"The Swiss Cyborg/Sensation/Superman" Cesaro has also had the moniker of "The King of Swing." The former "Real American" is one of WWE's most popular talents, making a name for himself on the independents under the name Claudio Castagnoli in promotions such as Combat Zone Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Ring Of Honor.
Cesaro signed with WWE in 2011 and began development in Florida Championship Wrestling. He made his main roster debut on SmackDown in April of 2012 as Antonio Cesaro. The former "Paul Heyman guy" has held WWE gold several times in his career and here are his reigns ranked from worst to best.
8 SmackDown Tag Team Champion (July 2020 -Present)
At the time of writing this, Cesaro has reigned as a SmackDown Tag Team Champion with Shinsuke Nakamura for less than two weeks. The two won the titles at The Horror Show At Extreme Rules on July 19, 2020, from The New Day in a Tables match. In the fall of 2019, Cesaro was drafted to SmackDown and formed an alliance with Nakamura and Sami Zayn (The Artist Collective).
Nakamura and Cesaro helped Zayn win the Intercontinental Championship at Elimination Chamber 2020. Zayn would become inactive during the COVID-19 pandemic, ultimately vacating the Intercontinental Championship. Sami's absence allowed Nakamura and Cesaro to become a focused duo. Although they were unsuccessful winning tag gold in early 2020, the unique pairing became tag champions later in the year. This was Nakamura's first tag title win in WWE.
7 Raw Tag Team Champion (November - December 2017)
Cesaro and Sheamus (The Bar) won gold on five occasions. On November 6, 2017, Cesaro and Sheamus won the Raw Tag Team Championship for the third time from Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley) following a distraction from The New Day who were feuding with Rollins, Ambrose and Roman Reigns at the time.
By holding the Raw Tag Team Championship going into Survivor Series 2017, The Bar were booked in a brand supremacy match against the SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos. The Bar lost the match and would lose their newly won tag titles weeks later to the very odd pairing of Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan on the Christmas edition of Raw. The Bar's win was just to further a side rivalry and the reign was very short.
6 Raw Tag Team Champion (January - April 2018)
Cesaro and Sheamus were involved in a game of hot potato with the Raw Tag Team Championship in 2017/18. A month after dropping the titles to Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan, The Bar regained the tag gold at the 2018 Royal Rumble. The fans were beginning to resent Jordan at the time so a title switch onto Cesaro, or anyone for that matter, was highly accepted.
On March 12, 2018, episode of Raw, Braun Strowman won a number one contender's tag team battle royal by himself to earn a shot at The Bar at WrestleMania 34. Strowman chose his partner at the event, searching the crowd until he found ten-year-old Nicholas. The Bar won the tag titles in January to lose them to a monster and a child shortly after.
5 SmackDown Tag Team Champion (October 2018 - January 2019)
SmackDown 1000 took place on October 16, 2018, where The Bar challenged The New Day for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship and won them in part to interference and a heel turn by Big Show. This was another in Big Show's long list of face/heel turns which always get a groan from the audience but a title win no-less on a significant show.
The Bar would again go into Survivor Series 2018 as tag champions in a brand supremacy match but with the Raw Tag Team Champions AOP. The Bar lost but would have a successful title defense at the 2018 TLC event. The Bar would lose the titles to The Miz and Shane McMahon at the 2019 Royal Rumble, once again being transitional champions to further a side rivalry (Miz and Shane).
4 Raw Tag Team Champion (June - August 2017)
The second time Cesaro and Sheamus won the Raw Tag Team Championship was at Extreme Rules 2017. The Bar battled The Hardy Boyz in a Steel Cage match which saw a photo finish. Matt Hardy had escaped the cage and as he was dragging Jeff out of the ring, The Bar climbed out of the cage and both landed on the ground before Jeff to win the titles.
The Bar and Hardys feuded for a few months, seeing a two-out-of-three falls rematch go to a draw on Raw a few weeks after the title change and a thirty-minute Iron Man tag match at Great Balls of Fire won by The Bar. A month later following the victorious rivalry end over the legendary Hardys, The Bar lost the titles to Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose at SummerSlam 2017.
3 Raw Tag Team Champion (December 2016 -January 2017)
Shortly after the 2016 brand split, Cesaro faced Sheamus in a number one contender's Best of Seven series for the (then-new) Universal Championship; the series tied 3-3. Then-General Manager and WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley instead awarded them a Raw Tag Team Championship shot, blooming what would become one of the best teams of the 2010s.
The rivals progressively became frenemies and finally friends. At Roadblock: End Of The Line in December 2016, Cesaro and Sheamus won the tag titles from The New Day. A month later they would lose the titles to Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson but were involved with the tag title picture and The Hardys' chill-inducing WWE return at WrestleMania 33. The team formally became known as "The Bar" shortly after and would quietly disband after Sheamus' 2019 injury.
2 WWE Tag Team Champion (February - April 2015)
Cesaro was thrown in a tag team with retired wrestler/WWE producer Tyson Kidd in December of 2014. A month later, the two decided to band together officially. Accompanied by Natalya, "The Brass Ring Club" and unofficially the "Masters of the WWE Universe" surprisingly won the WWE Tag Team Championship at Fastlane 2015 from The Usos.
Cesaro and Kidd retained their titles in a four corner match on the WrestleMania 31 pre-show but would lose the tag titles to The New Day a month later at Extreme Rules 2015. Cesaro and Kidd became a very popular and exciting tag team during this run, getting great crowd reactions every night especially with their Giant Swing/Dropkick finisher, sometimes incorporating a Sharpshooter. The team disbanded after Kidd's 2015 career-ending injury.
1 United States Champion (August 2012 - April 2013)
Cesaro's only championship run as a singles competitor is underrated and long forgotten to many fans due to his success as a tag wrestler and because it has been years since he has been a singles champion. Months into his rookie year on SmackDown, Antonio Cesaro (as he was known then) challenged Santino Marella for the United States Championship.
Cesaro, accompanied then by Aksana, won the US title from Santino on the SummerSlam 2012 pre-show. Cesaro would defend his title against Marella, R-Truth, The Great Khali, Justin Gabriel, Zack Ryder, The Miz and WWE Hall Of Famer Sgt. Slaughter. Cesaro lost the title to Kofi Kingston on April 15, 2013, edition of Raw after a Trouble In Paradise. Cesaro was champion through the "Big 4" events simultaneously starting with SummerSlam 2012.