Claudio Castagnoli Explains What Made the Continental Classic So Exciting for Him

– During a recent interview with Denise Salcedo, AEW star Claudio Castagnoli discussed competing in the AEW Continental Classic tournament. Below are some highlights (via Fightful):

Castagnoli on the touranment lineup: “To do the Continental Classic, I was super excited. I feel like I’m at my best when I get into a routine, so to speak. With the Continental Classic, it’s like you know you wrestle every week. Then again. looking back, I was like, I pretty much wrestled every week multiple times. [Laughs] So to me, it’s cool. Then I looked at all the talent announced, which is awesome. I was like, there’s not one person that I wouldn’t want to be in the ring with.”

On the competitors in each league: “I saw the brackets or whatever, and the blue group. Every single competitor is top-level, every single competitor, it’s gonna be fun and a big challenge. Every match is gonna be different. Gold Group was fun to watch as well, but I feel like the Blue Group just had so many different styles and competitors in it. It was so much fun, not just for me. I feel like my fellow competitors as well, and for the viewers because you kind of knew what matches you were getting. You knew what the matches were, but you didn’t really one quite when. So it’s cool, and then it gets announced, and you can look forward to it. Then, of course, it all came down to the last day, which was a lot of fun I feel like for everyone watching. It’s not quite over yet. It’s been a very good thing for AEW and the fans. It just brought it down to me, what wrestling is. It’s fun, it’s sports, it’s storytelling, and you’ve seen all the guys do the interviews and the promos and the matches. Everybody put their heart and soul into it, and you can tell.”

Claudio Castagnoli managed to earn victories over Daniel Garcia and Andrade El Idolo during his tournament run, but he was unable to make it to the finals. Instead, he will be teaming with his fellow Blackpool Combat Club member, Bryan Danielson, later tonight at AEW Worlds End. They will be joined by Mark Briscoe and Daniel Garcia against Brody King, Jay White, Jay Lethal, and Rush. The matchup will feature all the remaining members of each league who didn’t make it to the finals facing each other in a Gold League vs. Blue League matchup.

AEW Worlds End will be held later tonight at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. It will be broadcast live on pay-per-view.