Claudio Castagnoli Feels He Was Close To WWE World Title Reign

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AEW star Claudio Castagnoli feels that he was close to a WWE World Title reign during his time with the promotion.

Claudio Castagnoli defeated Jonathan Gresham to win the ROH World Championship at Death Before Dishonor on July 23. This marked the first world title win of his career.

Before making his way to All Elite Wrestling and winning Ring of Honor gold, Castagnoli spent 11 years in WWE under the alias of Cesaro.

Speaking on the live Insight with Chris Van Vliet stage show at Starrcast V, Castagnoli discussed a number of topics, including his time with WWE.

When asked if he ever thought he was close to a world title reign, Claudio explained:

“Yes, It’s all about building momentum. I feel I created that momentum a lot of times with the fans.”

Bringing up how the fans got behind Becky Lynch’s character leading to her breaking through, Castagnoli went on to explain how that fan support gave WWE no choice but to build her as a star.

He said:

“That natural thing, you’ve seen that with them. The last time that really happened was with Becky. Becky got red-hot and the fans made her undeniable. I feel I was on that verge a couple of times where the crowd was with me, my stuff was going awesome, and it was, ‘We’re going in this direction now.’ Okay, back to square one. That happened a bunch of times. In the end, it all led to this. A lot of stuff in life is about the journey.”

Claudio Castagnoli made his debut for AEW at Forbidden Door in June, defeating NJPW’s Zack Sabre Jr. as a replacement for Bryan Danielson.

Castagnoli has joined Danielson, William Regal, Wheeler Yuta and AEW Interim World Champion Jon Moxley in the Blackpool Combat Club.

The ROH World Champion will defend his title against Konosuke Takeshita at this Saturday’s Battle of the Belts III event.

Keep track of Claudio Castagnoli’s win-loss record in AEW (for televised matches) at this link.

Transcription via Fightful

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• Claudio Castagnoli
• ROH World champion
• AEW
• wwe

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