Claudio Castagnoli, formerly known as Cesaro in WWE, doesn’t know why his WWE career never quite reached the next level.
He has often been viewed as one of the most remarkable in-ring talents in the wrestling industry, and the Swiss star was considered one of the most underrated talents on the WWE roster. Though he won several tag team championships on WWE and competed in multiple high-profile matches in his last year with the promotion, he never won a world title prior to his departure in February 2022.
In an interview with NBC Sports Boston, Castagnoli was asked what he needed to do to “level up” in WWE, and he made it clear that he didn’t know. He stated that he would have done it if he had the knowledge, but he’s grateful for the journey because it took him to where he is today.
“If I would know that answer, we probably wouldn’t have that discussion, right? [laughs] “So it’s just one of the things that I do not have the answer,” said Castagnoli. “There’s obviously a lot of speculation going on. But again if I would have known, I would have obviously done it. Like you said, it was a lot of one steps forward, two steps back. But I feel that’s how life is for many people. And you have to just keep going and learn from those experiences and then learn from it and then make decisions based on that. And that’s why I’m at now, and I’m very happy. I’m also very grateful for like you said, John Cena, I shared the ring with him, the experiences, the amount of I’ve learned, and the respect I have for him and I would like to think he has for me. That’s something that I’ve built over the past 10, 15 years and it’s the same with the fans.”
Castagnoli shifted gears and noted that AEW fans have embraced him since he signed with the company, as they know his background and his work ethic. He repeated that he’s thankful to be where he is now.
“I am here and they accepted me,” said Castagnoli. “I’m not the guy just, you know, the ‘former WWE guy.’ They know I’ve been with Ring of Honor, I’ve been on the indies before. I moved to the United States to do this. They also know that 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.
“And that is 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’m very happy and extremely grateful to have been on that journey, and I’m very happy and very grateful to be here today.”
Castagnoli also emphasized that he’s thankful for the fans who have supported him along the way.
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