is no slouch himself. In fact, I would argue until recently Sheamus was the best offensive wrestler in North America (Daniel Bryan may have earned that mantle now). He throws a great punch, a mean elbow and hits a great flying shoulderblock. Cesaro is able to run Sheamus' shoulder into the post and then running kick his head into post and followed that up with a double stomp from the apron. He would pull Sheamus up by the ear. Sometime they throw around physical in WWE, but this match was physical. Sheamus begins to run through his offense beginning with the Irish Curse backbreaker and getting his receipt on the outside by running Cesaro's arm into the post. Cesaro is still able to grab the crossface chickenwing on Sheamus' bad arm, which is just such a painful looking move. Sheamus elbows out, but these aren't WWE elbows that is a MANS ELBOW that rocks Cesaro's head. Sheamus again looks to go high with a flying shoulderblock, but eats a European Uppercut. It does not look pretty, but nothing looks pretty in this match. Cesaro hits a Bombs Away knee drop, but still get a pin in this fight Cesaro locks in the crossface chickenwing again and man Cesaro needs to bring it back full-time. There is an urgency to every action because each knows the other can hit a knockout shot at anytime. Sheamus goes for White Noise, but Cesaro is still struggling and rams him into the corner and this creates the opportunity to hit the Brogue Kick for the win. My current two favorite wrestlers did not disappoint in delivering one of the best physical contests in the WWE. There was not a lot of typical Southern selling. I am hurt, but if I don't power through this I am going to fucking hurt and that may cost me time down the line. The selling in this resembled something akin to a real fight. Even though, they were a lot of momentum swings, it never felt like an exhibition quite the contrary it felt very much like a war. These guys were really fighting like their careers were on the line. ****

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The Daniel Bryan 7/22/13 Gauntlet

Daniel Bryan vs Jack Swagger

I enjoyed Zeb's little rant about how Daniel Bryan had to take a handout from Cena. Nice little dick statement.

All of Swagger's matches should be held in Texas and Oklahoma only surefire way to get him heat. I feel like I am one of the few Swagger fans left after his nice initial ECW run. I love his size, agility and moveset, but he is missing the intangibles. He establishes the power game early and Bryan takes heat. He mocks the Austin fans sticking his tongue out and with horns down. He cuts Bryan off for the diving elbow and hits Swaggerbomb, but gets nonchalant and gets caught in the Yeslock. It puts over Bryan ability to strike anywhere and his need for a quick victory.

Daniel Bryan vs Antonio Cesaro

When I first watched this live, I thought this was a bit underwhelming and did not consider it a MOTYC. I thought Bryan's encounters with Ryback and the Orton street fight at this point were better than this section of the gauntlet. Watching it again, I don't know what my major malfunction was because this match rocks. Now, I will have to watch the above matches to see how this compared. I did prefer Cesaro/Sheamus to this match, but not my much as that was just that much more physical. I like how Cesaro works a back and forth style that does not devolve into an exhibition. His matches feel like real struggles. The beginning of the match felt like the lesser version of the Pegasus/Black Tiger '96 Super J match where Cesaro is trying to contain the dynamo, Bryan, with chinlocks. I liked Bryan's hope spots: dragon leg screws, standing on Cesaro's hammies and pulling his nose, his criss cross sequences. Cesaro for his part uses a mixture of his strength practically deadlifting Bryan into a suplex and some help from Swagger as cutoffs. Cesaro double stomp after a quick rollup by Bryan was a thing of beauty and God Love Cesaro for his gutwrench suplex. This is one of the best firework spectacles the WWE has put on in years as both wrestlers are so explosive. Bryan's release German and Cesaro wicked European uppercut while Bryan is on the top rope are awesome visuals. Then they just go to town on each other with European Uppercuts until Cesaro fuckin pours it on and gives Bryan a shellacking with a ton of Euro Uppercuts. Still can only get 2. Bryan grabs a dragon leg screw and goes into that Liger inverted figure-4 and drops the fuckin hammer on Cesaro. Those are some nasty elbows. When Cesaro disrupts the Bryan diving headbutt, Bryan is able to counter Cesaro lifting Euro Uppercut seamlessly into a small package. From the european uppercut exchange one that was one of the best finish stretches they have put in on in years. I thought the match was a bit disjointed since they never really paid off what happened before the commercial break it came off as a bit boring, but once they decided what they wanted to do and just rock it, this became something special. The Cesaro vs Sheamus match was more violent and felt like a ruthless fight that worked Cesaro's nasty tendencies and Sheamus' fighting spirit. I thought this match lacked drama it felt more focused on entertaining through offense Still a very good match. ***1/2

