ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli is a wrestler’s wrestler, the type who never stops learning, admires (and incorporates) styles from all over the world and won’t back down from any challenge.
So surely, he must have a list of dream matches he’d still like to be in, right?
The answer may surprise you. Castagnoli sat down this week to chat with Under the Ring host Phil Strum and explained why the concept of dream matches depends on the setting, and most of all, on the fans.
“I’m not the dream match kind of guy, I’ll let the fans decide that,” Castagnoli said when asked who he’d like to face from any era of pro wrestling if he could. “To me, a dream match is usually determined by the time, the place and which two guys are on top of their game.
“It’s usually something that just organically happens.”
After taking a moment to let that sink in, the Swiss strongman added, “I mean, Bret Hart would be pretty cool,”
Yes, yes he would.
Check out the entire interview above for Castagnoli’s thoughts on:
- What attracted him most about signing with AEW last year
- What the original ROH meant to his career
- The possibility of facing Eddie Kingston at Supercard of Honor, and how he feels about Kingston at the current time
- Who he studies and why it’s important that “you never stop learning”
- How the members of the Blackpool Combat Club push each other to be better, and why is like an uncle or stepdad to Wheeler Yuta
- Why it’s important to him that he still do at least one “jaw-dropping” thing in every match
- The one word that makes for good tag teams
- What goes into a great cup of coffee
Under the Ring drops new episodes every week, usually on Mondays, with Strum calling upon his longtime love for and coverage of pro wrestling to have an in-depth conversation with a wrestler or other notable personality. Recent guests have included pioneering women’s wrestler Madusa, entertaining and mercurial MLW wrestler Real1 and the current AEW World Tag Team Champions, The Gunns.
To make sure you don’t miss an episode, subscribe to Under the Ring on Apple Podcasts or your podcast provider of choice, or check out the Under the Ring YouTube channel to see all of the interviews in video form.