Claudio Castagnoli comments on the current direction of Ring of Honor.
Claudio Castagnoli held the ROH World Title for the majority of 2023, winning the title in December 2022 and then losing it in September 2023. Claudio lost the title to Eddie Kingston at AEW Dynamite Grand Slam.
Now, the ROH Title is technically vacated as the winner of the AEW Continental Classic, which features Claudio and Kingston, will win the title along with the NJPW Strong Openweight Title and the AEW Continental Title.
Speaking to WrestleTalk, Claudio gave his thoughts on the state of ROH.
“I think it was better when I was the champion [laughs]. No, I give him credit. Even if I don’t really respect him, he’s been a fighting champion. He has all this passion for Ring of Honor because of the Ring of Honor he idolizes, with Xavier and Homicide, those were his idols, and he is trying to live up to that legacy. It’s still a great place for younger talent to show off what they got, to prove themselves, and that’s the fun for me. Back when I was champion, when it was just the Orlando tapings, it was on the Soundstage, which I kind of prefer because it had a different, distinct look to it. I would like, maybe in the future, for Ring of Honor almost to go back to its own look, which I feel helps. But even now, the way it is, it’s fun because you see different talent in Ring of Honor, you see new talent in Ring of Honor. You see talent from Ring of Honor kind of moving slowly towards Rampage and Dynamite. So I think it’s a lot of fun for people who really love wrestling and want to go deeper into who’s going to be the next big thing, or who’s gonna pop up next. It’s kind of what Ring of Honor has always been, which is a proving ground for people who want to step up and explode onto the scene," said Claudio.
ROH matches have been taped after AEW Collision on Saturdays. They held tapings in Orlando before adding AEW Collision to the schedule.
Claudio and Kingston are both part of the Blue League in the Continental Classic. Kingston will face Bryan Danielson on the December 2 episode of AEW Collision while Claudio will face Brody King.
Elsewhere during the interview, Claudio commented on Sheamus' value. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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