Daniel Bryan vs Ryback

I am an unabashed Ryback mark, but much like Heenan I have a moral obligation to be objective. Seriously how boss is Ryback in this match? The difference between Ryback and Cesaro in these back-to-back performances is Ryback ratchets up heeling. Cesaro is violent and explosive, but he does not do anything that heelish. Ryback is a cocky bully. You just want to see Bryan punch him in the mouth. Ryback is just as good as Cesaro at cutoffs and I think they do a better job building heat to the finish by having more prolonged heat section. I loved that Bryan went flying at the outset with his knockout flying knee. Ryback just keeps shrugging him off. He digs his thumb in Bryan's eye, throws him by his beard, yanks at his nose and trash talks him "Little man in a big man's world". "You cant wrestle" chants. Go fuck yourself, smart marks! RYBACK RULEZ~! Ryback hits a sweet vertical suplex and floats over. Drink your tall glass of shut the fuck up juice audience. Ryback hits a Thesz Press but Bryan rolls into a wicked half crab. Ryback throws Bryan down, but Bryan wont stay down and a knockout knee staggers Ryback. Bryan keeps dropkicking him, but Ryback throws him down again. Ryback goes for a table, but while he is setting it up he gets hit with a suicide dive. Really nice camerawork on that one. Back in the ring after some tussling, Bryan goes for the Yeslock, but Ryback grabs by the hair and just flings him halfway across the ring. RYBACK RULEZ~! Bryan finally rattles off some offense: drop toehold into the middle turnbuckle, missile dropkick, YESLock, but Ryback gets too the ropes. Ryback bails. Bryan goes for the knee off the apron, but Ryback catches and throws him down in a powerbomb onto floor. Nasty. Ryback picks him back up and powerbombs him through the table. Great finish. It preserves Bryan's appeal as the ultimate underdog without him having to job. 

Ryback is awesome as a monster in this match. Bryan uses his speed to try to best the beast with a half-crab, dropkicks and suicide dives, but nothing seems to phase the monster. Ryback just keeps swatting him away and badmouthing him, but he seems to grow arrogant everytime he gets on offense. Bryan has a never say die attitude and just when you think he is going to knock Ryback the fuck out, he gets caught and slammed onto the floor. I liked this match slightly better than the Cesaro match because of more defined face/heel dynamics and oh yeah because RYBACK RULEZ~! ***1/2 

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Daniel Bryan has gone from lumberjack to axe.

Antonio Cesaro vs Sami Zayn - NXT 08/21/13 2 out of 3 Falls

For my money, Cesaro has his masterpiece of his 2013 campaign against Sami Zayn (if you are like me and have trouble keeping straight all the WWE rebranding, Zayn is El Generico) on NXT in a blowoff to a series of four matches. I went in totally cold to this match and was only aware of it because places like the Wrestling Culture podcast pimped it so heavily. I believe that all matches are helped when placed in context, but in a testament to this match's greatness it is bitchin' even in a vacuum. Part of that is due to the announcers doing their job (fancy that!) and explaining that Cesaro is a pompous prick and had called anyone out of the locker room and Zayn responded and got a fluke win. In order to negate this flash pin scenario, they are having 2 out Of 3 Falls match to prove who is the better wrestler (fancy that a feud over who is the better wrestler!). Zayn's strategy from the outset is very similar to Ziggler's. It is full court press suffocation of Cesaro. He immediately dives onto Cesaro when he is making his entrance and then whips him in hits a Yakuza Kick in the corner and wins the first fall. This plays off perfectly the first match and demonstrates why Cesaro has requested 2 out of 3 falls because he falls prey to flash pins. Also, it establishes Zayn's strategy of suffocating Cesaro. Cesaro tries coming at Zayn and rolling away, but neither strategy gets anything going for Cesaro However, it only takes a couple of minutes before Cesaro is finally able to hotshot Zayn and just lay in some wicked shots.

