Claudio Castagnoli (born December 27, 1980),[3] better known by his ring name Cesaro, is a Swiss professional wrestler. Castagnoli wrestled in WWE, Ring of Honor (ROH) and various other promotions, including Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), and Pro Wrestling Noah (NOAH). He currently wrestles in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a member of the Blackpool Combat Club. In AEW's sister promotion, Ring of Honor, he is a former two-time ROH World Champion. Through a working relationship between AEW and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), he also makes appearances for the promotion.
Castagnoli is an accomplished tag team wrestler, being a two-time ROH World Tag Team Champion with his partner Chris Hero (as "The Kings of Wrestling;" their 364-day reign as champions was the longest in ROH history up to that time). As Cesaro, he held 7 tag team titles in WWE: a two-time WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champion, and a five-time WWE (Raw) Tag Team Champion. Castagnoli and Sheamus were part of a tag team named The Bar together they were four-time WWE (Raw) Tag Team Champions and one-time WWE (SmackDown) Tag Team Champions. Castagnoli has also held various independent tag team titles. The Kings of Wrestling (the tag team he had with Chris Hero) were voted the 2010 Tag Team of the Year by Wrestling Observer Newsletter readers. He has additionally had success as a singles wrestler, being a one-time WWE United States Champion, the winner of the inaugural André the Giant Memorial Trophy at WrestleMania XXX, and a one-time PWG World Champion. He debuted for All Elite Wrestling at their Forbidden Door pay-per-view on 26 June 2022. Soon after his inception to AEW, in AEW's sister promotion, Ring of Honor (ROH), after fifteen years, he would win his first world champion the ROH World Championship.
When playing a villainous character, particularly in the United States, Castagnoli has been known to emphasize his European origin as part of his gimmick, proclaiming a superior intellect and fashion sensibility while regularly using moves such as the European uppercut. He gained a reputation for impressive in-ring feats of strength, and was called one of the best and most underrated performers for much of his time there. He was even voted Most Underrated Wrestler in the world, for a record four years in a row (2013–2016), by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Claudio Castagnoli was born in Lucerne on 27 December 1980. He was a teen participant in tennis, soccer, and basketball as a youth, and still follows these sports as an adult.
Professional wrestling career[]
Europe (2000−2004)[]
Castagnoli received his initial training in his homeland of Switzerland from fellow Swiss wrestler SigMasta Rappo,[2] and made his debut on December 24, 2000 in Essen, Germany for the Germany-based Westside Xtreme Wrestling.[4] Castagnoli first used a Japanese gimmick before becoming a Swiss banker along with Ares, together known as Swiss Money Holding.
While performing in England, Castagnoli received training from Dave Taylor. In Switzerland, Castagnoli met Chris Hero and Mike Quackenbush, who invited Swiss Money Holding to perform in the United States.[5] They competed in IWA Mid-South and Chikara and received training from Hero before returning to Europe. In 2004, Castagnoli received a United States Permanent Resident Card in his first try at the green card lottery and moved to the United States, where he began making regular appearances for Ring of Honor and Chikara, while Ares remained in Switzerland and formed the new Swiss Money Holding with Marc Roudin.[5]
Pro Wrestling Noah (2008–2011)[]
Castagnoli made his debut for Pro Wrestling Noah on February 15, 2008, when he teamed up with Chris Hero in a losing effort against Jun Akiyama and Kentaro Shiga.[6] He primarily wrestled in the promotion as Chris Hero's tag team partner and in January 2010 the Kings of Wrestling entered the Global Tag League, where they ended up losing all of their matches.[6] Castagnoli and Hero returned to Noah on November 19, 2010, for a three-week-long tour. The team went undefeated in tag team matches, before being defeated on the final day of the tour, December 5, by Takuma Sano and Yoshihiro Takayama in a match for the GHC Tag Team Championship.[6][7]
The Kings of Wrestling returned to Noah in April 2011 to take part in the 2011 Global Tag League, where they managed to win two out of their seven round robin matches, finishing seventh out of eight teams in the block.[8] On May 15, he traveled to Germany to challenge Takashi Sugiura's GHC Heavyweight Championship on "Genesis in Germany", co-promoted by local Westside Xtreme Wrestling and NOAH. However, he was unsuccessful in his challenge, losing after an Olympic Slam.[9]
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2023-Present)[]
On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku, Shota Umino challenged Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii to a title match for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship, with one of his partners being the returning Jon Moxley, along with a mysterious partner. On May 28, Umino revealed Castagnoli as the mysterious partner. Castagnoli made his in-ring debut at Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-jo Hall event on June 4, 2023, teaming with Moxley and Umino to unsuccessfully challenge Okada, Tanahashi and Ishii for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships.
