Cesaro on first WrestleMania singles match, Roman Reigns feud | “Out of Character”
By Ryan Satin
FOX Sports WWE Analyst
SmackDown star Cesaro stepped "Out of Character" this week to reflect on the last few months of his career.
"The Swiss Cyborg" joined me for a nearly hour-long conversation covering his first singles match at WrestleMania, working with Seth Rollins, challenging Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship and more.
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At WrestleMania this year, Cesaro’s big opportunity came in the form of a show-stealing match against friend/road partner Seth Rollins. The WWE star himself, however, says he still hasn’t watched the whole match back to see how he did.
RS: In watching the recent WWE 24 on this year’s WrestleMania, it was clear that getting your own singles match at the event meant the world to you. How did you feel coming out of it when the match was over? What were your thoughts on it?
CESARO: "I watched bits and pieces of it back. I haven't watched all of it back."
RS: You haven’t watched all of it back?!
CESARO: "I haven't watched the whole match back. So, to me, I have to give it, like, two months at least to watch it back. I do watch all my stuff back, and I do watch bits and pieces that I know I need to watch back to improve or whatever.
"I could watch the match back to dissect it right away, which is what I usually do, but if I want to sit back and enjoy, it needs to be, like, two months because then I don't remember every single thing that I thought of that day and that moment.
"But I was extremely happy with it. Even when I watched it back to dissect it, I was I was happy with it. I was happy with what we did. Yeah. It was a great moment before and after — and, of course, during.
"I just made a point to enjoy it because, for example, at WrestleMania XXX with the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, that's kind of a blur in my head because there was so much stuff going on. This one I just made 100 percent sure that I was just going to enjoy the whole day and take it slow and just enjoy every moment in the ring, outside of the ring, because it was also the first time back with fans.
"So that made it extra special because, in my opinion, the fans are the only reason that I'm at where I'm at in my career."
The 40-year-old wrestler also detailed all the reasons his nerves were at an all-time high before the match.
RS: I was surprised to see you so nervous before the match — I don't know if you’re always nervous like that — but you seem like a guy who is so good in the ring that I wouldn't expect you to be that nervous before a match. Was it because it was such a big deal to you at WrestleMania, or are you typically that nervous before matches?
CESARO: "It depends. Yes, I was nervous because it was WrestleMania, and everybody comes up to you and goes, like, ‘Hey, it's the biggest match of your career. Are you ready? Are you ready? You know this is the biggest match, right?’ And I'm like, ‘Yeah, I do! I do! Thanks for reminding me!’
"And then, on top of that, all the other WrestleManias before, we had been on live events. We've been touring for the whole year. So I had so many matches. And I'm one of those guys that doesn't think like, ‘Yeah, you know, I just take a year off, then I get right back in the ring, and I haven't lost a step.’ I'm like, ‘OK, cool. Do I still have it? Do I still do this? How does it feel with the crowd? Will I still be able to listen and react? And luckily, once I got out there, it just kind of fell in place.
"Usually, I don't know if I'm nervous before matches. I think if you don't get nervous, there's something, like, weird. I get, like, very excited because to me, when there's no net, that's the most fun.
"I feel like sometimes I even put myself into situations where it's just like, ‘What are you going to do? I don't know yet. We'll find out when I'm out there.’ Just so there's like that authentic, true reaction when you get there. Because you can plan stuff, but the best stuff usually happens when it just happens.
"And with, like, Rollins, we wrestle each other so many times, and with the trust that's there, we can just kind of go and feel it.
"That's why it was just fun. I really wanted to knock it out of the park, and that's why I was so nervous. But, to me, it's also the love for it. Even if you go on a date with somebody that you've been together with forever, like, you're still kind of like nervous because you want to have a good date."
Following his clash with Rollins, "The Swiss Cyborg" transitioned into a program with Roman Reigns in which he earned a shot at the Universal Championship in the main event of WrestleMania Backlash.
Unfortunately, Cesaro was unsuccessful in his attempt to dethrone "The Head of the Table," but fans agreed he deserves to stay in the main event scene after.
RS: How did you feel about your program with Roman Reigns?
CESARO: "You know what I was disappointed about? I wish it would have been in front of fans. That's, like, the one thing. That match, the buildup, everything, I wish it would have been in front of fans, but it was still awesome."
RS: Yeah, but I can totally understand what you're saying there because I feel like as much as the Thunderdome audience was helpful in having a reaction, if that had happened in front of fans, the reactions would have been tenfold.
I feel like it would have been huge to have everybody behind you because that match ruled. You guys killed it.
CESARO: "Thank you. I feel like that whole buildup, from my first match with [Daniel Bryan] to essentially WrestleMania, I was able to somehow create that momentum. And I did the Talking Smack promo, and that carried into the Roman match, and I felt like that, in front of a crowd, would’ve been great. But, you know, things happen. You know what I mean?
"So we made the best of it, and hopefully we can run it back one day."
RS: Well, do you think there's anything — because it seems like you're fairly critical of yourself sometimes — do you think there's anything that you need to work on in order to get back to title contention now that fans are back?
CESARO: "Oh, I always try to work on something. Try to get myself better, in better shape, better in the ring, better talking, better promo, little character tweaks, things like that.
"Because I feel like as soon as you think, ‘Oh, yeah, I'm pretty freaking great. I don't need to do anything' — that's a sure way of just plateauing. So I always try to find new ways. It's really important to gain momentum. I think that's the hardest part, is to gain momentum and to maintain momentum if you're not given the momentum.
"And so that's my next challenge, getting that momentum back."
For more with Cesaro, check out this week’s "Out of Character with Ryan Satin" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.
Don't forget to watch Cesaro weekly on Friday Night SmackDown LIVE on FOX at 8 p.m. ET.
Ryan Satin is a WWE analyst for FOX Sports. Satin previously appeared on FS1's "WWE Backstage" and founded Pro Wrestling Sheet, where he broke countless news stories as editor-in-chief.
