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The role of an underdog is an unusual one for a 6-foot-5 muscle-bound wrestler, but its a role that?Cesaro?has been all-too-familiar with over the course of his tenure in the WWE. The 35-year-old Swiss superman has?seemingly had to fight for every inch and accolade he has achieved on wrestlings biggest stage, but he has faced down each challenge as it has come along -- becoming a popular character in the WWE universe in the process.This has been especially apparent over the last few weeks on Raw, as Cesaro took on?Sheamus?in a best-of-seven series between the two European giants. He was once again positioned as the lesser of the two superstars in?going down three wins to none against Sheamus. Yet despite his character being backed into a corner with several different parts of his body encased in kinesiology tape, the series is now tied 3-3 with the deciding match set for Sunday at the Clash of Champions on pay-per-view.Both the concept and the execution have received polarized reactions from fans, but in getting the opportunity to play out on screen the kind of uphill battle he has faced in his career, and getting to do it in a format that hasnt been used in the WWE in upwards of a decade, Cesaro has relished the opportunity.I do love this kind of program, Cesaro said during a conference call with several media outlets Monday afternoon, as part of a promotional effort for the WWEs upcoming U.K. tour in early November. Its not often we get the chance in WWE to do something like that. To me, its the closest to the old days when it was all about the wrestling, all about me against Sheamus in the ring without anything on the outside. It has this real sports feel. I kind of had my back against the wall, you know, its best-of-seven. I do definitely love it.Well, I feel, from a company standpoint, like theres a lot of trust that goes into this, Sheamus concurred before the start of the series. Because to have seven matches, or at least a best-of-seven ... theres a lot of confidence bestowed on both of us. People know we can go. People know we hit hard. We bring a lot of realism to our matches.I think over my career, if you look at it in WWE, Sheamus has always been one of my biggest adversaries, Cesaro said, and one of the ones I would like to say I had some very memorable bouts with. Its definitely fun to be in the ring with him.The winner of the series is set to receive a title opportunity, and it could be another chance to jump-start Cesaros often promising WWE career. It remains a work in progress, to this point, as the 16-year veteran, who made a name for himself as Claudio Castagnoli on the independent scene in promotions such as Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla before signing for WWE in 2011, tries to break through a ceiling that has kept him from reaching the very top of the wrestling world. Cesaro was seemingly on the cusp of such a breakthrough as a singles star in late 2015 when a torn rotator cuff in his left shoulder halted his momentum.He underwent surgery and returned to action in April, and Cesaro has built a growing fan base which has supported him with entire swaths of the crowd holding up Cesaro Section signs -- establishing a persistently visible presence among Raw crowds. The Lucerne, Switzerland, native has already tasted a certain level of success in WWE, winning the United States championship, the tag-team championships with?Tyson Kidd?and the first Andre?the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at Wrestlemania in 2014. But it is not enough for Cesaro, who feels he has what it takes to reach higher.I wanted to be [world] champion by now, and I havent achieved that, Cesaro said, when asked if he felt he had made the progress he wanted to since returning from injury.Despite the tape he wears on his previously injured left shoulder, and other areas of his body at times, Cesaro is back at full strength and attempting to prove he has what it takes to grab the ball and run with it.The journey ahead seems still so long, but Im happy I came back 100 percent, he continued. I didnt come back 70 percent or something. Im getting better every day. Im just enjoying myself. Trying to approach it a little bit different. Just having more fun, especially in the ring, and letting the fans have fun with me together, from my new entrance to the whole thing.The Swiss superman character Cesaro has portrayed on WWE programming since returning has been a big positive step for him. His entrance features Cesaro walking out in a suit in front of a TitanTron video that mimics the famous opening credits sequence of James Bond films; he then tears off his Velcro tux and transforms into the Swiss superman before walking down to the ring for his match.Cesaros tale of frustration was a similar one to?Kevin Owens early this year, as he and his former running buddy on the independent scene languished with the mythical brass ring seemingly just out of both mens reach. Their?perceived places in the WWE hierarchy were solidified in July during the WWE brand separation draft as Owens was drafted in the fourth round, 18th overall, and Cesaro didnt go until Round 6, 28th overall.That all changed with Owens shocking Universal-title victory on Raw in late August.Kevin was drafted higher than