Swiss Beats

November 14, 2007

Without a doubt, Claudio Castagnoli, is one of the brightest young stars in wrestling.

The Swiss-born Castagnoli crafts his trade all over the independent wrestling scene but can be seen on a national stage through the Ring of Honor wrestling promotion.

While the 26-year-old Castagnoli has already held several world titles he has really come into his own within the last year as a main eventer in ROH.

Last year, it appeared as though all of Castagnoli’s hard work had paid off when he signed a developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment. However, WWE severed ties with Castagnoli just five weeks after signing him. Rumors circulated that it was because he didn’t have a proper working visa but Castagnoli has repeatedly proclaimed that he is completely legal to work in the US.

Clearly, Castagnoli has put that strange incident behind him and is enjoying arguably his best year as a pro wrestler. He signed a long-term deal with ROH and recently won their Race to the Top Tournament.

I caught up with Castagnoli to discuss his current ROH run, his relationship with WWE, the independent wrestling scene, the now-infamous San Francisco wrestling convention and whether or not wrestlers deserve an off-season.


Claudio Castagnoli – 11/14/07

  1. 4 Responses to “Swiss Beats”

  2. How many other guys in ROH, MMA, etc… does WWE try and either poach or negotiate with? Are there many underground negotiations?

    By Taks on Nov 14, 2007

  3. TNA and WWE have signed a lot of former ROH wrestlers. They are kind of like the Montreal Expos of wrestling. CM Punk, Jay Lethal, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Homicide…the list goes on and on. But ROH has smartened it up and signed their guys to long term deals so WWE/TNA will now have to groom their own talent or wait till their contracts expire.

    As for MMA…not many. There were guys like Tank Abbott, Ken Shamrock and Sylvester Terkay who made the transition but not too many as of late. It is actually more common in Japan where a lot of guys may work in both worlds and be successful (Josh Barnett types).

    By Ariel Helwani on Nov 14, 2007

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