WWE Rumors on Cesaro’s New Contract, Finn Balor at WrestleMania, Damian Priest

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe. 

Cesaro Reportedly Re-signs with WWE

Longtime WWE Superstar Cesaro has reportedly agreed to a new contract to remain with the company.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t H Jenkins of Ringside News) reported Friday that Cesaro signed or verbally agreed to a new contract with WWE “a few weeks ago.”

After a highly successful independent wrestling career under his real name, Claudio Castagnoli, Cesaro signed a developmental deal with WWE in 2011. After spending only about a year in FCW, Cesaro was called up to the main roster in 2012.

He made an instant splash by quickly winning the United States champion and has quietly gone on to become one of the most successful and decorated tag team wrestlers in WWE history.

Cesaro is a seven-time Tag Team champion, having won five titles with Sheamus, one with Tyson Kidd and one with Shinsuke Nakamura.

Arguably the biggest individual accomplishment of Cesaro’s career was winning the first Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 30.

Lately, Cesaro has been in the midst of a singles push with victories over Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler on recent episodes of SmackDown.

While Cesaro hasn’t turned on Nakamura yet, the former tag team partners seem to be headed down separate paths with Cesaro remaining a heel and Nakamura turning face.

Given that situation, perhaps Cesaro and Nakamura could face each other in an undercard match at WrestleMania 37 in April.

Balor Could Compete at WrestleMania 37

Finn Balor is currently the face of NXT and the reigning NXT champion, but a spot on the WrestleMania card could potentially be in store for The Prince.

According to WrestleVotes, some discussions have been had regarding putting Balor and the NXT Championship on the WrestleMania card. It was noted that “some high-up personnel” have been involved in those discussions.

NXT has traditionally had little-to-no involvement with WrestleMania, but that changed last year when women’s Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair challenged Rhea Ripley for the NXT Women’s Championship.

Charlotte won the match, but Ripley turned in a fantastic performance on the biggest stage in wrestling. That fact helped make her a bigger star and shined a spotlight on NXT as well.

One can only assume that NXT founder Triple H is among the executives who would be in favor of Balor and the NXT Championship being part of WrestleMania.

That is something that could appeal even to fans who don’t watch NXT since Balor spent a significant amount of time on the main roster previously, winning the Universal and Intercontinental Championships.

On Wednesday’s episode of NXT, men’s Royal Rumble winner Edge showed up and told Balor and Pete Dunne that he would consider facing the winner of their match at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day for the NXT title at WrestleMania.

It seems far more likely that Edge will instead challenge Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship or Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship, but there could still be room for Balor on the card, especially since it is a two-night event.

WWE Reportedly Has ‘Big Plans’ for Priest

Damian Priest made a big impact in his main roster debut as part of the men’s Royal Rumble match last month, and WWE reportedly has big ideas in store for The Archer of Infamy.

According to Meltzer (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News), WWE wants to give Priest a major push and specifically popularize him among the Latino community by pairing him with rapper Bad Bunny.

Priest entered the 2021 Rumble match and had a great showing, lasting over 15 minutes and eliminating a match-high four Superstars.

The next night on Raw, Priest faced The Miz in a match and played a role in the ongoing rivalry between the team of Miz and John Morrison and Bad Bunny.

Meltzer noted that Bad Bunny has been doing some wrestling training at the WWE Performance Center, which could be a sign that WWE plans to have an attraction match at WrestleMania 37, such as Priest and Bad Bunny against Miz and Morrison.

If that happens, it would be a huge vote of confidence in Priest on WWE’s part, as celebrity matches are always considered an important part of WrestleMania.

Priest was among the top stars in NXT during his tenure, as he held the North American Championship, and he has the potential to be a huge deal on the main roster as well because of his size, character, look and in-ring ability.

Priest has all the makings of superstardom, and it appears as though WWE realizes it could have something special on its hands.

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