Dutch Mantell Claims Paul Heyman ‘Killed’ Cesaro’s Push

WWE

Cesaro had many start and stop pushes during his decade long WWE career, but there was one point in time where he seemed destined to be the company’s next top star.

Cesaro began gaining popularity as part of the Real Americans with Jack Swagger, managed by Zeb Colter (Dutch Mantell), which led to him winning the inaugural Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal back at WrestleMania XXX.

The following night, Cesaro left Colter to join up with Paul Heyman, in a move designed to take Cesaro to the next level. However, the alliance was short lived, and Cesaro soon went back off on his own.

In an interview with Wrestling Shoot Interviews, Mantell discussed Cesaro’s post-Real Americans WWE career, and claimed that Paul Heyman ‘killed his push’.

He said:

“Well in wrestling when you go into an arena and you got to feel it, you got to feel what the room and how they’re accepting you or what they think about you. And they like these two guys, even though I was the heat magnet for them, they like Swagger and they like Cesaro together.

“Both guys about 6’5, strong, and then I show up at TV one day and they put him with Heyman and I asked one of the agent, and I said, ‘why?’ and I never doubted anything really. I was glad to be there but I’m thinking, why would anybody make such a move?

“He’s getting over. We’re all getting over with this threesome here. Well Vince, he wants to put him with Heyman and then I said, ‘why?’ They said, ‘Vince thinks he can get him heat’. He was getting over with us, he really was and they put him with Heyman and then three weeks later they took him from Heyman because Heyman killed him too.”

Both Cesaro (Claudio Castagnoli) and Swagger (Jake Hager) now find themselves in All Elite Wrestling, with the pair set to face off against each other on next week’s Fyter Fest Night One special episode of AEW Dynamite.

transcription via Sportskeeda

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• dutch mantell
• Cesaro
• paul heyman
• wwe

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