Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Claudio Castagnoli On Leaving WWE for AEW, Who The Strongest Wrestler Is, Winning The Ring Of Honor World Championship

Episode Date: September 13, 2022

Claudio Castagnoli (@claudiocsro) is a professional wrestling signed to AEW and Ring of Honor and previously worked for WWE under the name Cesaro. He joins Chris Van Vliet for a special live interview at Starrcast in Nashville. He talks about his decision to leave WWE and sign with AEW, what winning the Ring of Honor World Championship means to him, what happened to his partnership with Paul Heyman, who the strongest wrestlers in WWE are, Vince McMahon's criticism of him lacking charisma and the "it factor", his love of coffee, his match with CM Punk that was supposed to happen the night that CM Punk walked out of WWE, winning the Tag Team Championships with Tyson Kidd and also Sheamus, his current workout routine and much more! For more information about Chris Van Vliet and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet CVV CLIPS: youtube.com/CVVCLIPS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All right, my friends, welcome to a very special episode of Insight with Chris Van Fleet. I am CBV Chris Van Fleet, and this was a live interview with Claudio Castignoli that we did in front of a lot of you at Starcast in Nashville. And we've done a few episodes in front of a crowd, but never a crowd this big. And it was extra special because this was Claudio's first interview that he did since leaving W.W. and signing with AEW. And to put things in context a little bit for the timing

here, he had just won the Ring of Honor Championship a week before this interview. So we covered a lot here. We chatted for about 45 minutes. Then we opened it up to Q&A from the crowd with some really, really interesting questions. So please,

if you enjoy this episode, share it with a friend. Make sure you're following wherever you're listening right now. And snap a screenshot, share it on social media, tag us so we can share it out as well. Claudio is at Claudio CSRO. I'm at Chris Van Fleet, also tag at Starcast events. So maybe we can do another one of these at the next Starcast event. So let's do this. We're going to take you right now to Starcast in Nashville with our special guest, Claudio Castignoli.

All systems are going. Chris. The Starcast. I'm going to stand out here for a second. Starcast, let me hear you guys. Welcome to a live audio adventure here on Insight with Chris Van Fleet. I am so pumped to be with you guys. Make a little noise if you've ever listened to an episode of Insight before.

I'm so grateful for you guys. This is amazing. I'm so pumped to be up here. What a year this man has had. And we have a lot to dive in. into. This is his first interview since becoming the Ring of Honor World Champions, so let's not waste any time.

Let's get right to this. Ladies and gentlemen, he is the Ring of Honor World Champion Claudio. Take a seat. Let's make this thing happen. You know what I just found out at AWF is nice things that you can just put the belt on. Oh, yeah.

And it just stays there. Would you like to try to put it out here? I mean, I'm going to... Yeah, we can prop it up on a perhaps a bottle of water or something. Man. We've been trying to make this interview happen for like five years. Yeah, I was going to bring that up.

So the first time you asked me to the interview was probably five years ago, and I'm just kind of like, and then the pandemic happened, and I need to scoot in so we can look great on reading there. But I'm very happy it happens today. With the belt here or the championship here, I feel like it is about to be like me

versus you, like with the table. Luckily for you it isn't. Yeah, seriously. What does this mean to you? Oh man. I mean, not everything, but pretty close. I mean, this just is a huge milestone for me. And I feel for everybody that followed my career.

And also, it kind of, if you just follow your heart and do what you think is right, may end up with one of these. So to me, that's just a... ultimate price, but I also know that, I mean, I'm not going to be like, hey, this is great, this is the best thing ever, and I'm just going to coast forward, you know, it's kind of the hard work starts now. Yeah. What does it mean to you that you're now the Ring of Honor world champion, that you're a world

champion and professional wrestling, but you did it under your real name? I mean, it's pretty cool. I'm not going to lie. It's pretty cool. And it's a world title that I always wanted, and I was really close to it. And I was really close to it when I was the Ring of Honor back in 2007 to 2011. And it never really happened. There was a bunch of circumstances.

But to actually kind of come back to it and be able to win it and represent it with all the history it has, really awesome. It's a great feeling. What did that conversation look like with Tony when he said, not only are we going to have you have a match for the title, but you're going to win that title? See, I never really, I mean, I always believe, but I never really believe until it happens. So I never really get excited until it happens because a lot of stuff always changes. There's last minute changes. Everything. But when it finally happened and I had the title and I was able to raise it and to hear it.

the crowd just go crazy and it was in Boston which is where I have a lot of history with Ring of Honor it just it felt really special and I felt validated and I kind of I felt like I needed to do this for my

fans you know that followed me you know for the past 20 years and they're still following me and they feel like they're very very dedicated and just to be able to win it for them meant a whole lot to me yeah by the way speaking Speaking of your fans, we are going to have a Q&A the last 15, 20 minutes here.

So if you have questions for Claudio, let us know, and we will field those questions after. For so much of your career, you had the term underrated attached to your name. I don't feel like you're underrated anymore. I do appreciate the underrated label, but I feel at least my fans are going to thank you guys. all for me. I don't think they ever thought I was underrated, maybe underutilized. Perhaps underappreciated. It would be a better thing. But I feel the underrated thing is kind of the best kept secret kind of vibe. And I really appreciate that because I've never been the one that just goes out there and tells everybody how great I am. I would rather go out and show it.

And it may take longer, but in the end, you have a longer lasting effect. And to me, that is way more important. So, you know, the fact that I had so many people calling me underrated, I take that as a big compliment. You said in your promo last night on Rampage that there were times when you doubted yourself. I'm really curious about that. What were the times when you doubted yourself? There's been plenty. There's been plenty. I feel like every human, every person goes through time as well, just doubt themselves. So like, okay, did I make them? right choice. I could have done this. Now I'm over here. I made that decision. You know what I mean? Like I moved to the States. And for example, for me, as I moved to the United States, for the first

three, four years, nothing was really, I mean, I was doing okay, but it wasn't super successful. So it's like, okay, did I make the right choice? And then, you know, I went to Ring of Honor. I didn't win the world title then. When the W.W.E. didn't win the world title there. So it's kind of like, okay, am I, did I still keep going? Did I make the right choices? So, you know, it's like, it's little things, or just very trivial. You have a bad night and you're driving the next time and you're kind of, what am I doing? What am I doing?

What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing? It's just, you doubt yourself, especially when you're a creative person and when you're somebody that's just is driven, you want to have success. And then you have to kind of redefine maybe what success is to you, right? I feel like everybody has to find their way of finding themselves and finding success.

So there was many times where I was maybe down on myself or like, oh, well, I don't know. People still react the way they, I think they do. And then I go out and the crowd just like goes crazy. Like you guys stay there tonight or they did on rampage. And it just kind of reassures you. He was like, oh man, no, they still like me. So thank you for that. So, you know, there's been many times when it was kind of a doubt like that.

