New WWE United States Champion, more

One of my earliest articles here on Sportskeeda was about Antonio Cesaro (the former Claudio Castagnoli) who, at that point, was set to debut with WWE very soon. I predicted things would be very big for him in the near future. Fast forward a few months and, after a slow start, it looks like Cesaro is finally living up to that hype.

After being undefeated for several months, Cesaro went on to defeat WWE United States Champion Santino Marella in a non-title match, pinning him following the Gotch-Style Neutralizer. Cesaro immediately took to Twitter after the victory, demanding a shot at the U.S. title. In storyline, WWE deemed that Cesaro would probably get a shot in the future, but not right away. Undeterred, Cesaro faced Marella in another non-title match a week or two later on another episode of Smackdown! Once again, Cesaro was victorious, pinning Marella after another Neutralizer.

A couple weeks later, it was finally determined that Cesaro deserved a shot at the gold, having defeated the champion in back-to-back matches. He would receive that title match during the pre-show for Summerslam, which took place this past Sunday. Once again, Cesaro had Marella’s number, putting away the champion handily and taking the gold with him.

Not only is this Cesaro’s first championship in WWE, but he actually has set a record. Unless I am mistaken, Cesaro is now the first-ever Swiss-born champion in WWE history, regardless of championship. At a time when WWE has said that Cesaro’s moment would be “now or never”, Cesaro has stepped up to the plate and is now holding the U.S. title, which has often been a stepping stone for wrestlers to becoming the WWE or World Champion.

It has come at a perfect time. Not only does WWE need new blood filling out the title pictures, but the U.S title was starting to become a joke. Nothing against Santino Marella (who I am a fan of), but he is a comedy wrestler, and he held the belt for months with only a handful of defenses during that time. Cesaro as champion should see a much more fighting champion with more frequent defenses, putting a greater emphasis back on the belt.

In other news, Kaitlyn is the new #1 contender to the Layla’s WWE Divas Championship, having won a battle royal on Monday Night RAW to determine a new top contender. Although it is unknown when the title match will take place, you can likely expect it to happen at the next PPV, Night of Champions.

Speaking of champions, current WWE Champion CM Punk can add another accolade to his collection. Although the issue hasn’t hit newsstands yet, Pro Wrestling Illustrated‘s annual “PWI 500″ issue will be coming out soon, and it has been revealed that Punk has taken the number one spot in the 22nd edition of the issue. Punk joins Hulk Hogan, Sting, Bret Hart (2x), Diesel (Kevin Nash), Shawn Michaels, Dean Malenko, Steve Austin (2x), Triple H (2x), Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Brock Lesnar, the late Chris Benoit, Batista, John Cena (2x), Randy Orton, AJ Styles and The Miz as the only recipients of the #1 spot, considered a very prestigious award by many fans and wrestlers alike.