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WWE Turned Down Pitch For Claudio Castagnoli To Have A “James Bond” Gimmick

It looks like Claudio Castagnoli was almost a super spy.

Well, kind of. The Swiss Superman, who went by Cesaro in the WWE, has had his fair share of plaudits over the years for his ability in the ring but one place critics latch onto for Cesaro’s talent is in his character work.

While speaking on the Smack Talk podcast, pro wrestling veteran Dutch Mantell stated that he had suggested a James Bond-like gimmick for Cesaro. However, WWE Creative rejected it.

“Before I left, I said, ‘Listen, why don’t you guys think about this? Why don’t you guys try to do this James Bond 007 look for Cesaro.’ Just see how that’d come out because he looks like a classic European, and he dresses nice, he looks nice.”

“They didn’t see any worth in that. I don’t even think they knew what I was talking about. They said, ‘Hell, he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing.’ But they could’ve done a lot, lot more with Cesaro had they just sat down and thought about it. That’s the problem. They don’t sit down and think about stuff.”

Dutch Mantell on Smack Talk

In his fleeting time as a main event talent in the WWE, Cesaro would come out in nice suits and fans likened the star to James Bond as it was at the time. Time will tell if AEW will try to fix the one issue with Claudio’s long litany of talents.

H/T to RingsideNews for transcription

Follow Corey at @CoreyBrennanBS on Twitter

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