"It was time for me to move on" - Sheamus' close friend opens up about unexpected WWE departure and AEW debut

AEW's Claudio Castagnoli made his surprise debut for the promotion earlier this year at Forbidden Door. The star recently detailed why he opted to go with the Jacksonville-based promotion over returning to WWE.

During his tenure with WWE, fans were fully invested in Castagnoli and constantly clamored for him to be pushed to the main event. Despite this, the Swiss Superman was largely delegated to the Tag Team Division and his brief run with the United States Championship.

During his interview with the Dallas Morning News, Claudio Castagnoli recalled his thought process behind leaving WWE behind:

"I was at a crossroads. I was looking for a new challenge. I wanted to do something with my career that I wasn’t going to just be complacent. I felt like I got into a rut towards the end of the last year I was there maybe. And I just felt it was time for me to move on, and to look for some new challenges." [H/T: Dallas Morning News]

Castagnoli revealed that he's still close to Seth Rollins and his former tag team partner, Sheamus, despite not being with WWE anymore.

Missed out on AEW Dynamite? Catch up on the show's results here.

Claudio Castagnoli also largely contributed his decision to jump to AEW to the current roster of the promotion

The All Elite Wrestling roster has often been criticized online for being far too stacked. However, fans still praise the amount of potential the stars have. While his booking hasn't always been well received by the fanbase, Claudio Castagnoli has arguably been booked much stronger in AEW compared to WWE.

During the same interview with Dallas Morning News, Castagnoli admitted that he had a lot to accomplish in WWE but that he saw better potential matches in the Jacksonville-based promotion:

"There would have been a lot for me still to accomplish in WWE, as well. So it was a tough decision, but I made the decision that I wanted to go to AEW because I felt that there was a lot of talent that I haven’t had the chance to be in the ring with for an extended amount of time." [H/T: Dallas Morning News]

It remains to be seen if Claudio's run in AEW will be better received than his long tenure with WWE, as the star is not even a year into his contract.

Could the veteran walk away with the ROH World Championship this weekend? Or will fans have to continue enduring the "Ring of Jericho"?