Paul Heyman Says WWE Blew a Huge Opportunity With Current AEW Star

Paul Heyman's Hall of Fame resume has put him in the conversation for the greatest manager in the history of the business, but not all of his clients went on to have the same amount of success in WWE as Brock Lesnar, CM Punk or Roman Reigns.

The Wiseman sat down for a rare out-of-character interview with Chris Van Vliet, and during Tuesday's episode of Insight, he discussed some of the other "Paul Heyman guys" that didn't work out, including former Men's Intercontinental Champion and son of the late WWE Hall of Famer Curt Hennig, Curtis Axel.

Paul Heyman explains why Curtis Axel didn't work

“I don’t think it was meant to work out," Heyman said about his alliance with Axel. "I don’t think there was ever an overall grand scheme to move Curtis Axel all the way up the ladder. Curtis Axel filled the need for there to be people around me to feed the CM Punk at the time. It’s the same thing that happened to Cesaro.”

Cesaro, now wrestling as Claudio Castagnoli in All Elite Wrestling, had a successful 11-year run in WWE. He captured the Men's United States Championship, multiple WWE Tag Team Championships and won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but never quite reached the heights a man of his talents could, and should, have in the company. Especially after he aligned with Paul Heyman in April of 2014.

“He checked every box to become a top star," Heyman said about Cesaro. "Everyone who got into the ring with him came back into gorilla saying ‘Give me him’ everyone, everyone. I remember John Cena worked with him on television and came back and looked at Vince and said I could main event WrestleMania with [him]."

Heyman believes WWE wasted an opportunity by not pitting Cesaro against Brock Lesnar

Heyman's time managing Cesaro only lasted a few months, with the Swiss Superman serving as little more than a placeholder to keep Heyman on television until Brock Lesnar was back from hiatus.

The Wiseman said that WWE made an error by not utilizing Cesaro’s ability to speak five different languages, which would have allowed more of his personality to shine through, and he accepted part of the blame for that error.

“I think Cesaro could have been a fascinating promo if he was given the chance to [speak multiple languages] in WWE. He wasn’t. And, that’s our fault. That is a major fumble that was a crime that was committed against the career of Cesaro and a crime that was committed against the audience."

The biggest missed opportunity may have come once Brock Lesnar returned to television in the summer of 2014. Heyman believes Cesaro would have been an incredible opponent for The Beast to face off against.

"Had I turned on Cesaro, and we built him up to be a threat to Brock, the matches the two of them could have had are mind-boggling. A tremendously wasted opportunity and no one for us to blame but ourselves, including me.”

Claudio Castagnoli has now been with rival AEW since 2022. He's one of the most tenured members of the Death Riders stable, led by fellow WWE alumni Jon Moxley.

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