10 Wrestlers Who Took The Fall To Make Others Look Good

This writer likes to imagine the above photo shows Claudio Castagnoli's reaction to being told he was losing his Ring of Honor World Championship to Chris Jericho. "I just won it, and now you want to take it away? *shrug* Plus ça change...

"To be fair, Claudio eventually got his win - and the belt - back, but he must have wondered if his reputation as WWE's perennial fall guy must have followed him into AEW.

Claudio spent the vast majority of his WWE career with a Vince McMahon-installed glass ceiling over his head. Despite his incredible ring skills and ability to elicit huge reactions from a crowd (if you want to give yourself chills, rewatch him hitting the UFO on Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 37), Cesaro's time in McMahonland found himself planted firmly in the midcard and tag divisions.

Cesaro's one flirtation with the main event scene - a Backlash match against Roman Reigns - wound up being something of a monkey's paw, as he was jobbed out to all and sundry in the months that followed. Surprisingly, Cesaro himself was seemingly content with this state of affairs, only leaving the WWE when they lowballed him on a contract extension.

There's a difference between being generous and being a doormat, and Cesaro obviously felt WWE management had wiped their shoes on him one time too many.