Claudio Castagnoli Opens Up A Bit More About His WWE Experience

As I’ve written about before, Claudio Castagnoli has taken the high road when speaking about his time in WWE. Of course the hard-working pro wrestler left the company after an 11-year career and many fans were behind him for the decision.

He was underappreciated and not at all wisely used during the entirety of his run and especially during his end run with the company, but still, he took the high road and always does when looking back.

He did have epic moments in WWE, which he went into in recent statements, and yes they are posted below.

Journalists being who we are, we can’t take it at that though, or rather leave it at that; we want to know the inner workings of the industry and after all it is our job to bring the news of these inner workings to you, dear readers, which we’re sure you appreciate.  

And so he was recently asked on Busted Open Radio about his time in WWE once again, to which he responded:

“I always feel you have to carry yourself with a certain grace, especially because of what people may expect a professional wrestler to be or to act or to look like…Even if my WWE career was again, an uphill battle … it was a great uphill battle, because to me, even if I never won or will win that big title …

I stay true to myself, and I feel that gives me a bigger bond with the wrestling fans…If I would have won the title, right, that would have been the end of it kind of, you know what I mean? …

It would have been like, ‘Hey, he won the title, he’s good now, that’s it,’ and then you have to kind of find what’s next. Everybody’s always looking for that destination, but it is the journey, right? It is the middle of it that’s so awesome, that’s so important. That’s where you make all your friends, that’s where you make all your memories, and people forget that…

Yes, it would have been awesome and I think I would have made a great champion…But if I look back, I had some amazing moments that you couldn’t fabricate …

I won the first-ever Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal that nobody will ever be able to take away from me, so if it was an uphill battle, I’m very thankful for it, and I’m very glad so many people came on that journey with me … They remember despite me never being a champion, and I think that’s a big accomplishment, as well.”

via Wrestling Inc. (Transcription)

He takes these experiences wisely and with a level head, and in essence he looks better off for it. His run in AEW has already been very dominant…something that he should have been granted in WWE but wasn’t.

Tonight, Claudio Castagnoli is set to defend his ROH World Championship against Konosuke Takeshita at Battle Of The Belts, scheduled to go down at 8 PM EST on TNT.

NEXT: A Look Back At Bryan Danielson’s Involvement In The 2015 Royal Rumble