Castagnoli is widely considered one of the best performers in professional wrestling. His wrestling ability has been praised by fellow wrestlers and wrestling icons such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mick Foley, and Jim Ross. In 2019, Bleacher Report called him one of the best "pure wrestlers" in WWE. Criticism has been levied at WWE for underutilizing Cesaro creatively on their shows. Later in his career, he became known as a "tag team specialist" due to his successful partnerships with Jack Swagger, Tyson Kidd, Sheamus, and Shinsuke Nakamura. He had also received praise for his pre-WWE tag teams with Chris Hero and Bryan Danielson.
Cesaro uses a no-nonsense, European style as the basis for his move set. He uses the Neutralizer (a belly-to-back inverted mat slam) and the European Uppercut (a pop-up European uppercut) as finishing moves. He also uses the Swing (a giant swing), albeit less frequently. A big part of his wrestling style comes from his strength, which he has showcased by lifting heavier wrestlers such as The Great Khali, Brodus Clay, and Big Show, all of whom outweigh him by at least 100 lb (45.3 kg). He has been credited as one of the strongest wrestlers in WWE. His technical ability is also notable, and he has utilized the sharpshooter (adopted from his former tag team partner Kidd) as a signature move since 2015.
During an interview in 2013, Cesaro cited Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Dave Finlay, Dave Taylor, William Regal, and Karl Gotch as his influences.
Cesaro has been usually labeled as an underrated wrestler. From 2013 to 2016, he won the Most Underrated award by Wrestling Observer Newsletter. In December 2020, Drew Galloway called him the most underrated superstar in WWE.
Around the time of Cesaro's shoulder injury in 2015, a number of prominent wrestling legends had increasingly been calling for WWE to move him into a more significant role in the company. In the months prior, former champion Mick Foley voiced strong support, declaring the day after Cesaro's second United States Championship match with John Cena that "Cesaro would make a great world champion". Foley later added that he was baffled by WWE's treatment of Cesaro, stating that if he could make one change to WWE, it would simply be to "push Cesaro". Just days before the injury was announced, Ric Flair answered a question on which current wrestler he thought should have already been WWE World Heavyweight Champion by discussing how he thought Cesaro was "phenomenal" and that "nobody [brought] more to the table as a performer". Flair further stated that he thought Cesaro could be built up for a major storyline with Brock Lesnar within two months, even suggesting for himself to become Cesaro's manager to help with his work on the microphone. Meanwhile, long-time Cesaro supporter Stone Cold Steve Austin reiterated that he believed Cesaro had what was needed "to go up on top of the card" and blamed WWE for not helping him more.
