Paul Heyman believes WWE missed a major opportunity with a former champion during their time with the company.
Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Paul Heyman reflected on his brief on-screen alliance with former WWE United States Champion Claudio Castagnoli in 2014. He argued that WWE failed to fully capitalise on the former Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal winner’s potential.
Heyman initially discussed his partnership with Curtis Axel, explaining that Axel’s role was largely designed to support his ongoing storyline with CM Punk. He then compared that situation to what happened with Castagnoli.
“It’s the same thing that happened to Cesaro,” Heyman said.
Despite Castagnoli’s success in WWE, Heyman believes he had all the tools to become a genuine main-event star.
“You look at Cesaro, and he checked, especially at that moment in time, every box to become a top star,” Heyman said.
According to Heyman, Castagnoli was highly respected by his peers, with many wrestlers requesting matches against him after seeing his performances.
“Everyone who got into the ring with him came back into gorilla saying, ‘Give me him.’ Everyone, everyone.”
Heyman also recalled a conversation involving John Cena, who reportedly saw Castagnoli as a potential WrestleMania headliner.
“I remember John Cena worked with him on television and came back and looked at Vince and said, ‘I could main event WrestleMania with him.’ And probably could have and should have.”
Heyman explained that Castagnoli’s alliance with him was initially intended to keep attention on Brock Lesnar‘s historic victory over The Undertaker at WrestleMania 30 while Lesnar was away from television.
Paul Heyman Believes WWE Missed An Opportunity To Cash In On Claudio Castagnoli’s Multilingual Abilities
However, Paul Heyman believes WWE overlooked one of Claudio Castagnoli’s most unique qualities, his ability to speak multiple languages.
Heyman argued that allowing Castagnoli to answer interview questions in different languages could have showcased a side of his personality that fans rarely saw on WWE television.
“If Cesaro was given the opportunity to answer every question in a different language, you’d have seen a side of his personality,” Heyman said. And that’s our fault. That is a major fumble that was a crime that was committed against the career of Cesaro and a crime that was committed against the audience.”
Heyman also believes WWE missed out on a potentially lucrative rivalry between Castagnoli and Lesnar.
“Had I turned on Cesaro and we built him up to be a threat to Brock, the matches the two of them could have had are mind-boggling,” he said. “A tremendously wasted opportunity and no one for us to blame but ourselves, including me.”
Castagnoli wrestled for WWE from 2011 until 2022. Following his departure, he joined AEW, where he has become one of the promotion’s top stars.
