I thought the pairing of Cesaro with Heyman was a waste because he was being so successful with Coulter. I thought he could have done better staying with Coulter and continuing the "Real Americans" gimmick. It would have necessitated a face turn (too many live audiences were getting into the "We the people" thing), but it would have been an overall positive.
The question I have about Axel's (and Ryback's, for that matter) pairing with Heyman is: how much time together did Axel, Ryback, and Heyman actually have? I ask this because I know that Coulter, Cesaro, and Swagger did some travelling together and that both Cesaro and Swagger benefited from that (apparently, Cesaro benefited from it far more than Swagger, but that's to be expected considering Claudio's indy roots; he was apparently more ready to listen to Coulter's advice, concerns, etc.). If Cesaro, Axel, and/or Ryback weren't really travelling with/learning from Heyman on a regular basis. If their interaction consisted of two hours a week before Raw and another hour before Smackdown tapings, I don't know how much benefit Heyman could have.
Compare that to Heyman's strong friendships/working relationships with Punk and Lesnar, and you see my point.
wk