Or, for example, when I haven't been used on TV for a while, and you're like, oh, man, I wish I should do better, I need to do better. And then you go to a live event and the crowd is just crazy and they show you that they haven't forgotten about you. They do care about you. So that means a lot. And everybody that comes up to you in the street or when they recognize you and just be like, man, you know, you're inspiration, or I'm a big fan, we love watching you,

and then lately it's been with Uno. A lot of people come up to me and, you know, Adam Cole, Xavier Woods, and Calabrese, we're like, dude, pandemic, you know, like, we really enjoyed watching you guys play Uno, and it really helped us, and to me that means the world, because it helped me a lot, and we had so much fun recording that, you know. When you talk about getting recognized, How often has it happened where people think you're Jason Statham? Not as often as you think.

It's usually when I do interviews and stuff like that. People are like, anybody ever told you, you look at Jason Statham, and I always go like, no, it's the first time. And they're like, really? Yeah, but, yeah. When you talk about making choices, you made a really big one earlier this year. I did. You, after 11 years, left WWE, and you didn't.

really make a big deal about it. You didn't put out a tweet about it. You didn't do a podcast. You didn't make a video. You kind of quietly left the company. This is my first podcast since I left. Yeah. I just realized that. Super grateful to have you here too. What kind of thought went into that? How much thought went into leaving a sure thing. It was 11 years at WWE. A lot of thought, actually. I may have felt for a while that I need to be. I need to be a sure thing. I need to change and then leading up to it there was just a bunch of signs a bunch of stuff that different people said that they may have not even realized that they said it that just kind of helped me make up my mind one of the things that just popped in my head was a Johnny Gargano's last promo

on NXT when he said to just always bet on yourself and that was just like maybe the last straw it was just one of those that was like yep he's 100% right you need to brother go out on your own horse than you know is that even a saying going out on your own horse well it is now i tell you that much um so put it on a t-shirt push it on a t-shirt right your own horse um since we're in the backgrounds um so to me it was just kind of a lot of things leading up to it and then die on your own shield that's what you're saying there we go something like that i mean i didn't want to die but sure go out on your own shirt so then um I didn't want to make a big deal out of it because a lot of people do. A lot of people, they, you know, when Cody left the first time, you made that list of who

he wanted to wrestle. And then after that, everybody made that list. That was like the new favorite thing. So I just want to do it different. I'm kind of against the grain a lot. But I'm just like, everybody's doing this. Let me try to do this over here. And I felt it was better that way because I figured if I want to keep wrestling and then I

pop up somewhere, it's going to be a bigger surprise. And I feel wrestling is all about moments. And I would have been like, all right, I'm leaving. Then people would have known, right? Then it would be like, okay, he's going to show up somewhere or whatever. But if it's just kind of quiet, nobody really knows what's going to happen and when's going to happen. And that's a beauty in wrestling, right? Like, you want to be surprised. Like, yes, you want to know, but you also love being surprised. And to me, that's always a very important thing that you know, maybe, but there's always that. That's always that And that's what makes magic happen. And I feel like I'm more about actions than talking.

So I was just like, I'll just let it breathe. I'm sure they were trying to get you to resign. What was the thing that made it? Like really bad, yeah. What was the decision that pushed you over and said, you know what? I'm not going to. There was a couple. One of the things was there's so many.

people that I want to be in the ring with at AW in that ring of honor. I was like, man, I have matches for the next years that I want to do. And while there's still guys in WW that I haven't wrestled that I really want to wrestle, that number is less than at AW. And at my core, I always wanted to improve, I wanted to get better, and I wanted to have new challenges when I first. went from Ring of Honor to WWI, I didn't do so because I wanted to be on TV or anything. It was just, for me, it was the logical next step.

Like, okay, I've done a lot in Ring of Honor, what's the next step, what's the next challenge? Where are the best guys at that point? And it was the same thing here, it was like, all right, what's the next step, what's the next challenge? And the EW has been awesome. I had pretty much the best first month I could have dreamt off. could have dreamt off. Seriously. With all the matches.

Thank you guys. And with that said, how good did those you deserve a chance feel? Yeah, I always thought that you deserve a chance are very cheesy, right? I mean, it's kind of, it's like this is awesome chant that now is just always around for everything. But 22 years into the business, I mean. So when I was out there and I was, you know, everybody, was chant, you deserve it, it meant a lot, and I appreciate it, and I saw the irony in me standing there enjoying the you deserve it chant, because I'm usually the one that's like,

oh, well, I don't know if it's true. I'm very cynical. But maybe that's a lesson for me to not be as cynical at times and just sit and enjoy it to what it is, because what it comes down to in the end is what do the fans enjoy and what you do. they want and what they think is awesome and what they think, who they think they deserve it, that's in the end, the fact of what matters. So to be out there and hear him chant it, and I think they cut it on TV too, it was way long alive. It was, it was very flattering. And it just made me want to work that much harder. But look, I feel like it's not, unfortunately, always down to what the fans want, because otherwise you would have been the

WWE champion a long time ago. Do you feel like there was a moment there when you were really close and then something happened and then the plans went a different way? Yes. You're like yes, many times. It's all about building momentum, right? Wrestling is like you have to find that momentum and I feel I created that momentum a lot of times with the fans. I feel like that's the natural thing. You've seen that with them.

Like the last time that really happened was with Becky. Becky just got red hot and the fans made her undeniable. And I feel like I was on that birch a couple of times where the crowd was with me. My stuff was going awesome. And then it was just, okay, well, we're going in this direction now. And it was like, all right, back to square one. And that happened a bunch of times. but in the end it all led to this and a lot of the stuff in life

is about the journey right like you always have that I read that actually the other day so when you have a goal when you reach that goal that's the end that's the end of the way and it's but that end

is pretty determined like it's the wall that you set up and after that it's like okay what am I doing after that wall meanwhile when it's just a journey you can go at your own pace and I feel that

That's why my mind, fans still support me because they've been on this 20 year long journey with me. They've seen all the successes, all the setbacks, everything. And I'm still here. I'm still doing it. And I'm doing what I'm talking about. Yes. That's what's important.

Thank you. I feel like there was a point when you had a ton of momentum. And Vince McMahon went on Stone Colts podcast. and Stone Cold asked Vince like Cesarro has everything why isn't he a big star and Vince said that he thought you lacked charisma and the X factor

when you heard that what did you think about it I thought he was wrong yeah I mean yeah I feel charisma comes in very different forms

shapes sizes not everybody has that over the top Ultimate Warrior, shaking the ropes, running around, crazy, yelling, screaming type of charisma. Not that I'm sitting here, telling you all how awesome my charisma is, but I felt that I had a connection with the fans, with the WWU University, where you want to call it in the United States, and more importantly as well, all over the world, because while other people were known for long promos that get translated into Vinay.

different other languages and then doesn't really come across. My stuff was always about the in-ring work and people can connect with that and may take a bit longer, but I did connect with a lot of the fans and they were behind me. So I don't know if that's just not what he was looking for, but in the end of fact, I mean, it brought me here and you guys are all here to see me, so I'm very happy by that. Again, it's all about that journey. There was a moment when you were paired with Paul Heyman. and like Paul Heyman's had this great track record of like making Paul Heyman guys. And if for whatever reason it didn't work out, what happened with Paul Heyman?

