Last month saw the AEW debut of former WWE star Cesaro, now using his real name again, Claudio Castagnoli. Following Bryan Danielson’s injury, Bryan handpicked Claudio as a mystery opponent for Zack Sabre Jr at AEW and NJPW’s joint show Forbidden Door.
Castagnoli also ended up taking Danielson’s spot as a member of the Blackpool Combat Club in the Blood and Guts match a few days later against the Jericho Appreciation Society. But was this always the plan for Claudio Castagnoli’s All Elite Wrestling debut?
During the Death Before Dishonor media scrum, Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated asked Tony Khan if the original plan was to debut him at the Ring of Honor PPV.
“It was the original plan. Yeah, it was originally. He was going to debut here and it would have been a different build to the pay-per-view than what we did. And I think in a way that, you know, everything worked out perfectly.”
Tony goes on to say:
“So originally my vision when we spoke, was that Claudio was going to come back at Ring of Honor and he would debut and he would be a mystery wrestler and I think there would have been a lot of anticipation for who was going to be.
Tony Khan on original plan for Claudio Castagnoli
“But I also think that it would have been a great delivery and I honestly think that like, you know, if the fans had gotten drawn to the possibility of who could be associated with Ring of Honor, who is a name that is so important to the history of Ring of Honor and also, was certainly, I believe the best free agent wrestler in the world, then I believe it would have been a lot of fans assuming, hoping, wishing, wanting to see it be Claudio.
“But things change and I also knew when we spoke, there was a possibility that you would come in, as the alternate replacing Bryan Danielson as Zack Sabre Jr’s opponent at Forbidden Door, and also replacing Bryan Danielson in the Blood and Guts match. And so everything’s worked out great.”
Last night Claudio Castagnoli competed against ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham in the opening match of ROH’s Death Before Dishonor.
Castagnoli came out the victor against Gresham, ending the 224-day reign of Gresham who had previously won the vacant championship at ROH Final Battle 2021 back in December.
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