Cesaro was drafted to SmackDown in the October draft. With his longtime partner Sheamus on the shelf, Cesaro was lost in the shuggle a bit on the brand until Sami Zayn came calling. Cesaro was paired with Nakamura and Zayn, forming a regularly featured trio on Fridays.
Speaking to Alex McCarthy of TalkSPORT, Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura discussed how the group came to be.
"I believe Sami saw my potential, my wrestling ability, but he also had the respect," said Nakamura.
Cesaro continued, "Sami and Shin were doing a thing together. A thing where Sami was just going crazy during Shin’s entrances [laughs] everyone’s favourite GIF every week. And then Sami was like ‘Yeah, I’m trying to get you into the group’ and I’m like ‘Yeah, OK!’ I’ve moved to SmackDown again and there was no plan so I was like ‘Yeah, I’d love to, let’s do something!’"
Nakamura was on board with adding Cesaro to the group.
"So I said that sounds like fun and it’s a fun dynamic with Sami being… Sami. And then there’s a mutual respect with Shin but I think he’s one of the coolest people in the world," said Cesaro. "He can do anything and just look cool. The first time I came out with these guys it was like OK, Shin is coming out looking cool, Sami is just going absolutely crazy, what am I going to do? I’m just going to stand absolutely still. I’m just going to be bad ass [laughs]. It’s a fun dynamic and it’s authentic."
With Cesaro and Zayn by his side, Nakamura held the Intercontinental Championship until the most recent episode of WWE SmackDown when he was defeated by Braun Strowman.