me, and he was frustrated. Im even more frustrated than him, Cesaro said. He had quite the run. If you look at it, hes been in WWE for a little over two years. The things he achieved in a very short period of time -- it might be unprecedented. As a fellow colleague of his, whos been on the independents with him -- Ive known him for over 10 years -- Im very happy with his success. He definitely deserves it.As Cesaro pursues similar levels of success, its clear he realizes that his path to the WWEs top championships will have to be different.For me its a little bit of a different road, Cesaro said. But if there are mountains to climb, I think as a Swiss man youre the proper mountaineer to do it. So thats something Im looking forward to.When you pursue the level of success that Cesaro seeks in the WWE, its hard not to second guess yourself sometimes. Theres no real sense of self-doubt with Cesaro, but he does acknowledge that his approach to the business and low-key demeanor dont lend themselves to self-promotion.I feel like Ive been working magic for the past four years in WWE, Cesaro said, and maybe its the European in me, or the Swiss in me, that Im not at the forefront bragging and constantly boasting about my achievements. I let my actions do the talking, and that might take a little bit longer for people to see.During his WWE tenure, Cesaro has had to deal with the added pressure of trying to be as entertaining on a microphone as he is in the ring, but feels hes undeservedly stereotyped as being a poor talker.I actually can talk if you let me, he said. Thats always funny, because people always say that I cant, but the thing is, you havent seen me on the mic a lot. I dont really get that many chances. And if I do, its usually pretty good.Certain people get maybe a reputation, and people keep repeating it, and that just becomes their stigma, Cesaro continued. Im not saying Im Mr. Microphone over here, but I can certainly hold my own. Ive been fortunate enough to get the chance to prove it lately, and Im looking forward to getting to prove it some more going forward. The guys who talk are a select few, and Im working my way to get there.One person Cesaro has seemingly struggled to fully win over is Vince McMahon. The WWE owner told Steve Austin on an edition of the Stone Cold Podcast in December 2014 that Cesaro was lacking in charisma, verbal skills and the it factor, and Austin said he did not know what Cesaro needed to do to raise his game.WWE legends including Austin, Ric Flair and Mick Foley have all previously criticized WWE for not pushing Cesaro as a main-event talent, given his natural ability in the ring.I feel like Im connecting pretty good, Cesaro said, however. If you see the Cesaro section, when I go out there, it is definitely not silent, and I have a huge fan base all over the world. Of course, theres always room for improvement. Im the first one to always criticize myself, and Im trying to find ways to get better. If people say stuff like that, that I maybe not agree with, Im doing my best and working my hardest to prove them wrong.Again, the timing of his injury couldnt have been much worse. He was part of a tournament to crown a new WWE world heavyweight champion, with several high-profile showdowns with true main-event talent just before going down in November.I got hurt when I was starting to really take off, Cesaro said. Now I feel like I have to start from scratch again, which I have [had] to do so often. But it definitely felt like I was on a roll. And Im still on a roll. Its just definitely being in the right place at the right time or being the right person. Its kind of hard sometimes, but I feel like if Im consistently delivering, which is what I do, sooner or later it cant be denied.Whatever the future holds for Cesaro in WWE, he is still humble.Sometimes I have to kind of stop and take it in, he said. To me, I dont like to look back, I just like to look forward. Its such a long journey still ahead for me. Every now and then I see a picture of when I started, or I go to an arena -- we were just at the O2 [Arena in London] last week, and thats where I made my WWE debut on WWE TV. Its just crazy to think that that was over four years ago. If I look back on when I was on the indies in the U.S., and ever further when I was in Europe, its just kind of amazing how I made it this far.Adidas Nmd Herre Tilbud . With their top three point guards and Kobe Bryant all sidelined by injury, the Lakers signed Marshall out of the D-League on Friday before their home game against Minnesota. Adidas Nmd Herre Sort .ca NHL Power Rankings for the second straight week, ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Avalanche. http://www.dknmdskotilbud.com/ . Toronto has dropped games to Indiana and Miami since a five-game winning streak and closed out a three-game road trip at 1-2. Adidas Nmd r1 Herre Tilbud .com) - Yankee Stadium is the home of the Bronx Bombers, but on Sunday afternoon it will open its gates to host the latest addition of the Hudson River Rivalry. Adidas Nmd Herre Danmark . To the surprise of many, it isnt the Wolverines but their in-state rivals the Michigan State Spartans.This story appears in ESPN The Magazines July 18 Body Issue. Subscribe today!Advisory: This story contains explicit language.AFTER THE 2002 season, the