Early in his career, as a member of the Real Americans with Jack Swagger, under the direction of Zeb Colter (Dutch Mantell), Cesaro began getting over with the fans. At WrestleMania 30, he eventually won in the first Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
In 2014, Cesaro left Colter to join Paul Heyman, but their alliance didn’t last long. Mantell said that Paul Heyman “killed his push” in an interview with Wrestling Shoot Interviews.
“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.”
You can check out the interview below:
