AEW superstar Claudio Castagnoli recently joined NBC Sports Boston for an in-depth conversation about all things wrestling, which included the Swiss-Superman reflecting on his debut for the promotion at Forbidden Door, and how he felt joining the Blackpool Combat Club. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
How he was kept hidden but his friends in AEW still came to say hello:
“Yeah, so yes, on a special flight, no, on a hotel, kind of right to the arena. And I was kind of hiding. Well, they were like, ‘well, we put you on,’ like, I’ll just go to the locker room. They’re like, ‘No, no, you can’t do that.’ I’m like, ‘okay,’ so I was kind of in hiding, but I saw a lot of the guys. And a lot of the friends that came said hello. So it was pretty cool.”
Says the entire day of traveling couldn’t have worked out better:
“I may not have been at a public airport. So I didn’t have that problem. No, yeah, no, I was, it was kind of a private thing. And then I was whisked to the arena. And then I was there for the rest of the day. It couldn’t have worked out any better I thought.”
How close he is with Danielson and replacing him at Forbidden Door:
“Yeah. And, yeah, obviously very, very sad and upset to hear about Bryan being hurt. But I’m very flattered to be I mean, you know, if it’s somebody who plays Bryan, and you think of me, I’m like, it’s a very flattering compliment. And also, you know, Bryan is a very good friend. So of course, I jumped in at a heartbeat, you know, help him and Blackpool Combat Club, which are all my friends anyway. You know, fits perfect again, just worked out. So perfect. I was very excited that that was the beginning.”
Says Forbidden Door was not supposed to be his original debut:
“It was not. There was something in the works. But then it was like, ‘Can you start next week?’ That kind of thing. And I was like, ‘Yeah, of course. That’s … I’m a professional, right?”
(H/T and transcribed by Sescoops)