Brock Lesnar came back. And Paul Heyman went back to Brock Lesnar. And Paul has said that basically right before you guys got paired together, Brock Lesnar beat the streak. Like Brock Lesnar, Brock Lesnar, WrestleMania 30, broke the Undertaker streak. And it was like what they did was they wanted Paul Heyman on TV telling everyone, that Brock Lesnar broke the streak, but he was putting him with you. Was that the downfall there? Yeah, I would think so, because it was right after the rest of the media 30

when I won the first ever Under the Jam Memorial, which is still one of my favorite memories of my career. Yeah. And I remember it was also me and Jack Swagger broke up as the real Americans, right? and we kind of both went solo. And I was clearly liked as the baby face, if you will, in that scenario. But they kind of kept us both heel for a bit. And then they switched swagger being babyface, but they kept me heel.

So it was this weird mix of happenstances. They put me with Haman. Haman talked about Brock. I was supposed to be a bad guy, but the crowd really liked me. They really wanted me to be a good guy. So again, we were going against the grain in that aspect. So I think it was just a series of unfortunate circumstance. What have you been drinking here, by the way?

And you've been hiding behind the championship. No, no, I mean, it's the smallest cup of coffee that I can possibly find. It's a cortado, which is espresso and milk. So it's essentially a really tiny latte. Like you're as passionate about coffee as you are about pro wrestling. Yes. Maybe even more? I don't know.

No, no, no. The pro wrestling is still number one, but coffee's a close. One A? Yeah. Is this the every day? This is pretty much the everyday. Do you drink? So what's the go-to when you go to a coffee shop?

It's this. It's espresso with a little bit of milk, yeah. Do you make it at home? I make it at home as well. I may have purchased the very commercial setup, yes. What do you mean? Well, I got a really fancy espresso maker, you know, and every morning,

I know the exact amount of grams it needs for coffee to be, you know, grinded and then put in the coffee maker for, you know, 25 seconds yields about 32 grams of espresso. Yeah. I'm that nerd, yeah. Does your coffee maker cost more than $500? Yes. More than $1,000? We're not going to play this game. It's a lot of dollars.

Yeah. Did they actually give you the Andre the Giant trophy? So, I don't know if you remember, but the trophy that I had actually got destroyed the very next day. And what happened is that thing is so heavy, right? It's huge. It's huge. The base is completely solid. And until Corbyn picked it up the other day, nobody ever picked it up.

So I don't know if you remember, but every time somebody won the Honor the Jam Memorial, Valeroyal, after me, they just kind of stood next to it. Yeah, they stood. They did the pose next to it. the pose next to it, and then, like, afterwards they just had it ringside because, you know, they brought it in the ring for me, and I was, you know, this is my second match of the night, and I was like, no, I want to lift this trophy because it will look cool on pictures and everything, and I won it, and this is awesome, and I lifted it, and it's so heavy, and I was like, you know, and I wanted to carry it all the way to the back as well.

So the next day, they just kind of carted it around for me, and they have those, it's like a little baby ramp that goes over cables. Oh, yeah. Somebody pushed it. Part went this way and the trophy just absolutely shattered. So they fixed it as good as they could. They still have it at the warehouse. But it's like glued together?

It's glued together. Well, like they have like the broken parts. I was supposed to get him. I never did. But I have the first ever plaque that was in front of it. So very short story made very long. I have the plaque. I do not have the trophy.

Man. I want to ask you about the airplane swing. What is, people think that the records, there's some controversy about how long you've actually swung someone for. How long do you think you could go for? It depends. The longest I've ever swung somebody was the crowd counted to 100,

which was. They were counting fast, I feel like, though. Yeah, I was made aware from some people online that it was actually only 88 revolutions. Come on. But that's still a lot of rounds that we went. It all depends on the opponent, how hot the crowd is, how tired I am. So, yeah.

Does it make both you and the opponent dizzy? No, it doesn't make me dizzy. Just my legs get tired. Oh. But it makes the opponent dizzy? So I've heard from many people that it's their least favorite move to take, and they absolutely hate it to the point where they almost refuse to take it because it makes it dizzy and they hate it.

I've seen, like, people take it very differently. I've seen some people that are like clenching onto their head like, what am I doing here? What do you tell people? I just tell them to relax. Which I guess is the wrong thing. Just relax. Just relax.

Although what might be more impressive is the UFO spin, like just gravity, putting it on your shoulders. How do you even figure out that you're capable of doing such a thing? Okay, so I don't think you will guess it, but I stole that move from dancing with the stars. What? Yes. So, yeah. That was probably, again, 15 years ago, you know, when you don't have the option of Netflix or anything, you just kind of watch cable.

and I don't know why I just dancing with the stars was on and they always have the cool lift, right, where they throw people around and everything. And one of my Mexican teachers, Skyda, he would, you watch like gymnastics or whatever and just figure out new moves, just watching anything. And so I watched that because they always had really cool lifts and the way they pick people up and stuff.

And they did a variation of that. And I was like, ooh, that's cool. And so I went and tried it out He came up with the move pretty much Who was the first person you tried it out on? I don't know Well it works Maybe Orange Cassidy back in the day

Who knows? Really? It could be, it actually may as well Could be, yeah Wow With moves like that I think that people always go, Claudio is pound for pound The strongest guy in pro wrestling

And I mean, I think it's hard to argue with that And you're like, I mean, I'm not going to argue with it Yeah. Who's the strongest person that you've been in the ring with? Oh man, there's a lot of really strong guys. I mean, Big E is abnormally strong. Seth Rollins, extremely strong too. A lot of people say John Cena.

Maybe somebody who didn't expect that. John Cena is an obvious one. Big Show. It's an obvious one, yeah. So, you know, when you hold a cat, Right? Or a dog and it doesn't really want to be held. There's one match where I jumped that big show and he just stopped me like, I was just hanging in the air like that, like, let me down, let me down, let me down, let me down.

So I felt like an animal. So he's just, he's just, he's just on Godly strong. Mark Henry, he's another guy. I think Mark Henry is probably the strongest human to ever walk this planet. Just from his sheer feats of strength that he used to do and still does. Have you seen any of these feats of stray firsthand? We were working out once, and there was, like, he was doing pull-ups, like, four or five. So, like, if you imagine somebody like Mark Henry's size, just busting out a bunch of pull-ups. Surprise the bar didn't break. Yeah, and then he just went over and deadlifted, like, 550 pounds, like, was nothing.

