Former WWE star Jack Swagger, AEW’s Jake Hager, recently appeared on Dutch Mantel’s podcast.
Hager discussed how the booking derailed his WWE career. He also mentioned Cesaro (Claudio Castagnoli) briefly having Paul Heyman as his manager in 2014:
“At that time, Claudio, Antonio, whatever his name is, he was on fire,” Hager said. “He was super hot. But also, ‘We the People’ were really coming together. I think they put us together in the summer of 2013. This was the day after Mania in New Orleans in 2014. I would say this was my biggest regret, is that at this moment, we were all ringside. We were there with Triple H. He was explaining to us what was happening. I didn’t say anything and I wish I would have. I knew that once you change one dynamic of the group that it was all going to change. But it’s what they wanted.”
Hager said Cesaro was paired with Heyman because they wanted him to get elevated as a top star. Hager said, “They wanted Antonio to be a big star for them even though Vince constantly put his thumb on Claudio by doing stupid stuff. They literally told him not to do the giant swing. This was their way of shooting him to the moon, putting him with Paul Heyman and taking him away from us. It could have been good, I guess, but it was just so overnight and forced that it was going to take time, and they weren’t going to give it any time. It’s just one of those things where, once again, they didn’t know how big We the People were, or how big it was, and they wanted to take it away or they wanted to stop it because we were getting too popular, which they didn’t want. They wanted to go with him. He was having five star matches with all the company guys. He was having amazing matches with you can’t can’t see me. It was good. He was hot, but it just wasn’t the right move.”
Mantel said, “They told me they wanted to put him with Heyman to get some heat on him, and four weeks later, they dropped it. I think putting him with Heyman hurt him.”
You can check out the complete interview below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