Red Sox had a list of nine -- count em, nine -- candidates for time at first base and designated hitter. As former Red Sox beat writer Jeff Horrigan says, The expectations were really, really low. That was clear just by the number of people they threw at the position. But Bostons new GM, Theo Epstein, and president/CEO Larry Lucchino -- with an assist from one of the greatest pitchers in team history -- saw a glimmer of something in a washout from the Twins named David Ortiz. This is the story of the months between November 2002 and May 2003, when a player nobody wanted, just one of nine, became a legend a city couldnt do without.THEO EPSTEIN: Heres how I remember it: Going into the offseason, we knew we had a top-heavy offense and wanted to round out our roster with quality hitters to deepen the lineup. We also had to cut about $10 million from the payroll, so we were looking for inexpensive, underrated guys who had a chance to represent real value. We traded for Todd Walker early in the offseason [to play second] and had our eye on Bill Mueller to play third. We had first base and DH open, and we liked the idea of acquiring three good hitters for those two spots to let them battle it out for at-bats, deepen the lineup and improve the bench.We had a meeting shortly after I took over [on Nov. 25] and sorted the available value options into tiers -- the targets and the fallbacks. The potential trade targets were David Ortiz, Kevin Millar, Erubiel Durazo and Jeremy Giambi. The potential free agents were Brad Fullmer and Lee Stevens. Ortiz was a target and high up the list but was just a guy in the mix we liked ... not a guy we felt we absolutely had to have.EPSTEINS FALLBACK LIST included two Red Sox players who had been favored before his arrival: Cliff Floyd, a free agent who had been traded to the Red Sox in 2002 and who was owner John Henrys first choice for DH; and Shea Hillenbrand, who had been an All-Star at third in 2002 but whod walked just 25 times in 676 plate appearances, a death sentence in a new world of on-base percentage.CLIFF FLOYD, RED SOX OUTFIELDER/DH: I receive a call from John Henry, who tells me 2003 is going to be a big year, the Red Sox are ready to win and they need me. He says that I had a week to decide. A couple days later, I guess there were some reports that the Yankees were interested in me, and I get a call from John Henry, who now tells me I had three days. He was not going to get in a bidding war with the Yankees. I was like, Yeah, but I still need to know whats out there. I never heard from the Red Sox again. Offer off the table. Gone. I wound up signing with the Mets.EPSTEIN: My opinion from the beginning was that we should let Cliff sign elsewhere, take the draft picks and use the money to sign several hitters. We had to cut payroll, acquire several bats and strengthen the farm system, so it seemed like the best course.MIKE PORT, INTERIM GENERAL MANAGER: Once Theo was named, he and his team took off at the speed of light, selling guys on what the Boston Red Sox wanted to be all about. ... I just dont feel like Shea Hillenbrand fit into the plan or gravitated into the philosophies Theo wanted to see. Between Shea and that administration, there wasnt good chemistry.WITH FLOYDS OFFER off the table, Epstein began trying to trade Hillenbrand. He also started to consider his free agent options to fill spots at first base and DH. His first choice, Durazo, went to Billy Beanes As in a four-team deal at the winter meetings. Later that day, Epstein made a trade with the Phillies for his second choice: Jeremy Giambi, kid brother of 2000 AL MVP Jason Giambi. The next day, Minnesota nontendered Ortiz.DAVID ORTIZ: The Twins? They never said anything to me. When they released me, it was like, nothing. I heard it from my agent.BILLY BEANE, OAKLAND As GM: The Machiavellian answer would be to say, Yeah, we had an idea the whole time what Ortiz would be. We tried to get him. We went after him hard, but Boston beat us to him. That would be the right answer, right? But thats not true. He wasnt in our plans. He wasnt on our radar.Who did we get? Durazo? Oooh, yay! We got Durazo! Seriously, we knew of Ortiz, but we knew him as a player who may have had some potential but had some injuries, had some trouble getting on the field. I think we trusted the Twins organization. Terry Ryan and his group have always been known as a smart group. They didnt do reckless things. They didnt make big mistakes. If they were letting him go for free, I mean, just for nothing, by our way of thinking, there had to be a reason.KEVIN MILLAR, MARLINS OUTFIELDER: This was the start of Moneyball, and guys were being looked at differently. Different numbers now meant different things. Now they could tell you which f---ing guy hit what with two strikes on the road between the hours of 8 and 9:30. Jeremy Giambi was one of those guys, and he was Jason Giambis brother. The brother of the guy who won an MVP? Yeah, he definitely got a look.NEXT ON EPSTEINS list was Fullmer, a favorite of former GM Dan Duquettes. But he re-signed with the Angels after the winter meetings. Former Indian Stevens signed with the Devil Rays shortly after. By then, though, the Red Sox also had agreed to a deal with Julio Zuleta, a giant, 6-foot-6, 230-pound Panamanian who could hit a baseball