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ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli recently opened up on the dream matches awaiting him in AEW and Ring of Honor.
Castagnoli made his All Elite Wrestling debut at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view, defeating NJPW star Zack Sabre Jr. The Swiss Superman was also part of the brutal Blood & Guts match alongside his Blackpool Combat Club stablemates and secured a decisive submission victory.
Last month, he challenged Jonathan Gresham for the ROH World Championship at the Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view. Castagnoli eventually came out victorious after a bout that lasted almost 12 minutes to capture his first world title in pro wrestling.
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During his interview with Sportskeeda Wrestling's Kevin Kellam, the former WWE Superstar claimed that having matches against dream opponents is the "ultimate goal":
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"I mean, to me, that's the ultimate goal because that's what fans want to see. They want to see certain dream matches. They want to see exciting matches and people going up against people that have never faced. For me, that's everybody in Ring of Honor. So I'm very excited. For example, I am going up against Konosuke [Takeshita] right?"
He also discussed his upcoming title defense on August 6:
"See there you go against Konosuke at Battle of Belts on August 6. Very excited about that, defending my ROH World Championship. So very excited for that and there's so many matches that are possible," said Castagnoli. [2:26-2:57]
You can check out the full results of Rampage HERE.
AEW star Claudio Castagnoli recently expressed frustration at his booking during final run in WWE
During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet at the Starrcast V convention, The Swiss Superman opened up about failing to win the world championship despite having tremendous fan support in WWE.
He went on to add that Becky Lynch was the last superstar on whose momentum WWE fully capitalized:
"That natural thing, you've seen that with them. The last time that really happened was with Becky. Becky got red-hot and the fans made her undeniable. I feel I was on that verge a couple of times where the crowd was with me, my stuff was going awesome, and it was, 'We're going in this direction now.' Okay, back to square one. That happened a bunch of times. In the end, it all led to this. A lot of stuff in life is about the journey," said Castagnoli.
While Claudio Castagnoli never realized his dream of winning the world title in WWE, he did so in quick time in Tony Khan's promotion. His first defense of the ROH World Championship comes up later this week at AEW Battle of the Belts III against Konosuke Takeshita.
It will be interesting to see whether he manages to retain his gold or Takeshita causes a massive upset and emerges as the new champion.
Who do you think will win at Battle of the Belts, Claudio Castagnoli or Konosuke Takeshita? Let us know in the comments section below.
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