Cesaro has one of the best chinlocks since the 80s because of they way he grips and sells it, but it is Zayn who really makes it by how hard he is fighting the chinlock by trying to break up Cesaro's grip. It is how many moves you have or what moves you do. It is how you do your moves that is what these two proved by making the chinlock an interesting point of the match. It makes sense that Cesaro wants to sap the energy of the dynamo, Zayn and contain him while he is rejuvenates. In some of his main show WWE matches, Cesaro is a bit too neutral. He wrestles sort of like a puro wrestler where face and heel lines blur, but here he really embraces his heelishness and just treats Zayn like a punk. Of course, Zayn shows him up on some of his strongman's spots like countering the gutwrench into a sunset flip. I have to say two of my favorite Cesaro spots (maybe someone has done it before) was the bridging fall away slam and the superplex with the opponent on the apron, just very impressive visuals. Zayn seems like he is going to mount a comeback with a dropkick, but Cesaro wrangles him in a chinlock swings him around and Zayn has no choice, but to tap. 

The third fall is the perfect climax to the story of Cesaro's strength versus Zayn's elusiveness. If Cesaro can catch Zayn, Zayn is dead in the water, but if Zayn can wriggle free he has a shot. Cesaro follows up his second fall win with a huge European upper cut in the corner and he trash talks Zayn. It becomes a war of chinlocks versus rollups and it is high drama throughout. Zayn mounts his big comeback hitting this crazy powerbomb that needs to be seen to be fully appreciated. Cesaro powders, but Zayn does not let up and dives through the turnbuckles to hit a tornado DDT on the floor. Holy shit, the kid might just pull this one off! They tease the countout victory. Back in the ring, Zayn goes for the tornado DDT again, then there is a finish to end all finishes with Cesaro running around and tossing Zayn up into an European Uppercut to win. This is a truly incredible match that embodies everything that makes wrestling great: Bully vs underdog, Strength vs. speed, struggle, playing off early matches, great build, bitchin' spots, awesome layout and a tremendous finish. ****1/2

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Antonio Cesaro w/Zeb Colter & Jack Swagger vs Dolph Ziggler - Superstars 8/30/13

If Antonio Cesaro was the NWA traveling champion, I believe this is how the match would look. Ever since Ziggler turned babyface, he seemed content to wrestle the mid-90s Savage formula take heat for most of the match and then hit the finish. Beside the fact Mr. Livingston recommended this match, I knew something was up because the commentators were saying Ziggler was boasting that he was about to deliver a Mania Main Event level performance. Ziggler all of sudden remembered he had a shit ton of offense that Cesaro gladly bumped and sold for in this match. Cesaro establishes he has the strength advantage early, but Ziggler has the speed when he snaps off a quick dropkick (Ziggler's usual one early offensive move). Thanks to some Swagger distraction, Cesaro throws Ziggler with a gutwrench and when Ziggler tries catch him with a roll-up he double stomps him in a great spot. This is when the match departs from the Savage formula as Ziggler starts rattling off moves like cross-body, roll-up, a facebuster and climaxing with a tornado DDT out of a back body drop attempt. Ziggler's speeds seems to be overwhelming Cesaro. However, Ziggler cant seem to find a way to neutralize Swagger as another distraction allows Cesaro to shake the ropes. Then in the spot of match and maybe spot of the year. Cesaro hits a delayed superplex after grabbing Ziggler from the apron. WOW! Cesaro nonchalantly covers and Ziggler reverses. Ziggler goes around the world to grab a sleeper. Swagger looks to interfere and Ziggler dropkicks him off the apron. Great Payoff! Ziggler gets a fameasser for two. (Why has that not been renamed?) Cesaro shrugs off Zig Zag attempt and true to form Ziggler rushed right back in, but this time ate "throw him up, catch him with a Euro uppercut" and the nastiest Neutralizer I have seen to lose to Cesaro.

