The Context 

Here, Paul Heyman discusses why his pairings with Curtis Axel and Cesaro didn’t work. 

Heyman said Axel wasn’t really planned to go to the top, and was merely there to be a guy for CM Punk to mow through because Paul had the split with Punk. Basically, Axel was a background player in his own feud. 

He speaks much more about Cesaro and thinks it was a much bigger mistake. He said he quickly found out that his pairing with Cesaro was only for Heyman to be given the platform to talk about Brock ending the streak at Mania while Brock was away. Paul told a story about Cena working a match with Cesaro on TV, then coming to the back to tell Vince that Cesaro could be the main event of WrestleMania. Paul talked in detail about Cesaro’s ability to speak five different languages and that he could have been a great promo, but was never allowed to do so. Paul wasn’t sure Vince was really invested in pushing Cesaro, and thinks it was a giant mistake. He also mentioned the idea of Brock vs. Cesaro matches down the road and what those could have been. 

Analysis 

If I had to rank them, it sounds like Paul has them right. I’m not sure if Axel would have made it, but you can’t fault him for being booked fairly terribly (including not getting the Hennig name) overall. Cesaro was the bigger travesty, and even though Lesnar was the bigger deal coming out of Mania 30 after beating Taker for the first time, I also think Cesaro had more momentum because the fans were so into him winning the Andre battle royal and joining Heyman the night after. Lesnar was the biggest news, but probably wasn’t as hot, if that makes any sense. It would also have allowed Heyman to freshen up a bit from the Lesnar advocate role, which would become very stale. 

The Clip