Cesaro discusses his journey to WWE.
At 38-years-old, Cesaro has been in wrestling for nearly two decades. Debuting in 2000 for xWx in Germany, Cesaro traveled all over Europe in order to build his name and hone his skills. He eventually made his way to the United States, debuting in CHIKARA in 2003. Cesaro would go on to wrestle for Combat Zone Wrestling, Ring of Honor, and more Independent promotions throughout his career before eventually signing with WWE/FCW in 2011.
Speaking to Express, Cesaro discussed the differences between his journey to WWE compared to how wrestlers have it today.
"[There were] difficulties just coming from Europe. Now there’s NXT UK, there’s people coming from Europe to WWE all the time. But at that point there was only very few so I essentially moved to the United States by my own, I looked after my VISA and all that kind of stuff on my own," said Cesaro. "When I left Europe I kind of worked my way up in the European indy scene [and] had to do the same in the United States, work my way up from the bottom. And then getting to WWE, there was no NXT or anything, there was FCW [Florida Championship Wrestling], that was the stepchild of WWE. I was one of the few Europeans there if I remember correctly, maybe [with] a couple of others. And then just working my way up with the language barrier and all that kind of stuff. Definitely a lot of difficulties, being away from families and friends, but if you love something and if you want to succeed you have to make some sacrifices.”
Cesaro is currently part of the Raw brand in WWE. On this past Monday's episode of WWE Raw, Cesaro squared off against Rey Mysterio in singles competition. You can view highlights from that bout by clicking here.
