On the latest “AEW Unrestricted” podcast, Claudio Castagnoli details the story that led to his surprise debut at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view. He talks about what the original plans were, Blackpool Combat Club, thoughts on the ROH World Championship, and other topics.
Castagnoli talking about being a member of the Blackpool Combat Club:
“It’s such a fun group between Regal, Bryan, Mox, Yuta, and myself. I feel it’s so different, like, everybody is so different, but it works. It’s not like four guys or five guys that look the same and act the same and do the same things. It’s like, no, we’re all different and that’s what makes it great. I feel like that’s the beauty of professional wrestling.”
On how he doesn’t get dizzy doing the Swing:
“I don’t know if I have the perfect answer for that. I think it’s mainly because I’ve either done it so much or because I focus on my opponents. There was one time where there were a bunch of things happening that I was trying to figure out and I was looking around the ring, and I got so dizzy. The trick I guess is to focus on whoever you’re swinging so then you don’t get dizzy, it’s just your legs get tired.”
On if it’s harder on his upper body or his legs:
“The legs go first and then it’s very straining on your lower back. So like usually a day after, if you haven’t done it in a while, a day later you’re like, ‘Have I done deadlifts or something? Why is my lower back so sore?’ Then I realized, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ve swung somebody and held his weight for 30 times.’ So it’s hard on your legs and lower back. But I never really had a problem with getting dizzy, which is good for me. But I know a lot of the guys hate taking it because they get very dizzy. I think it’s hilarious.”
On being tag team partners with Sheamus:
“I think that was probably the funnest three years, I think with him for about three years, because everything you saw on screen, if you saw it as being from like starting as co-workers, I was just like, alright, I guess I’ll make this work, to becoming best friends. We are both from Europe, so we have similarities, but we were not best friends. We were just like coworkers, cordial, and we talked. We were not best friends and we became best friends over those years and we are still best friends. That bickering back and forth, non-stop, they would tell us, ‘Okay, we’re going to shoot backstage, you guys argue, and then you do this.’ We’re like, ‘Okay, cool.’ We start and they’re like, ‘You guys can stop. We’re not filming yet.’ We’re like, ‘Oh, no, that’s just us being us.’ So we had a great time, especially when we went internationally going to all kinds of football stadiums and stuff like that. If something’s authentic, it will connect with the fans, I feel, and that’s the stuff that you cannot fabricate.”
If they were to add a member to the Blackpool Combat Club, who would he like to see become a member:
“I would pick Serena Deeb. I think she’d be a good fit for Blackpool Combat Club.”
On what independent wrestler would he like to face:
“I’m being honest. I’m not completely brushed up on my indie stuff because I feel some of the best talent is on AEW Dark. That’s where you can see all the best of the indie talents. There’s definitely a lot of talent on there that I still would like to get in the ring with, which is one of the reasons I came to AEW and I love it so much here because there’s so much talent beyond what you can see on TV. If you really love wrestling, you watch AEW Dark on YouTube because it’s just some of the best stuff that you haven’t seen yet, or that you will see in the future.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit AEW Unrestricted with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription
