What Promoters Were Told When Trying To Book Cesaro

The wrestling world hasn't heard much out of the former Cesaro, Claudio Castagnoli.

Cesaro left WWE a few months ago, with no non-compete applied to his deal. Since then, we haven't seen him pop up in any wrestling companies, but that's not for lack of interest. Fightful has been told by several promoters that they've made efforts to reach out to him and book him for both wrestling appearances and signings, but as of yet he's not accepted, and many others say they just outright haven't heard back as of yet.

Swerve Strickland To Open 4/27 AEW Collision

Many promoters that we've spoken to say that Cesaro's was priced out of some potential bookings, and they'd not be able to land him until the asks came back down to earth. Cesaro has been repped by an agent who also manages several other wrestlers. However, we're told that some wrestlers had been intentionally utilizing a high asking price because they're content staying home until the right deal or offer comes along after being on the road for so long. We haven't heard if that's specifically the case with him.

We spoke to one promoter that hoped to book Claudio for a signing in July that seemed to believe they would be able to land the deal, and had been in regular contact with the wrestler.

Those we spoke to in WWE said they wanted to retain Cesaro, but the two sides couldn't come to terms, and over the last 16 months he'd shown that he knew his value and wasn't going to get into an unfavorable position. One source indicated that Cesaro and/or his team was very savvy in speaking with WWE in 2021 and 2022.

This article first appeared on our premium service, Fightful Select and was republished here on Fightful. If you complain about it being "old news," you have to buy Sean Ross Sapp a Jeep. Subscribe to get exclusive news every day, and a half-dozen weekly podcasts.

To directly support us and our continuing breaking news, interviews, and the like, subscribe to FightfulSelect.com. You'll get exclusive news sent to you directly before anyone else, and dozens of podcasts monthly including Alex Pawlowski's Sour Graps, Sean Ross Sapp's Q&A, Retro Reviews and more

Get exclusive pro wrestling content on Fightful Select, our premium news service! Click here to learn more.