Claudio Castagnoli Shoots On Never Becoming WWE Champion
Here's what current AEW man and ROH World Champ Claudio thinks about WWE's decisions.
Claudio Castagnoli thought for sure he was "on that verge a couple of times".
The former Cesaro was, of course, referring to the idea that WWE might pull the trigger, get behind him and make him WWE World Champion at some point. Claudio could feel fan support swelling more than once, and he figured he was about to receive a mega-push akin to Becky Lynch's when she found fame as 'The Man'.
It didn't happen, so Castagnoli eventually let his company deal tick down and hauled ass to AEW. Since joining Tony Khan's league, Claudio has become a key member of the ROH rebuild and even won Ring Of Honor's own World Championship by beating Jonathan Gresham at Death Before Dishonor.
That elusive WWE Title run wasn't destined to be, but Castagnoli told Chris Van Vliet's 'Insight' show he figured it'd surely happen eventually. Whilst he's not bitter about things and looks back on the bulk of his WWE career fondly, Claudio does think that he became "red hot and undeniable" several times during his run.
Vince McMahon disagreed - there's a case to be made that the ex-WWE boss was never going to give Cesaro that belt.