Claudio Castagnoli Isn’t Sure Why He Didn’t ‘Level Up’ In WWE

AEW

AEW star Claudio Castagnoli still isn’t sure why he didn’t “level up” during his time in WWE.

Castagnoli, formerly known as Cesaro, has long been considered one of the best wrestlers in the world and an underrated performer in WWE.

Despite being a multi-time WWE Tag Team Champion and former United States Champion, Claudio was never able to break the glass ceiling to the main event scene in the company.

Speaking with Steve Fall of NBC Sports Boston, the Blackpool Combat Club member was asked what he thought was necessary to “level up” in WWE.

He answered:

“If I would know the answer, we probably wouldn’t have that discussion, right? [laughs]. It’s just one of those things where, I do not have the answer. There is obviously a lot of speculation going on, but if I would have known, I would have obviously done it. There was a lot of ‘one step forward, two steps back.’ I feel that’s how life is for many people. You just have to keep going and learn from those experiences and make decisions based on that. That’s why I’m where I’m at now and I’m very happy. I’m also very grateful for John Cena, sharing the ring with him. The experiences, the amount I learned, and the respect I have for him and I would like to think he has for me. That’s something I built over the past ten years. The same with the fans. I am here and they accepted me. I’m not the guy that is the ‘former WWE guy.’ They know I’ve been with Ring of Honor, I’ve been on the Indies. They also know every single time I step in the ring, I always give it 100%, no matter if the match is two minutes or 35 minutes, I want to make it the best match possible. It’s very important to me that it’s authentic. I don’t have an answer to that question, I don’t know if anybody does, but if that journey brought me to where I am today, I am very happy and extremely grateful to have been on that journey and to be here today.”

Many of Claudio’s peers, such as John Cena and Bryan Danielson, have praised his work during their time together in WWE.

Meanwhile, Vince McMahon famously said Castagnoli wasn’t connecting with the fans and needed to “grab the brass ring”.

Claudio Castagnoli made his AEW debut at Forbidden Door on June 26 by replacing Bryan Danielson to beat Zack Sabre Jr. He followed that with wins in the Blood and Guts Match and against Jake Hager.

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

Transcription via Fightful

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• Claudio Castagnoli
• Level Up
• AEW
• wwe

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