So, yeah, it's stuff like that that makes you, like, yeah, there's some people who are ridiculous. Man. I want to ask you about wrestling. Mania 34. I was there. You went in with the bar, we're going to talk a bunch about the bar. Any bar fans here? Yeah. Me too. I'm going to clap as well. You lost to Braun Strowman and Nicholas. Yes. What was the conversation like when you learned that you were going to lose to a 10-year-old? I didn't even realize that

So I met Nicholas earlier in that day And I didn't even realize that he was going to be the mystery upon him Because nobody really told us the last minute So I was just like It was like three hours later And I asked like Shames or somebody It was like so who is it? And they were like, oh, you met him three hours ago

And I'm like, oh So I thought it was really cool I mean Every show needs What I love about wrestling, right? Every, it's like all the kinds of different matches, the different, like the roller coaster ride, it takes you on. And that WrestleMania needed a match like that, where it's just fun. And every show needs, bum matches, right? And, and,

WrestleMania, everybody is nervous, everybody's hyped, everybody, you know, it's just, it's WrestleMania, right? And once everything was figured out, that match was so much fun. And they were just able to go out there and enjoy it. And we had the float, it's called the thing, right, with all the guys with the big head coming out with us. So it was like a crazy, awesome entrance. And the match was just fun.

And if you, to me, it's, like I said earlier, it's all about moments, right? And if you're a kid and you're watching WrestleMania, that could be you right so that was very cool to be in that match but that matter and the fact that people still talk about it to that day because there was some bangers on that card yeah but a lot of people always ask was like so nicholas now i'm like yeah i know right so um i'm very proud to be part of that match i think there's a moment where like the genuine emotion on his face felt so real and i think that all of us no matter what age you are looked at nicholas and went that's us. Like at one point, like, we felt that.

That's the magic, right? Yeah. To be able to connect with the fans all over the world and at home and be like, that's me or that's genuine. Because especially nowadays where there's so much content to watch, you can sift through the stuff that's not genuine like that. Like, you don't know, you don't really know why, but you're not going to watch it because it just something feels off, right? but Nicholas, when he was just because he was, yeah, legit, like a 10-year-old kid, right? That didn't know any better.

Whose son was he? One of the referees. Yeah, he's one of the referees kids, yeah. So that's where, like, when I met him earlier, I was just like, oh, you know, that's just, you know, referees kid, you know? Shout out to John Cohn here. So that's where I just was like, oh, okay,

he just brought his kid to WrestleMania. That's really cool. And I was like, oh, no, you're wrestling. I'm like, oh, okay, cool. So to me, it was a very, very, very, special moment because I doubt we'll see another 10-year-old wrestling at WrestleMania than the future so yeah so what was the moment for you growing up where you watched something and went oh man I really connect with that that could be me one

day um well I was a big fan of the Steiner brothers um and uh they're feud against the quebecers but I think what really got me the first time was Owen against Brett and I feel like everybody that has a brother or, you know, sister or whatever, can really relate to that story because it's that sibling rivalry. And I thought that was just brilliant. Could you imagine a match with you against Owen or you against Brett? Good. So it sounds pretty awesome. Man, that'd be so good. I always, like Owen was always, even in that, that few, when I,

was a kid i was always i was always rooting for owen because i was like yeah brett is wrong i don't tell brett i said so i know we're going to be doing a q and a here in a little bit but you had this one huge fan who couldn't be here today so they actually recorded a video okay so we're going to play a video here of your huge fan here who wanted to ask a question so take a look yeah maybe we can look there radio uh i wanted to send in the question on you Chris was going to interview you. I wanted to ask if you remember what city it was. We made a very famous referee, cut quite the promo on us backstage after a triple threat tag.

If you want to elaborate on that story, I don't think that's a great story. It's funny. I think you'd do a good job telling it. But if also if you want to just keep it between us, that's fine. But if you could at least tell me what city it was. Thank you. T.J. Wilson, everybody. Hell yeah.

I'm a big T.J. Wilson guy. Me too. Me too. We actually talked, like, I think last week or something. Yeah, we always talked in text, yeah. So he said the story where you made a very famous referee. Yes. Yeah, cut a promo on you guys. Yeah.

The reason thing, I can picture the arena, and it was in North Carolina, because we were in Raleigh the night before, and then I think it's Greensboro I can picture the arena but I cannot I'm always really with the cities but so what happened is there was a three-way tag

and the first night in Raleigh we were on first and it was just kind of may or may not have forgotten to tell the referee what exactly the finish was so he did one of those one two

three then he was kind of mad at us because we didn't tell him so he looked bad all our fault right and the next day Greensboro um we thought it would be funny if every single person that match and it was a three-way tag go up to the ref and tell him exactly what the finish is this time right because we're you know funny that way so then we do the finish and it's um on eric rowan right guy and it's a roll-up. Well, what happened is he's all rolled up and he said he couldn't

breathe. So what he does is, one, two, hu-h-h-referred's three. He looks like an idiot again. Unfortunately, can we cast him? Sure, of course. Sure. All right. Probably. Make an exception. So

he literally comes back. He was like, what is this? Fucking amateur hour! So he just went off on all of us and we all felt horrible, but we all were dying laughing. We have to put this back up. Yeah, we all went and told him what the finish was, and he looked bad twice. Yeah, it was one of my favorite. And if you can imagine, he has blonde hair, and the face was really red, and it was just

very animated, so. He says woo sometimes? I'm not going to confirm what I deny that, but it was awesome, and it was so funny, and afterwards, obviously, we all had a good laugh, but it was just, we felt really bad the first night, and then in the second night, it was just, yeah. How did you and Tyson Kidd originally get paired up? We found out on Twitter that we were teaming up that night on Smackdown in, sorry, on raw, in a tag team gauntlet, and that's legit how we found out.

We found out, like, we get to the arena and I guess, I guess we're teaming tonight. We, I mean, we were always friends, but then the first time we teamed was that night, then it instantly clicked. And, yeah. He's told me that some of his favorite matches were with you, teaming with you. Oh, some of my favorite matches against him. We wrestled at NXT. And then teaming with him 100%.

