Claudio Castagnoi discusses ROH under Tony Khan.
The Swiss-Superman held the ROH world championship two-times since Khan bought the company back in 2022. During an interview with WrestleTalk, Claudio gives his thoughts on the current direction of the brand, which includes him complimenting Eddie Kingston on dethroning him for the title.
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.
Claudio does admit that he misses when the show would tape in Orlando, Florida because it created a uniquely different look than AEW’s setup. That being said, he still believes ROH is the place for young talents to prove themselves.
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,
Since losing the ROH World Title Claudio has been featured more on AEW programming, and currently holds 3 points in the first-ever Continental Classic. You can check out his full interview below.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)