Claudio Castagnoli Explains Why He Chose To Leave WWE

WWE

Claudio Castagnoli has addressed his WWE departure earlier this year, explaining why he chose to leave the company.

Castagnoli became a free agent in February, after he and WWE were unable to come to terms on a new contract. He debuted for AEW at the Forbidden Door NJPW crossover show in June.

Speaking on The Kurt Angle Show, Castagnoli opened up about his exit. Noting that he wanted to do something different after over a decade in WWE, Castagnoli said:

“I’m always happy and grateful, but I also kinda knew where I was thought of. So, I was just looking for something different.

“When I look at AEW. there’s so many guys that I want to be in the ring with that I haven’t necessarily been in the ring with.”

Castagnoli is currently the ROH World Champion. On the September 7 edition of Dynamite, Daniel Garcia defeated Castagnoli’s Blackpool Combat Club teammate Wheeler Yuta to win the ROH Pure Championship.

Praising both stars, Castagnoli said:

“Those guys, they’re like 24 years old. It’s insane. Imagine how good they’re gonna be when they’re 30.

There’s so many young people there that I was like ‘this is amazing. I want to be part of that.’ You’re only as good as your last match and you need to be doing stuff with people that push you and are better than you. I want to wrestle those young guys and I want to see if I still got it.”

Castagnoli most recently defended his ROH World Title against Dax Harwood on the September 9 episode of Rampage.

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Transcription via Wrestling Inc. 

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• Claudio Castagnoli
• Cesaro
• AEW
• wwe

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