We had some awesome matches with New Day, Usos, and that was all within the span of six months. How did you find out that you were teaming with Seamus? Was that one on Facebook? No, that was I think we did that we did the best of seven series That was actually a best of nine We already, because we already wrestled like three times

Nobody's counting now No, no, there were a lot of people counting online Let me tell you They were all like, well, they already wrestled So I'm like, okay, cool, we're just going to wrestle a bunch more I love your comments about the fan remarks No, no, no, I mean it's, to me The real trick was

at the end of the best of seven nobody wanted it to be over and that's always the good part right and that the work speaks for itself there was also a lot of people really excited about it and then we had the seventh match and we were told it's going to be a draw

and then we're going to be teaming and I think it was Mick Foley's idea that we would be teaming and McFolley's a genius so yeah what would you say is your favorite match with the bar as the bar Oh man there's so many

I'm always bad at picking out the favorite matches because what will happen is I'll do a signing afterwards and somebody was like hey remember this match I really liked it and I'm like oh yeah that was a really one really good one too the one against Nicholas and Braun-Strauman at WrestleMania obviously that's a very memorable one for obvious reasons

we wrestled the Hardy Boys in a cage match in Baltimore which was again memorable for that. Same with a 30-minute Iron Man match. I think that was the last tag team Ironman match that there was. When the Hardys came back, wrestling minute before that,

I think that was one of the loudest crowd reactions I've ever heard when I was in the ring with anybody when that happened. Did you know? I mean, yeah. I think a lot of people didn't. Like, they snuck him in the back door. It was a very, very, very.

very small amount of people that knew, but obviously people in the match had to know. Okay, yeah. There were matches with me and Chambers against Seth Wallens and Dean Ambrose when I hit my teeth. For example, it's one of my favorites. Your teeth look great now, by the way. Oh, thank you. Yeah. They're really, no, they're not.

They're actually still my real teeth. There was a lot of matches on live events that we had all over the world that were just fun because me and Seamus are really like brothers and he just had a blast wherever we went and there's so many good matches that I had that I don't just want to pick out one. When you look at everything that you've done in Ring of Honor the first time, W.W.E. for 11 years. Now you're in A.E.W. in Ring of Honor. I feel like there's a lot of possibilities here. What's still on the bucket list of things that you want to do? There's so many things that I may not even realize because, for example, like you brought up

yesterday I had a promo and Tony Chavani was in the ring introducing me and then I did a little interview segment with him and I told him after it was like, there's another one off the bucket list because I'm picking Tony Schumani right, I grew up watching him so there's so many possibilities

still out there that I may have not even thought of even in the past I did a live-am match in New York it was me and Swagger against Cody and Dustin Gold Dust in a cage in the finish was a moonsol off the cage by Cody.

And I was like, okay, I wrestled at the garden in a cage match. That's pretty cool. So there's a lot of memories like that that are circumstantial that I wouldn't be able to like foresee them, but when they happen, it's really amazing. You know what I'm saying? So that's again, is that thing that I said earlier. I just want to enjoy the journey because I think there's going to be so many cool moments and there's so many possibilities in AW now for me that I don't want to be.

want to just pinpoint one. I just want to enjoy it. Like I wrestled, you know, Hager, which was really cool throwback. And then, I mean, AW is going to Arthur Ashe Stadium, which I'm a huge tennis fan with Roger Federer and everybody from Switzerland. So that's going to be a huge moment for me. And then there's so many guys in AW, like I said, that I have history with or that I've known for a long time that I help train whatever that I really want to have matches with. And I think that's going to be very special. So next time I'm on your podcast. We'll talk about that. I can't wait. Haven't you wrestled in AEW?

I mean, everybody for the last 10 years. That's true. You know, I'm really bad. I'm just picking up one or two people, but... I bet the crowd could help. A shout out some names. Who do you want to see Cizaro work in AEW? Yeah, Bray Phoenix, Hangman.

Kenny Omega, yeah. There we go, St. Hook, right? Dan House is somewhere back there. Yeah, they might curse you, though. You know, the Lucha brothers, Dragon Lee, you know, like, there's so many Dante Martin, right? Ricky Starks. Ricky Starks. Youngbox, haven't wrestled young box in a long time, for example, right?

It's just the list goes on and on, and every time I watch the Dynamite or Rampage, there's other people, you know, that either step up or I see. I'm like, ooh, this would be awesome. Like, I haven't wrestled Rush, for example, either. He just had a hell of a match with Mux on dynamite. It's just for me, and I said it on my first media scrum or whatever, those are called. I am like a kid in a candy store because there's so many possibilities. And to me, wrestling has always been about that. It's about matchups.

And there's so many different matchups, so many stories at AW that I'm just so excited for. I would love to see you in an Iron Man match. And I think that if anybody could do it I was actually thinking about that the other day I was like ooh you know what Haven't had a long Iron Man match in a while So it's kind of one of those like I know Brian had to have His hour long match with a hangman

So it was like one of these days One of these days gonna have one of those as well You guys want to see Claudio in an Iron Man match Yeah Yeah I actually just found out I'm wrestling in Konashita At Battle of the Battle of the Bells this Saturday Amazing

August 6th so I'm super pump for that because I saw him and Kingston and then him and Marks and he was one of those guys that was like oh man I hope I can get in the ring with him and I can hear it is so it's like it's awesome it's for me and I feel like for the fans

well I hope you are guys as I was excited as I am because it's fresh matchups all the time and it's just fun to watch I think one of the most impressive things about you is your consistency like if you watch a match of yours from five years ago 10 years ago 15 years ago not only do you look the same,

like you, I feel like you haven't aged at all, but like your intensity and what you do in the ring, it's always been there. It's impressive. Thank you. The big compliment I got, actually, before the Ring of Honor show, I talked to one of the announcers,

and he was kind of saying, he was like, you know, you never really changed your style. Like when you were in Ring of Honor, then you went to WWV. You just wrestled a Ring of Honor style in WW. And I thought about it. I'm like, I think I have. Like, there's stuff I change, the stuff I'm approved, but I stay true to my style, I hope.

And if I watch highlights from 10, 15 years ago, I still do similar stuff. And for me, that's always been very important because there's this, like, threat through all my career. Like, I feel I've grown a lot as a performer. But I never forgot my roots. I never forgot where I came from. And I want to do show and share that with the world because that's the style of wrestling that I love. And I want to showcase that on the biggest stage as possible. And that's, you know, what I'm doing now at AW.

It's like that hard-hitting style with some fun, with a good time that's hopefully fun to watch. And like you said, to me, consistency is key, right? You get a lot of performers. and I feel like it's been a key for sure in my career and I feel a big part of my success because I didn't just have a couple of good years and then fizzled off. I'm trying to have hell of a run all the way through.

You've gotten better. I'm trying to get better. A little bit better every day is my motto. Working out, life, being a human, being a wrestler, a little bit better than yesterday. Like whatever you learn today, apply tomorrow. And whenever I'm asked, like, okay, so when you want to retire, how old are you going to be, whatever? There's no age.

There's no certain point. Once the point comes that I cannot perform at a level that I want to in the ring, and it feels like, I don't ever want anybody to watch a match around and be like, oh, he lost a step. Like, I'll be gone by then. Your conditioning, though, is still next level. So, like, let's get granular with this. What does your workout and your diet look like? You can explain granular to me. I'll gladly tell you about my workouts.

