Claudio Castagnoli joining the business was discussed by AEW President Tony Khan in an interview with NYPost.com.
Khan said:
“Claudio said after the Blood and Guts match, he came back to me and said ‘I could not of had a better first week. I could not have imagined any place I’ve ever been enjoying it more than I do here. The first week I’ve had is something I’ll remember the rest of my life.’ He was very grateful. He was very happy.
He’s one of the greatest stars ever in Ring of Honor and Claudio Castagnoli is associated with that history in ROH. I thought as we’re moving toward “Death Before Dishonor” on July 23, I originally thought that would be an incredible place for him to debut if Bryan Danielson is good to go. Admittedly when Claudio and I were talking, we had a conversion on June 2, so it was the day after the [LA] Forum show so I was just kind of getting my bearings and realizing I had put TV together all through ‘Forbidden Door’ and that was probably going to change. I knew [CM] Punk was gonna need some time. His X-ray came back Friday and it wasn’t good. That’s when I had to jump into a plan with Mox [Jon Moxley] and the interim title and make a lot of changes to Forbidden Door.”