I don't think is a Match of the Year Candidate, but definitely one of the best free TV matches of the year. I loved the use of Swagger as he was key in both Cesaro's transitions and finally he was knocked out. This was Ziggler's best match of the year as he was just relentless. He knew speed and willpower was all he had. He just kept coming and coming. He pressed every advantage. It felt like a full court press in basketball, but that ultimately cost him because he ran into a huge European Uppercut to set up the Neutralizer. ***1/2

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ALL MAN~!

WWE World Tag Team Champions Goldust & Cody Rhodes vs Big Show & Rey Mysterio vs Real Americans vs Ryback & Curtis Axel - WWE TLC Fatal 4-Way

Much like Gaul, this match was divided into three neat parts: Rybaxel Phase, Real American Phase, Show&Mysterio Phase. The middle segment starring Goldust is really what carried the drama of the match with the other segments being serviceable, but not nearly as entertaining. As much as I love Ryback, his work in this was pretty blase and by the numbers. The only real highlight of the first segment was how over Big Show was. The crowd was going bonkers for his Shhhhh! Chop!. I think he was genuinely surprised and happy at how over he was. Goldust pins Ryback after floating over on a suplex attempt and rolling up The Big Guy. The Big Guy aint happy and blasts Goldust with a clothesline as a parting gift. 

Swagger is right on Goldust to start. As much as I love Cesaro (and I like Swagger too actually), this segment was not about him. It was all about Goldust and his tremendous face in peril performance. He totally focused on making the hot tag to Cody. Every move he made was with the intention of getting to Cody. Honestly, the heel offense was pretty mundane, but Goldust's commitment to the tag made it one of the more compelling face in peril peril segments in recent history. It was just great high drama. Credit where credit is due, Cesaro did have some cool spots like when Goldust tried to dive between his legs to get to Cody he wrangled him into the gutwrench suplex. I also loved the Giant Swing cutoff which turned into a catapult into a Swagger slam. Also, I have always dug the Swaggerbomb -> Double Stomp combo. Goldust was timing his hope spots beautifully with moves like his sunset flip powerbomb and a hurricanrana. Also of note is how much better cheerleader Big Show is than Cody. C'mon Cody you are still working when on the apron. Endgame sees Swagger pull Cody off the apron, but Show tosses Swagger into barricade. Cesaro hits a Yakuza Kick on Rey Rey, but walks into a snap powerslam. Finally, Goldust makes the tag into extremely over Big Show, who levels Swagger and knocks Cesaro out in mid-air to eliminate the Real Americans. If the match ended right there, I would say it is a definite MOTYC with a great build to the hot tag and Show just cleaning house. The next segment is not bed. It is good and fun, but it is not as satisfying once we get down to the two babyface teams.

Goldust is clearly sapped of strength, but Big Show helps him up. Cole claims sportsmanship. JBL claims it is so Cody does not start the fall. JBL can be pretty good. Big Show shoulderblocks Goldust who tumbles to the outside and Cody checks on Goldust. Show palms Goldust's head and pulls him up to apron. Rey is friggin's amazed. His face made that spot. Goldust downs the Giant with a DDT and tags Cody. They double suplex Show for two. Show swats Cody out of the air and tags Rey. Rey runs through his standard offense and they tease hitting their finishes. Goldust takes 619. Cody is able to ram Show into the steel post to take him out. Cody looking for a springboard dropkick, but takes a powerbomb from little Rey. Cody catches Rey in 619 and goes for the Alabama Slamma, but nothing doing. Finally he wrangles Rey and hits the Cross-Rhodes. There is a lot of moves from Cody and Rey, but all the drama was with Goldust and Show so it just felt there. 