into different time zones.ORTIZ: Another f---ing guy everybody thought was better than me.EPSTEIN: Zuleta, that name is a blast from the past! He was not really in the major league mix, just a flier as a minor league free agent who had serious pop.JEFF HORRIGAN, RED SOX BEAT WRITER (BOSTON HERALD): Julio Zuleta! I remember him: big, scary guy. Shaved head. He looked like the guy from Major League. I even remember his stance, kind of a crouch. Huge power.ORTIZ: So now you see all these guys signing, and Ive got nothing. I didnt think I wasnt going to play, but I was preparing to just go to winter ball and hope something came up. So I went to winter ball and had a good winter, but I didnt have anything.FERNANDO CUZA, AGENT TO DAVID ORTIZ: David was calling me five times a day. He was nervous as s---. Ill never forget being in that coffee shop with him at the Sheraton in Santo Domingo [capital of the Dominican Republic]. That face.Every day that went by, you could see it. He was saying, Im young. I have no other skills but to play baseball, but nobody wants me. What am I going to do? How am I going to provide for my family? I told him if you get the chance, youre gonna be a son of a bitch. Youre gonna tear it up. I didnt think his career was over, because he was a great hitter.DESPITE HIS AGENTS words, Ortiz was in a full panic by January. Spring training was six weeks away, and he had no job. There were no offers, no workouts, no invites. The Red Sox now had Jeremy Giambi, Zuleta and Hillenbrand on the roster. Then came an intervention from an unlikely source -- perhaps the greatest Sox pitcher of all time.LARRY LUCCHINO: The biggest priority [of the offseason] was signing Pedro Martinez to a significant extension. We had an open dialogue with Pedro. When David was let go by Minnesota, Pedro called and told us that David was a great guy and he was someone we needed to take a look at. Now, you have to remember, Pedro was our No. 1 offseason priority, and he was asking us the favor of giving David Ortiz a look. It was just an invite to spring training, but if that was going to help us with the negotiations with Pedro, well, we saw that as an easy thing to do. It was a propitious call at a propitious moment. I think the influence of Pedro Martinez in bringing David Ortiz to Boston is one of the most overlooked and under-discussed elements of the whole story.EPSTEIN: [After Ortiz was nontendered] I called Fern Cuza to express interest in David, and Fern and I stayed in touch the next month. We had Dave Jauss work out David at first base in the Dominican to see whether he was an option there or whether we should consider hhim a DH only.dddddddddddd Meanwhile, David was getting antsy. He and Pedro Martinez were close, and Pedro called everyone -- me, Larry Lucchino, Jack McCormick [Red Sox traveling secretary] -- to lobby for David and talk about what a great guy he was.ORTIZ: All I know is that one day right in front of me, Pedro called Larry and told him to sign me. Pedro made it happen.CUZA, WHO WAS ALSO MARTINEZS AGENT: Larry and I were negotiating Pedros extension. Pedro personally called Larry. I remember Larry saying regarding David, We can do that. I dont know what happened behind closed doors, but Theo called me and we worked out a deal. You had the star player, the best player on a team approaching the last year of his contract, asking for a favor. Do the favor and what does that really cost you? There was zero economic risk to the Red Sox. If David doesnt make it, he gets released.ON JAN. 22, 2003, the Red Sox signed David Ortiz to a one-year, $1.25 million deal.ORTIZ: You know how many offers I got? One. From the Red Sox. Thats the truth.EPSTEIN: I was an Ortiz fan from my time with the Padres tracking the Twins farm system. Our numbers guys liked Davids performance, as he had just hit 20 homers in a partial season with the Twins. Our scouts considered him a good hitter who could get better if he could close up a couple holes in and up. We all thought he was a great fit for Fenway, as he demonstrated a real ability to hit the ball the other way. The doubts centered on his health, his defense and why the Twins were making him available.LUCCHINO: There was some disappointment about it, and as I remember, the pushback was coming from Theo. He believed our team was set. I remember him feeling that we already had our DH, and his name was Jeremy Giambi.NOW ORTIZ HAD a spot on the roster, but the Red Sox werent finished. Boston was engaged in side negotiations to acquire outfielder and first baseman Millar from the Marlins, even though Millar had agreed in principle to play in Japan with the Chunichi Dragons.MILLAR: I had spoken to the Chunichi club, and we started to negotiate. They told me they were going to pay me two years, $6 million. Six million? And Im like, Im rich, biiiiitch! Then the Marlins put me through waivers and the Red Sox claim me -- but -- Ive already agreed to play in Japan. So I call my agent. They told me no matter how it played out, I wasnt going to lose money, so hell yeah, I want to play with the Red Sox.But now we have this international incident. Bud Seligs getting involved. The Sox have some juice to make this happen, but now Im getting scared. Im not Barry Bonds. Im not Sammy Sosa. Im this common-ass white boy playing right