7 Wrestlers WWE Punished For Getting Over

2. Cesaro

Rusev Aiden English
WWE.com

An annual winner of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's unwanted Most Underrated of the Year award, Cesaro, the subject of Vince McMahon's infamous 'brass ring' analogy, actually managed to grasp one in 2014 - but it soon began to tarnish.

Wowed not just by his superhuman strength - and dizzying giant swing - but his accomplished wrestling acumen, the groundswell of support for Cesaro soon began to spill over to WWE's mainstream audience, with the 'Cesaro Section' annexing increasing large portions of each arena. Seemingly recognising the fact, the Swiss sensation was quickly excised from comedy team the Real Americans, and handed the then-legitimate honour of winning the first ever Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX.

The sky seemed the limit for Cesaro, particularly when he was aligned with Paul Heyman on the following night's Raw. Nope. Just as he was getting into the swing of stardom, he was told to stop the move; it was "too popular". The Heyman arrangement was a mere smokescreen for the Swiss to eat pins, whilst not devaluing him. There were more holes in that logic than gruyère; effectively, the 'Cesaro Section' was given an epidural.

Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.