Let's get nitty-gritty about it. Come on, you speak five languages. Which language should I say it in? I do not speak granular, though. So, I mean, I just think I work out normally. Nothing that special about it. I think normal for you might be very different from the people. When I first started, I just did like bodybuilding and that kind of stuff.

And then when I first went to FCW, we trained with a guy named Rob McIntyre. He's seen us, personal trainer, and we were lucky enough to train in his gym. And he introduced me to weightlifting, like Olympic weightlifting, which I absolutely love and have been doing ever since. Because I think it's the ultimate exercises for your whole body, for strength, explosivity, all that stuff that I cannot pronounce. It's granular. Granular, all that granular stuff. And then I recently started introducing some, like, I always liked functional exercises and body weight stuff. And then I started doing more CrossFit, thanks to Seth Wallens, who was a huge CrossFit nerd.

So that has been kind of my workout ever since. And same with wrestling, I feel with working out, the key is consistency. you need to consistently work out. And whenever people ask me like, okay, what is your advice working out? What is your advice getting into working out? It's just find something that you like because you need to find something that you will do consistently. And once made up you're running, walking, rowing, weightlifting, whatever it is, like just go to the gym doing curls. It doesn't matter.

As long as you do it consistently, you will enjoy it, you will build on it, you'll make it a habit. and then you'll be successful. I really think it's the fountain of youth. Like if you can move your body, I mean, look how great you look. And I think there's a lot of people, there's a lot of people whose age begin with a four, and they think like, well, this is the beginning and the end now.

And I'm like, I look at a guy like you. Like, you look better than ever now. Thank you. Again, I try. And to me, it's that consistency, right? Get enough sleep, get enough rest, and then train. And that's always been a modern.

and you don't have to be in the gym for two hours. I'm in the gym for about an hour, hour and a half. It just has to be how you use your time. Like, I want to go in the best I can and then leave, be done. But to me, gym is also, that's me time. That's kind of time where it's just me by myself. Kind of like my meditation, so to speak, it sounds weird. But it's just when you're on the road all the time,

there's very few places where you just have to yourself. and the gym has always been one of them and I feel that's very important for anybody to have that kind of me time and for me to do it in the gym. It's just kind of what I've been doing and it's brought me a lot of joy. So I had another

really big fan of yours who couldn't be here. Record a video for you so take a look at this really big fan of yours. Oh, it's sideways. Oh, hey Swiss. Interesting. I don't really have a question for you. Because we talk all the time.

But tell Chris about the time that you saved my job by uppercutting my head off. So this is Tyler Breeze, everybody. Sideways, Tyler Breeze. Difficult for Breeze. He doesn't understand the assignment for talking clearly and holding the camera in a way that we can play it right, right? Trust me, I'll give him plenty of crap for that. So he's asking you to tell a story about the time that you saved his job by uppercutting his head off. Oh, I think what he's talking about, he makes this joke.

He was, there was an FCW where I just got there, and I wrestled my first match against him ever on FCW TV. And it was just kind of a post-begat-over match because I don't think they were very high on him at that time, which I didn't know. And the upper cut, he was talking about this, when I popped the guy up and the upper cut him on the world, way down and he just took him like a madman and went super high in the sky and I took his head off.

But after that match, everybody was like, how was he to work with him? I'm like, he's great. They were like, hey, he's really good, he's really good, yeah. And then like, fast forward three months and he was FCW champ or something. So he kind of put that saluting me too. Like I took, I up and cut his head off but saved his job in the process because they were not high on him before. And then afterwards they were rightfully so very high name after. So I don't think I did anything. I think he did everything. He just showed everybody how good he actually was.

And then if you see in his transformation into, like, obviously coming up with the Tyler Breeze character, it's fantastic. Like his diversity, his love for the business now having the flatbacks wrestling school. I know it well. You know it well. You know it well. You wear a proud on your chest. I heard.

I'm still healing from that, by the way. He has been somebody that I met that day before my first match, and I've been best friends with him ever since. And I feel like what happened in 2020 with you guys really being able to showcase your personalities? You mentioned Uno earlier, but you guys really being able to showcase your personality. I mean, hell, he started that video, Swiss. Like, there might be a lot of people that know you as Swiss

and don't know you as Cesar or Claudio. Oh, I love it. Yeah, yeah. I put Swiss on the back of my entrance jacket too. So, yeah. That was so much fun. And like you said, for us to just come out and be ourselves. And I've said this in interviews before. We would have done that and kept doing it, even if nobody would have watched it. Luckily, people loved it and watched us playing Uno. But we had such a blast. We would talk for, like, it was plenty of times where we recorded at like 10 o'clock on Sunday and it would be like

12 o'clock we were like should we start recording Uno because we would just talk and have a good old time Other than wrestling and coffee, what's something that you're like really passionate about? Working out, I guess I started playing video games a little bit more

What's the game you're playing right now? I'm playing League of Legends still and Eldring at the moment. League of Legends is the one thing that no matter how much I do it how much I try, I just keep sucking at it. One of those things. The more you play it may be the

no. No, no. I mean, for everybody else probably yes. For me, no. Okay, we're going to get to Q&A here. So if you guys have some Q&A we're going to get to that. Then I got a few more questions that I always talk about during my interviews. So if you've got a question for Claudio here, shoot your hand up. And

we've got Malcolm here who's going to come over to you and tell us your name and we'll get going here. What is your name, sir? Joshua Ferguson. Joshua. And I was just wondering, since you've been back in AEW or since you came to AEW, is there any one match or moment or opponent that has stood out in particular since you've been back over this past month that has really just, you know, impressed you or blown you away? It is kind of hard to hear that. I'm sorry. Thank you. trying to figure out can you repeat the back hat? Speakers are facing that way.

It's wild. I was just wondering since you've been since you've came to AEW has there been a certain opponent or a certain match that have really just kind of

surprised you and blowing you away that you enjoyed some of more than the others of mine or did I just watch? Of yours. Okay, of yours. Oh.

I've only had like four matches. Zach Sabre Jr. I've only had like four four. Four? I can't count anymore Don't worry Everyone online will tell you

It's been four matches Zach Saber Jr. I think last time I wrestled him was in 2009 So his transformation blew me away and was a lot of fun And then I mean Hager was completely different

Because he's in fighting shape Right? Like all the time I think he just announced that he has His next MMA fight I think next month Guys a piece Yeah

So he is just in crazy shape. And blood and guts was just crazy because I'm in there with so many guys, you know, and I was in there with like Daniel Garcia and Sam McIguarra. And the guys have never really met or been in the ring with before. So that was a lot of fun because, again, I love new challenges and stuff. So I would pick blood and guts probably because it was such a crazy match with so many different people. and it was just fun. It was just chaos galore.

