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Claudio Castagnoli made the headlines earlier this year when he jumped ships from WWE to All Elite Wrestling and made his debut at the AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door PPV in June. Formerly known as Cesaro in WWE, Castagnoli had a long run in WWE between 2011 and 2022 but spent almost the entirety of his career competing in the mid-card and tag team division of the company. But that changed in February 2022 when Castagnoli chose not to renew his WWE contract and signed with AEW, where he already became a 1-time ROH World Champion.
Castagnoli is one of the strongest competitors in pro wrestling history and one of the most talented in-ring workers. He's gained a loyal fan base for himself over the years, who have followed his career right from the beginning. With that said, let's take a look at ten things wrestling fans should know about Claudio Castagnoli's life outside AEW.
UPDATE: 2022/12/21 07:30 EST BY Avik Das
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Claudio Castagnoli's career keeps on rolling since this article's original publication. At ROH Final Battle 2022, Castagnoli ended the Ring Of Honor World Championship reign of Chris Jericho to become a two-time ROH World Champion. While the mentor of his stable the Blackpool Combat Club William Regal has left AEW, there are no signs of Castagnoli leaving as is given much more of a spotlight in the company than he ever was in WWE. However, the man still has a life outside of wrestling as evidenced by his frequent appearances on Xavier Woods' UpUpDwnDwn Youtube gaming channel. Castagnoli commands the respect of his peers in the industry and adoration of people outside of it as well.
13 Claudio Is Swiss
Similar to WWE, AEW also has talents from all over the world. Being possibly the second-biggest wrestling promotion in the globe at the moment, Tony Khan is making efforts to make a global footprint. Besides trying to build a global reach, the company has a pool of talents who are not Americans.
Claudio has been living in the United States for years, but he is a Swiss national. The Swiss native was also called 'Swiss Cyborg' in WWE.
12 Close Friend With Tyson Kidd
As a seven-time Tag Team Champion in WWE, Claudio teamed up with a couple of wrestlers. While his association with Sheamus, which was known as The Bar, was the most successful tag team of his career, he also teamed up with Tyson Kidd. Their tag team won the Tag Team Championships once.
Kidd works as a backstage producer now. Claudio and Kidd share a close friendship in real life. Tyson Kidd is one of Claudio's best friends from the business and outside AEW.
11 Played Sports As A Teen
There is no doubt about Claudio Castagnoli's athletic ability. He is freakishly strong and agile, making him a fantastic in-ring performer. Over the years, Claudio has delivered some incredible matches against different opponents, including in his short AEW tenure.
The cornerstone of his athletism was created at a young age. When he was a teen, Claudio played different sports like soccer, basketball, and tennis, which certainly helped him in many ways later as a professional wrestler.
10 He Can Speak Five Languages
Claudio Castagnoli's fans are well aware of his exceptional talents as an in-ring performer, but some of them might not know that the Swiss Superman has equal skills outside the ring as well.
One such skill he developed over the years is the ability to fluently speak five different languages. Apart from his native Swiss German, Castagnoli can speak English, German, French, and Italian. Growing up in Switzerland with an Italian father, Castagnoli learned Swiss, German, and Italian languages easily and could've picked up English and French along the way.
9 He's A Coffee Lover
Apart from his love for wrestling, Claudio Castagnoli developed a deep love for coffee over the years. He's pretty outspoken about his coffee love over the years and had a blog and a YouTube channel named Claudio's Café before signing with WWE in 2011.
He now runs a secondary Instagram page under the Claudio's Café name, in which he documents his visits to various coffee shops across the globe. It looks like coffee is the force behind the immense strength Castagnoli showcases inside the ring.
8 His Workout Routine
Claudio Castagnoli has been an active in-ring competitor for over two decades, and he made sure he stayed in prime physical shape throughout his journey in the business. Maintaining a physique like that requires immense training, and Castagnoli revealed that his workout routine is a mix of various approaches, including CrossFit and Olympic weightlifting.
He stated that he once performed a one-arm snatch with 145 lbs, a one-arm clean and jerk with 135 lbs, and a two-arm clean and jerk with 286 lbs. Castagnoli also revealed that he's steroid free, and he continually looks to learn new workout techniques in order to keep improving.
7 Keeps His Personal Life Hidden From The Spotlight
As much as he shares details about himself on social media and other outlets, Claudio Castagnoli keeps the facts about his family members private from the spotlight.
Apart from knowing that his father is of Italian origin, there is not much information about Castagnoli's parents or if he has any siblings. He's kept his family off the records throughout his career, and rightfully so, as certain fans and media outlets have failed to respect the wrestlers' privacy in the past.
6 His Relationships
Despite his best efforts to keep his personal life hidden from the public eye, Castagnoli's dating life came into the limelight when news of him dating fellow wrestler Sara Del Ray broke out.
The two are reported to be in a long-time relationship, and while talking about Castagnoli's exit from WWE, Drew McIntyre revealed that Castagnoli recently became a father. The current status of Castagnoli's relationship with Del Ray is unknown, as he managed to prevent any further details about his love life from getting leaked online.
5 He's Trained Over 20 Wrestlers
Apart from being an in-ring competitor himself, Claudio Castagnoli has trained well over 20 wrestlers since 2004. There are no details about Castagnoli owning a separate wrestling school, but he could've trained his students using the facilities of the promotions he worked for over the years.
Some of the well-known names Castagnoli has trained include current AEW performer Stokely Hathaway and former ROH Television and Tag Team Champion Tracy Williams, to name a few. The AEW roster has tons of young wrestlers with huge potential, and there's no doubt that Castagnoli would share his expertise with them like he did so with his former trainees.
4 His List Of Favorites
Every person will have a list of favorites they grew fond of over the years, and Claudio Castagnoli is no different. He revealed during an interview that the Star Wars and James Bond franchises, Gladiator and Forrest Gump as his all-time favorite movies.
He then mentioned geometry, history, and business as his favorite classes in school and fajitas and chocolate as his favorite food, but stated that he doesn't like to have them together. He also mentioned that wrestling, working out, listening to music, and drinking coffee as his favorite things to do.
3 Won The Green Card Lottery
It's always a hassle for overseas wrestlers to have a full-time job in the United States due to the extensive paperwork. Coming from Switzerland, Claudio Castagnoli would've faced the same problems in his early days, but a bit of luck helped him get permanent US citizenship in 2004.
US offers 50,000 permanent resident visas every year to people from countries with low immigration rates through a green card lottery. Castagnoli won it in his first try in 2004 and became an official US citizen, which enabled him to perform for promotions like ROH, PWG, and Chikara.
2 King of Sewing
Fans love to call Claudio Castagnoli the King of Swing because of the famous Giant Swing move he uses to incapacitate his opponents. However, little do the fans know that Castagnoli is also the King of Sewing, as he revealed that he used to sew his gear in his early days in the business.
He learned sewing and crafts in school and used his talents to sew his own wrestling gear, including the tear-away suits he used in WWE. But he stopped doing it as his schedule started to become more hectic and outsources it now.
1 Appeared In The Movie "The Wrestler"
Wrestlers started to follow in the footsteps of The Rock in pursuing acting as a second career. WWE superstars like John Cena and Batista have made the successful transition, and many wrestlers across various promotions are looking to replicate the same success.
However, Claudio Castagnoli didn't get the chance to appear in a movie during his time with WWE. But he did play a small part in Mickey Rourke's movie, "The Wrestler," in 2008. He appeared in a small scene as a wrestler changing in the locker room, and it remains Castagnoli's only Hollywood venture to this date.