The middle portion of the match is a perfect showcase for why Goldust is a top 5 WWE worker right now. It is a tremendous face in peril performance that is dramatic because of his selling and his determination to get to Cody. The Big Show hot tag is such a satisfying payoff. The rest of the match is middling RAW level stuff. ***1/2

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Antonio Cesaro vs William Regal - NXT 12/25/14

This has to be one of the better Christmas presents anyone has ever given me. To think I did not get anything with Regal and Cesaro in turn! We get the big build to the match with Fink on ring announcing duty and Tensai sounding like my cousins from Dorchester on commentary. There is some announcer who is all in huff because Cesaro kicked his skinny fat ass and Regal is out avenge him. Regal basically gave this match to Cesaro as a platform to showcase himself and what he brings to the table. Don't get me wrong, it was Regal's selling during the leg work and his constant struggling that keeps them from becoming an exhibition and there is plenty Regal brings to the table. However, the match is clearly structured to make Cesaro look like the next big thing and some might say the heir apparent to Regal. The important thing to note is when I say heir apparent to Regal I don't mean carbon copy as Cesaro brings a strongman's aspect to the ring, but rather the gritty and intricate nature of how he grapples. This is demonstrated early on when he suplexes Regal while Regal is on his knees. He is just so impressive. My favorite Regal spot is he knocks Cesaro down in the corner with forearms and then distracts the ref while he mule kicks him as he is down, classic Regal. The ref continues to admonish him and Cesaro takes the advantage to clip the knee. This is where regal kicks into overdrive in order to do his part to make Cesaro. He sells that knee like he may never walk again and Cesaro is just relentless. The struggle over getting the knee brace off so Cesaro can inflict more damage is why I am a pro wrestling fan. It is all about working for every inch. Regal would usually win a battle of European Uppercuts, but it does not look good against the younger Cesaro, who puts him in the Giant Swing. I will say that move will be great when he is a babyface, but I think it is too much of a babyface move for a heel to do. Cesaro looks to polish Regal off with the Neutralizer, but Regal back drops out and in a moment of desperation drops a knee on the bicep. Now it is Cesaro turn to sell like he will never use that arm again. Regal goes after both arms and attempts to submit Cesaro via the Regal Stretch, but Cesaro escapes. Cesaro puts over how debilitated he is as he does a dropkick but with his arms wrapped around himself. Awesome! In a nasty, nasty spot, Cesaro double stomps Regal's head and Regal is just rendered motionless. At this point, the match goes off the rails in my opinion and gets way too cinematic for me. Cesaro all of sudden does not think he has it in him to finish off his "hero" and Regal does the crawl up Cesaro stop ala HBK/Taker WM 26. Cesaro hits a monster Neutralizer. To complete the cinematic experience they shale hands on the ramp. I don't necessarily have a problem with the cinematics of recent Wrestlemania matches (I liked the HBK/Flair finish), why I didn't like this one is because it felt so out of place in this match. Cesaro is a bully and Regal is going to smarten him up through a beatdown. They have a hard-fought, sporting-like contest and I wanted to see sporting-like finish then all of sudden it goes from an gritty 80s feel to the overproduced 21st century feel and it is just too jarring. Then add the handshake of respect how does that add heat to Cesaro. Unless in NXT Cesaro is a babyface, if that is the case then the finish makes more sense and I would have enjoyed the match more. Overall, the first 95% of this match is great and is a master's class in selling, working holds, meaningful spots and taking wrestling from an exhibition to a contest by struggling for everything. ****

A True Swiss Miss whose Kiss Dont Miss

Antonio Cesaro had one helluva a 2013 and hopefully he will build on that to have even better 2014. WWE booking involves more ups and downs than the stock market when it comes to the midcard, but he seems to be trending upwards with his inclusion in this year's Elimination Chamber. On the docket, we got Brian Pillman in 1991, a Rockers in WWF blog and a Japanese Juniors from 2000-2002 plus working on a Triple H from 1999-2001 blog. Stay frosty.