Cesaro Talks Recently Wanting To Take A Break From Wrestling

On the latest episode of WWE After the Bell with Corey Graves, Cesaro talked about his current resurgence and the fact that he's finally getting an opportunity to showcase himself. Cesaro mentioned that during the time he found himself being misused, he contemplated walking away from wrestling for a little while. He said those thoughts came from the COVID era of wrestling and not being able to experience the emotion of a live crowd.

"I would be lying if I would say no," Cesaro answered when asked if he considered taking a break. "I was never like, 'Oh my god I'm over it!' But it was a question, especially I feel within the last year. A lot of us had a difficult year for everybody because the way the whole world works completely changed so I feel like a lot of people may have had that [feeling] when they wake up like what am I doing? What I loved about pro wrestling so much is the interaction with the fans, the fact that it's like sports entertainment. That's what I grew up with, it's a way to engage the audience to have them be part of your match, story, and emotion.

"Losing that was kind of like whoa, this is something completely different, like what am I doing? Can I still do it in a way and to the level that I want to do it? That's the thought process, I've always loved what I'm doing. Every time I step in the ring, I could have a really bad day and then I walk out and my brain and on the inside I light up. There's never a moment I'm in the ring and I'm like I don't like this."

Cesaro admitted that he was happy that WWE could be a constant for fans throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. He said being able to provide weekly television to those people who needed a break from the real world was something he really enjoyed.

"If your whole world changed and got upside down, there was one thing that was consistent which was WWE programming," Cesaro said. "If someone can just rely on that and it gives them that little piece of anchoring in the day or week that okay, some stuff still stays the same. I want to be a part of that, I want to be that constant in somebody's life that's like okay, that's what we can count on. Hats off to everybody in WWE, we just found different ways like Podcasts, YouTube, Instagram, Tik-Tok, to pump out more content to help people get through it because now people consume stuff differently. It's a different world and I think it's fun."

At last week's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, Cesaro did not win the chamber match to earn a Universal Championship that night. Cesaro talked about losing that match and why he is OK with it.

"I'm extremely excited for those two nights in Raymond James Stadium," Cesaro mentioned. "That's a big deal because I feel like I've created some momentum for me going into WrestleMania and as sad as I am that I didn't win Elimination Chamber, when I do win the big title I would want the WWE Universe or my fans to be there to share that moment."

Cesaro continued to talk about his plans for WrestleMania 37. He said more than anything, he would love to finally have a singles match at WrestleMania, and gave some options for potential opponents.

"A singles match at WrestleMania [37] would mean a lot to me," Cesaro said. "Here's the thing though, the locker room is full of people that I would love to have a match with. The thing is to have a match that people are invested in, me and Seth Rollins started to do something on SmackDown so maybe there's something there. I always have in my back pocket the best of 7 between me and Sheamus, that hasn't been decided. For example, Big E for the IC title, Shinsuke, there's a bunch. To me, I would love to have a singles match at WrestleMania [37] and have a good build up and good story going into it. I feel like this year this is a big possibility.

"Every time somebody asks me 'What's your dream match?' or 'What's the match you want to have at Mania?' I'm like I don't know because if there's a good story into it [who cares]. We looked around the locker room the other day, there's like nobody that I wouldn't want to have a match with, it's stacked."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE After The Bell with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.