Claudio Castagnoli On Jon Moxley’s Importance To AEW, Marina Shafir’s Rise

Claudio Castagnoli believes Jon Moxley is the most important guy in AEW, as he noted in a recent interview. Moxley and Castagnoli are both part of the Death Riders in AEW and have been allied since Castagnoli joined the company in 2022.

Moxley has been a mainstay of AEW’s World Title scene with a record four reigns, and Castagnoli weighed in on Mox’s importance to the company in an interview with 107.7 The Bone. He also spoke about Marina Shafir’s rise as part of the stable; you can check out the highlights below:

On Moxley:

“I think he is probably the most important guy. Especially — I mean, definitely since I got there, probably before. And that doesn’t take away anything from the guys who started the promotion or have other titles, takes nothing away from the talent or the importance of them. But to your point, John Moxley is always there. Break the glass if anything goes wrong, you can rely on him. Just the matches — again, talking about matches in recent memories like him and Ospreay, him and Takeshita, I mean I can go on and on and on. Him and Shane Taylor, just from last week. Him and Kyle O’Reilly from New York. I mean, he’s just on another level.

“He’s amazing, and to have him in the group and to have him as the spiritual leader… he has a vision, and he doesn’t have to explain it to me. Because he knows it, and that’s enough for me.”

On the Strategy of Shafir’s Rise in the Group:

“I mean, the strategy is just working hard. She’s been on every show that Mox has been on. When the Death Riders started, that was kind of Mox’s idea. But then again, I feel like for everybody in the Death Riders, nothing gets handed to them. You have to work for it. Because if you don’t put in the work and if you’re not showing up on a weekly, daily basis, we don’t give you a second look. And she’s been working extremely hard and there’s a lot of, I guess, creative input, or people helping and pointing out mistakes, or trying to help you improve. Which certain people take to, certain people can’t handle it. Because I’m not holding back if people ask me what I thought. And I don’t mean that in a negative way.

“I feel a lot of times, people ask what the secret to success is. And the secret is always the same. It’s always, you work hard. You show up every day, you try to improve a little bit every day. And if you’re ready for it, you will succeed. And if you watch, I think it took almost a year till she had her first match on TV with the Death Riders or as part of the Death Riders. And then when that was successful, it led to more and more and more. And that’s the same… you have to put in the work, and you have to be ready.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 107.7 The Bone with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.