field. Im hearing Larry Lucchino wants to pull out of the deal, you know, like they dont need the hassle. Im glad they didnt. The only thing left was for me to talk to the rep from Chunichi. He told me he would be dishonoring his country if he didnt bring me back with him. For real! [In the end, Chunichi released its claim and Millar was free to sign with the Red Sox.]BY SPRING TRAINING, the Red Sox had more assets than they could manage. We were four deep at first base taking ground balls, Millar says: Giambi, Hillenbrand, Ortiz and Millar. May the best man win. But by the start of the season, Millar had won the job at first, in part because he was more mobile than Ortiz, and Giambi was the full-time DH. Weeks earlier, Ortiz was worried that he would not have a job in baseball to start spring training, but this was nearly as bad: being on a roster behind Giambi, sitting on the bench. There was only one thing to do: Ask for a trade. Get out of Boston.MILLAR: Theres a story thats been going around for years that it was the Latin guys, Pedro and Manny [Ramirez], who went to Grady [Little, the manager] and told him to start playing David. Thats bulls--t. It came from me talking to him. Look it up. It all happened in Anaheim. Getaway day, Papi goes deep. We win. I told David to go in there and tell them, Play me or trade me. I want to start. Or I want out.Listen, heres the bottom line: From day one, Jeremy Giambi couldnt hold David Ortizs jock. He couldnt hit with him in spring training. Jeremy Giambi was taking ABs away from David Ortiz because he was the MVPs little brother and the Red Sox were committed to Moneyball, but he never could hit with Papi. Never. Period. End of story.ORTIZ: I was never really Theos guy. There were other guys he was paying more money to. If I had been his first choice, I really think I would have been playing since day one. ... So yeah, I sat and I sat, and I kept my mouth shut because you gotta keep it professional, you know?EPSTEIN: David and I had a few quick conversations early in the year in which I encouraged him to be patient, told him that we believed in him, expressed some empathy for his situation and reassured him that things would work themselves out. He was frustrated early but handled himself really well, not wanting to make an issue in the clubhouse or drag his teammates down.CUZA: David was lower than whale s---. He was saying, Maybe I screwed around. Maybe I didnt work hard enough. Maybe I wasted my chance.ORTIZ: Finally, I just said f--- it. I went to Grady. I went to Theo. They were asking me why I was mad, and I said, Im not mad, but Im better than every f---ing guy youre running out there ahead of me. So I called [my agent] Fern. I told him, If youre not here tomorrow, youre fired. He said, Whats wrong? I said, Im better. Play me or I want out of here. Play me and Ill show you whats up.EPSTEIN: The third week of May -- when he was hitting about .250 with one homer and coming off a stretch of sitting three times in four games -- he sent his agent, Fern Cuza, to see me. It was after a game in the player parking lot at Fenway. Fern said that while David loved Boston and loved his teammates, not playing was driving him crazy. He said David wanted him to deliver an ultimatum of sorts to me -- to play him every day or trade him.We had been working really hard since the winter to trade Hillenbrand and felt we were finally getting close with the Diamondbacks. I told Fern to keep David patient for another week and that wed find a way to get him his opportunity.ON MAY 29, 2003, the Red Sox traded Hillenbrand to Arizona. A week later, Ortiz became the everyday DH with the Red Sox.CUZA: This was the turning point of his career. Right then and there, he decided to put it up a notch. He was fighting for his life. People always ask, Why is David Ortiz so great under pressure? Thats not pressure. Pressure is living in the Dominican with no income.David was patient, and he took it all in -- the not playing, the guys playing ahead of him that he knew he was better than -- and he was close to losing it, but its true: We were one click away from this not happening in Boston.AFTER THE ALL-STAR break, Ortiz went on one of the great tears in baseball history, finishing the season with 31 home runs (27 of them in the final three months of the season) and 101 RBIs. His hot streak came too late for him to make the All-Star team that year -- though he did finish fifth in MVP voting -- but he made the AL roster in 10 of the next 13 seasons, starting as DH in five of them.JED HOYER, FORMER ASSISTANT TO THE GENERAL MANAGER: David, in the second half of 2003, what he did, and who he did it against -- and by that I mean the Yankees so many times -- all you could do was watch it. You didnt believe it. But it was happening.CUZA: When David got in the lineup, you could see the change. He played like he knew he was never going to be in that position of being so close again. I think every professional athlete has a turning point in their career. This was his.ORTIZ: All in all, you go through a lot. But I think it was good because it brings the best out in me. Thats what happened. In my career, nothing has been given. I had to earn. It doesnt make sense, I know. It doesnt happen. I know. But you can look at me as proof that it can happen. ' ' '