Personal life[]
Castagnoli is a native of Switzerland, being born and raised in Lucerne.[10] As a child and youth, he was very active and was a capable sportsperson, being a keen participant in and follower of tennis, soccer, and basketball,[5] sports that he still follows today.[11][12][13] During his later teenage years, he developed an interest in professional wrestling and soon started training and competing, mainly in Switzerland and Germany, and travelled to the United States in the early 2000s to pursue further training.[5][10] He returned to Europe to work and wrestle, before being successful in the green card lottery to gain permanent residency in the US at his first attempt in 2004,[10] after which he quit his job and moved permanently to the US to pursue his wrestling career.[5]
Castagnoli is fluent in English, German, Italian, French, and his native Swiss German.[14][15] He is a noted coffee aficionado[16] and enjoys cooking,[17] having even run a blog and Youtube channel called "Claudio's Café" in his pre-WWE days.[5][18] He likes to travel,[5] is an animal lover,[19][20] and is a fan of films such as the James Bond movies[21] and the Star Wars series.[22] Castagnoli prides himself on holding high personal values and presenting himself as a professional, in both his personal and work life.[23]
Noted for his exceptional strength and stating that he is "100% natural",[5] Castagnoli describes his training regime as "kind of a mix", with particular focus on CrossFit and variations of Olympic weightlifting.[24] He has stated that he continually tries to learn new ways to workout in order to keep improving.[25] He has performed a one-arm snatch with 145 lbs (66 kg),[26] a one-arm clean and jerk with 135 lbs (61 kg),[27] and comfortably performed a two-arm clean and jerk with 286 lbs (130 kg).[28][29] He has cited Razor Ramon as an inspiration.
Other media[]
Castagnoli made a brief appearance in Darren Aronofsky's 2008 wrestling drama film The Wrestler.
Cesaro became a fan of League of Legends after practicing the game prior to the WWE vs NXT League of Legends match and has been a guest analyst during the North American League of Legends Championship series.
In wrestling[]
Castagnoli as the ROH World Champion in June 2023
Finishing moves
Ricola Bomb (Straight jacket sitout powerbomb,[1] sometimes from the top rope)[30]
Neutralizer (Cradle belly-to-back inverted mat slam)
Sharpshooter, usually transitioned from the Giant Swing – adopted from Tyson Kidd
European Uppercut (Pop-up European uppercut, sometimes as a counter to a diving opponent)
↑Cesaro (@WWECesaro) Twitter Feed (Retweet) . WWE 2K @WWEgames (2015-09-30). Retrieved on 2016-01-12. “Wishing a happy #NationalCoffeeDay to @WWECesaro, the biggest coffee fanatic in all of @WWE!”
↑Cesaro (@WWECesaro) Twitter Feed . Self (2015-11-05). Retrieved on 2016-01-12. “Landed in Dublin, worked out, went to see #SPECTRE. Who needs sleep when you can see @DaveBautista vs 007?”
↑wwecesaro Instagram Feed . Self (2015-12-19). Retrieved on 2016-01-12. “When I first moved to the US I didn't bring much, but I brought this #starwars (image of original Star Wars discs)”
↑The Professional: How Cesaro grabbed the brass ring (again) and why he isn't letting go this time . World Wrestling Entertainment (2015-07-29). Retrieved on 2016-05-14. “"That's another thing that's just important to me. That's part of being a professional, a Renaissance man so to speak. Older values of older times, that are not as much around anymore, are still very important to me."; "You have to be a professional in every single thing you do..."”
↑Rules of Fitness from WWE's Cesaro . Men's Journal LLC (2015-05-29). Retrieved on 2016-05-14. “"John Cena's very heavy on the Olympic weightlifting, Seth Rollins is a student of CrossFit...I myself am kind of a mix. You need to find what works for your body and what keeps you healthy."”
↑Rules of Fitness from WWE's Cesaro . Men's Journal LLC (2015-05-29). Retrieved on 2016-05-14. “"There's constantly new ways to work out ... new theories and studies, and anybody who wants to get better at anything will realize you never stop learning. The moment you think you know everything, you should probably quit."”
↑Kidd, Tyson (22 September 2015). "Some Like It Hot". Total Divas. Season 4. Episode 12 (57 overall). 33 minutes in. Cesaro's strong. Nat, Cesaro can clean and jerk...135 with one arm. That's just like, to show off... I don't know what his actual max is. (on phone with Natalya Neidhart)
↑Meltzer, Dave (January 26, 2011). "Biggest issue of the year: The 2011 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards Issue". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Campbell, CA: 1–40. ISSN1083-9593.