So good times. All right. We're going to actually form a line over here. So to our left to your right where Malcolm's holding the microphone. So if you have a question for Claudio, go line up over there. That'll make more sense. And then we can go make that happen. If that's not the way that things are normally done, I'm sorry, but that's the way we're going to do it here.

So what is your name, sir? Dalton. Claudio, our mutual friend, Anthony Notarelli, wanted me to say hello to you real quick. but my question for you is you're currently the Ring of Honor World Champion but you are also the Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champion two time alongside Chris Hero. I know

earlier you said you don't really like choosing favorite matches but is there a favorite match or favorite matches from the Kings of Wrestling era that you have personally? Yes. I'll tell you two from the top of my head. One was against the briskos in Toronto, Canada. That's my hometown by the way so thank you.

Oh yeah. Yeah. Great city, by the way. Love Toronto. Love Toronto. I do not know which Ring of Honor Show it was, but that match was awesome. It started with a promo that the briskos couldn't be there because they got detained at the border, and then they jumped this over the guardrail. It was awesome. And then there was a sixth man with us and Shane Haggdon against the briskos and Papa Brisco from New York. That was just absolutely awesome.

So I picked those two. Our next question is... We're going to applaud after every single one because... Look, I think it takes a lot to get up and stand there and, you know... We applaud after the question. Yeah, that's right. Not for you. No.

No, for the question. Our next question comes from Joe. Growing up, what's your favorite match watching? My favorite match watching. I'm going to say Owen against Brett from WrestleMania 10. And then closely followed by the latter match, Sean, against Brazier. Who were you cheering for? I wonder Brett

Owen Owen See and then Owen won But then Brett became champion So it should have been Owen You know what I'm saying

He's getting very upset here Geez We're gonna applaud after everyone It does take a lot of guts Yeah thanks guys To get up there Malcolm who would we have next Here we have

It's Rich Abbott here So my very first ring of honor show I was you Daniel Brian and Kenny Omega Wrestling in a three way And I became a big fan of yours because you were doing that, hey. I literally love that because it was just so interactive with the fans. I just wanted to say that, but my real question is, is, now that

that's now in charge, is that changed anything on your stance of what WW would do creatively with you? Not saying you're going back, but just like, does that make any difference in your thought process of that? Hey! Hey! I had to. It doesn't because he wasn't when I was there, right? So that's in the past.

There's nothing I can change. It's just you can learn from it. And I'm, hey, I'm extremely happy where I'm at. You've signed for a few years in AEW, so I don't know. Actually, that's not, I don't know, actually. See, nobody knows. Yeah. But yeah, I'm extremely happy and, you know, hopefully that will be.

That one we were. We were clapping for you that time. All right, so we have Luis. He's going to talk about Paul Heyman. How you doing, sir? Good. How are you? Doing great.

My question is, let me just preface this by saying that I was super excited in WWE when they paired you initially with Paul Heyman, because I thought that Vince McMahon and the creative team were going to push you to the moon, but then it didn't work out. So can you tell us from your perspective why you think or why you know it didn't work out? And the reason why I'm asking was because Ryback said on one of his. podcasts that he didn't feel yeah exactly i feel the same way but ryeback indicated that you know paul haman wasn't engaged with him that's what he thinks the primary reason is so what do you think or what do you know the primary reason for why it didn't work out was i mean again i can i can

speculate i think paul said the same thing that it was just um he was put out there to talk about brock lesnar ending the streak and i was the tool because I could wrestle, you know what I mean? So that was an excuse for him to go out there and talk about me quickly, and then Brock Lesnar, and then Brock came back, and I just stopped being with Paul. So, again, I would imagine it was just a series of unfortunate events for me. But looking back, it was a great learning experience,

and I got the chance to wrestle some great guys and be out there with Paul Heyman and watch him do his thing so it was definitely a good learning experience but you know that stuff happens you just have to learn from it and grow from it I wouldn't agree that I had no interactions with Paul or anything like that

we talked ever since so yeah did you have a chance to learn from Paul backstage I mean you're working with him so closely for those Yeah, I mean, you know, it was like four months and we were riding together, like, you know, driving and stuff. So, yeah, definitely had a chance to learn from Paul. All right, who's next, Malcolm? So we have the tribal chief, Joey. Sir, thank you for being here today.

Big fan of yours. So my question is, is there an opponent who, before the match, you had low expectations of, you know, as far as like how the match was going to go? but then like after y'all come finish the match like they surprised you no i was really trying to think um yeah no no um maybe it's because of the way i approach matches um there were certain matches certainly matches that i've probably gone in and the people liked it way more than i could hope for but there was never somebody that thought, for example, it was really bad and then we got in there and it was great. You know what I mean? Luckily, for me, all the performers that I've stepped in the ring with, as long as I can remember, were always really, really good.

So, I've been fortunate that way. Is there maybe a match that fans come up to you and ask you about that you're like, oh, wow, that one really meant to launch you? That's surprising to me. Yes and no? because it's sometimes matches that I may have forgotten about or that I'm like, because I had, you know, a lot of matches. Or when they said like, oh, I saw you there and this match. And I was like, oh, yeah, like now I remember.

I just need to get my memory triggered. Yeah. But to me, like you said, about consistency, to me, every match is important. I want every single match that I'm in to be the best that it can be under the circumstances given, right? Because you never know who's watching. You never know what people will remember. And that's the most important thing is the fans watching in the audience.

So if you have two minutes, one minute or 15, 30, 60 minutes, you have to give them the best that you can every single time you step in the ring. One of my favorite matches actually was like two minutes and it was with the maze in Wilkespaire. I still remember because he was like, what are we going to do? And we just had a fun short one. It's just like, we're like, okay, maximize the minute, you know. So that's what it's all about. It's a big dusty roads thing, isn't it?

maximize your minutes? You need to maximize your minutes. Yeah. You always have a chance to do something that's memorable. You just have to try to find what it is, which is, you know, sometimes he succeeds, sometimes you don't, but you always try. That's just great life advice, too. Like if you only have five minutes for this interaction with somebody or this job interview

or whatever it is, maximize that time. Maximize the time, and don't be afraid to fail. I always try something in my match that's new or that's different. If it works great, I got something else if it doesn't. I'll try to forget about it. it, but you only learn from failure. There we go. All right. Malcolm, who's next?

From Switzerland, it's Michelle. Oh. First of all, congratulations on your career. Thank you. My question is, what advice do you have for upcoming wrestlers to make their passion a living? Michelle is an upcoming wrestler. Really good question I get asked a lot. My advice is always to take it seriously,

because if you take it seriously and give it, you're all, it'll happen, right? Because you just set yourself up for success. So if you give it 100% and just go for it, sometimes take a leap of faith, that's the best advice I can give. Thank you. Thank you. All right, so we have the goat, AJ. Hello? Hello.

