Claudio Castagnoli (formerly known as Cesaro), who saw his WWE contract expire earlier this year, made his AEW debut at the 2022 AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door PPV.
There was apparently “a lot of talent in WWE” who were shocked by Castagnoli signing with AEW, and it was reportedly a “very big deal” with a lot of the talent, according to Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com. The reaction was brought on by the amount WWE made to him. Meltzer stated the following in his report:
“The feeling is AEW must have matched or topped it and in WWE, the feeling was that AEW was no longer doing that and that Castagnoli could have made a very substantial amount of money in WWE even though there was little chance of a push.”
It was also rumored that Castagnoli chose AEW in order to demonstrate his status as a “top talent” while he was still physically capable of doing so.
Stay tuned to PWMania.com.