The man formerly known in WWE as Cesaro, now known once again as Claudio Castagnoli, made his AEW debut at the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door event, where he was unveiled as Bryan Danielson’s mystery replacement to take on Zack Sabre Jr. The newest member of the Blackpool Combat Club emerged victorious on the night, and then led his team to victory over the Jericho Appreciation Society on the following Wednesday’s Dynamite in the second installment of Blood and Guts.
In a new interview with NBC Sports Boston, Castagnoli talked about his debut with the company and how it couldn’t have gotten off to a better start.
“I reached out to them, and it fell into place when the time was right, which is how the best things happen. When it happens organically. That’s what ended up happening. I knew where I would like to end up in my career and it happened in a way…I don’t think I could have hoped or written a better way to start. I had been following AEW for a while and when it came time for me to take a step back and look, I felt I was a better fit at AEW and there was a lot more to do at AEW when it comes to challenges. People I want to work with, there are so many people there that I haven’t wrestled at all or in a very long time. That’s what I want to do and would have fun doing. I always felt, whenever it was time to move on, I moved on. It was the same as before, when I was in Ring of Honor, I felt like, ‘Now it’s time to make the step to WWE,’ and that’s what I did. I felt now, it was time to make the next step. I did and I’m very happy I did.”
-Claudio Castagnoli
Castagnoli is set to make his Ring of Honor return at the Death Before Dishonor show this weekend, where he’ll take on Jonathan Gresham for the ROH World Championship.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