Hello. Oh. My question is, with you just winning the ROH World Championship, when do you think you'll ever go after the AW World Championship? Ooh. Good question. Could you hold both at the same time? That's going to be my question.

Could I hold that? Well, with Marks, you know, fellow Blackpool Combat Club member, Mark's holding the AW interim championship, I feel like I'll leave that one alone for a bit. But I definitely want to win the AW World Championship Maybe once it's unified again, you know So that's definitely definitely something I have my eye on But for right now I'm focused on defending this bad boy right here

When was the last time you wrestled CM Punk? Long time ago Yeah Here's a fun fact You know when the last time I was supposed to wrestle Punk was When? He walked out Wow

How did you find out you weren't wrestling CM Punk that night anymore? Oh, he told me. Oh. I saw him in the hallway. I was in Cleveland. Yeah, I saw him in the hallway as he was on his way out. Oh, and you were like, okay. Wow.

All right, who's next here? All right, we're about to enter the combat zone with Joe. Hey, Claudio. First of all, I want to say thanks and congratulations for being Claudio again. I'm so excited about it. that and so my favorite feud maybe was CZW Ring of Honor I love the Kings of Wrestling and that whole stable could you give us I think about regularly how much fun Larry Sweeney would be having right now could you tell us a memory or two about Larry and

how awesome he would be thanks um thinking back that Ccd W against ROH feud was probably one of the biggest things I've been part of definitely at that time in my career. And I still look back because that was so good for Ring of Honor and for CCW because when we did the Cage of Death, like the last show, they like blow off. That arena was packed and it's been close to packed before, but then it was like legit sold out because people wanted to see it because so many people were interested and invested in that. And that kind of what opened my eyes to what's important and what's awesome. It's just like whatever the people are invested in, right? It was so much fun. I still have scars from

that cage of death match because somebody hitting me with a cowbell multiple times over the head. But again, that was just something at the crowd. In my opinion, all the best matches and all my favorite matches is thanks to the crowds, thanks to you guys. Because what makes a match special is the interaction and the energy between the three performers in the ring because the referee counts as well and the audience. You can have a great match in front of nobody or in front of people who don't react and they just, yeah, you know, you watch it back and eh. But if the match connects with the crowd, if the people connect with us, that's the magic. That's what makes it special. That's what makes me remember it. That's what makes you guys remember it.

And those are those moments. And the ROH against CCW, Cage of Death, was definitely one of those moments that was just awesome. And the crowd was electric. And it's one of my favorite memories of my ROH career. All right. We got one last Q&A question here. And then I'm going to ask you a few questions that I always ask to wrap it up. So who's our final one here?

Malcolm? Well, we have Brad. How you doing, sir? Congratulations on a great month. Brad from Detroit And I had a question If you had any memories Of things you've done in Detroit

That were fun outside of wrestling Places you've eaten Fun you've had after the show In Detroit I just want to go like Da-da-dam That's the 8-mile beat in my head Just because like every single time

I think of Detroit And drive by 8-mile That's going on I have a weird memory I love where it goes Yeah it's goes Detroit 8-mile 8-mile soundtrack, Little Caesar Arena, the Joe.

By the way, the Joe was one of my favorite arenas ever, ever, ever to perform in. Joy Lewis Arena, tremendous acoustics. I always remember walking in that building and seeing like all the Red Wings, wall art with all the players and everything. And there's some arenas when you walk in, like Madison Square Garden is another one. and then the Joe, when you walk in and you're just like, holy crap, like all the history, everything that happened in that building, and you're like, wow, I get to perform there. So that's one of my favorite.

It was outside of wrestling. I mean, it has a pretty good gym. So shout out to the CrossFit in the D. And I love the coffee. I was actually just there the other day. There's a place called Madcap coffee, not related to Madcap Moss at all. But I took one of the scooters there the other day because I really love just going into the cities and enjoying coffee and just enjoying the sites and everything. And Detroit is one of them because you can just walk and scoot around.

How about a round of applause for all of our great Q&A questions? You've worked with some of the greatest minds in the industry. And as we start to wrap this up here, I'm curious. I mean, you're working with one right now, William Rigo. what's been one of the best pieces of advice that you've been giving? Maybe it's professional advice, maybe it's personal advice, but what's one piece of advice that you keep with you? So,

one of the earliest and best pieces of advice that I still do to this day was given to me by the Honky Tonkman in the Netherlands, so that's just, you know, a story to itself. But Hongi Tongan was the first ever like superstars slash ex-WWB guy the WWF guy with Honky Tonkman that I ever met on my indie travels around Europe

and he told me you need three things to succeed in wrestling back to the what you need to succeed in wrestling question earlier Yeah, from Michelle. He told me you need desire, you need dedication and you need hard work and those are the three things that I always had in my head. I used to

write it on my wrist tape all the time and that's I think like it's ingrained to me and it sounds very similar to hostile royalty respect. So maybe that's why I never made it on a T-shirt. But those three things, desire, dedication, hard work. That's always been on my mind, and I feel like that's one of the best pieces of advice that got me to hear today.

And then just because I mentioned him, John Cena gave me a lot of tremendous advice as well. I end every conversation talking about gratitude because it's such an important thing in my life. I wake up every day I say out loud three things that I'm grateful for. So, Claudio, for you, what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? Only three things. Well, I would say my family, my fans, and my health.

Three pretty great things. I just want to... Four will be you. Number five will be the coffee. I'm above coffee right now. Are you kidding me? I just want to take a moment to acknowledge you. Like we've talked about, you know, first month. I didn't ask for it, by the way. You just did it, no one.

That's right. Yeah. You've had an amazing first month in AEW. Congratulations on this. Congratulations on everything. And just congratulations on the consistency that you've had, both in the ring and outside of the ring. And I think I speak for everyone here at Starcast that we are so pumped for what's next for you.

So ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for a club. Casignoli. I'm just going to talk over my music. Thanks, everybody, for showing up. I appreciate all of you. Thank you. Claudio Cassignoli. Oh, man, so much fun.

I have to thank Conrad Thompson and Starcast for inviting me to record this episode with a lot of you. And with Claudio, there in Nashville, it was such a blast. And they do such an amazing job with these, from the autograph signings to the panels to the special events, the roast of Rick Flair. So good and such an honor to be a very small part of that incredible weekend. Take a screenshot. Let us know what you thought of this one. Let us know that you were listening as well and tag us so we can share it. Claudio is at Claudio CSRO. I'm at Chris Van Fleet and tag starcast events as well. I said this at the start of the show, but tag starcast events. Let them know that you like this and hopefully we can do another one and we can do this together.

whenever the next star cast is. I'll leave you with an incredible quote that I love from Tim Nocke. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. That one gets me every time. Be great, be grateful. We'll see you on the next one.

For some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all.

Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom.

Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.