Vince McMahon burying former United States Champion was not a surprise, says WWE veteran

During Vince McMahon's tenure at the helm of WWE, he continuously prioritized character work and promo skills over in-ring quality. For this reason, AEW star Matt Hardy says that he is not surprised Claudio Castagnoli never made it to the top of the world's largest wrestling promotion.

Castagnoli (fka Cesaro in WWE) spent over 10 years working under Vince McMahon. While The Swiss Superman was undoubtedly one of the best in-ring wrestlers on the roster, his mic skills left something to be desired.

Speaking on his Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, the veteran explained why he was not shocked that Castagnoli never got the push many believe he deserved:

“I don’t think I was [surprised] because Vince once again, Vince looks for the entertainment aspect more than anything else.” [H/T: Inside The Ropes]

Castagnoli has since gone on to be a prominent part of AEW. However, his personality simply did not resonate with Vince McMahon, Hardy explained. This ultimately led to the Blackpool Combat Club member being permanently positioned in the mid-card.

“But if Vince gets something locked in his mind like, ‘Well, this guy isn’t the kind of character, he’s not this larger than life personality I’m looking for,’ then you’re just kind of like, you’re kind of in that box when it comes to Vince. And I feel like that’s probably what happened with Claudio.”

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Matt Hardy dives deeper into Vince McMahon's philosophy for creating WWE Superstars

On the same episode of the podcast, Matt Hardy went a little further into explaining Vince McMahon's ideologies around what it takes to excel in the sports entertainment industry:

“As I’ve said before, and when Vince [says] there’s just too much wrestling on the show. I mean, that’s just not his priority. I mean, he really is more focused on the characters and the journeys that these characters are on. You know more than anything else, and I feel like in Vince’s mind, you know, and there’s a lot of times people don’t even get the opportunity to really show them everything they can do.”

While it may seem backward to limit the in-ring talents of wrestlers on a wrestling show, it is hard to deny that this philosophy has been largely successful.

When analyzing the careers of top stars like The Rock, Stone Cold, Hulk Hogan, and even Roman Reigns — one could argue that none were the best bell-to-bell wrestler, but all made it to the top of WWE because of their incredible storytelling ability in other regards.

Thankfully, WWE's monopoly over the wrestling industry is not as tight as it used to be, allowing fans of a more in-ring-based product to explore other options.