3. Growing Up, Cesaro Actually Wanted To Be A Rugby Player...
As we all know, a LOT of famous pro wrestlers started out playing football (or, if you live in the UK American football). Sylvester Ritter, (AKA Junkyard Dog) was once a Green Bay Packer, while Joe Savoldi, who was World Champion in the 1930s, was both a Chicago Bear and (this is 100% true, albeit completely irrelevant) a spy for the allies during WW2. For his part, Dwayne The Rock Johnson briefly appeared as a Calgary Stampeder in the CFL (Canadian Football League), whilst the legendary Wahoo McDaniel was a bit more successful, being both a Houston Oiler and a Denver Bronco in his other career as a pro footballer. Of course, Bill Goldberg was both an L.A Ram and an Atlanta Falcon before becoming a pro wrestler, but everybody knows that. However, always one to buck the trend, Cesaro actually wanted to be a rugby player. They dont play a lot of American football in Switzerland and, although he was also an American basketball fan (following the results via teletext), he is one of the few guys in the WWE locker room that didnt play football at some point in his athletic career. Despite being a pro wrestling fan since childhood (in particular idolizing legendary WWWF Champions Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund), the young man from Lucerne, Switzerland felt that his dreams would be achieved on the rugby pitch, as opposed to inside the wrestling ring. In fact, Claudio Castagnoli only took up wrestling as an extra challenge during the off-season. Wrestling fans the world over are glad he did.
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