Blackpool Combat Club's Claudio Castagnoli was crowned Ring Of Honor World Champion following his victory over Jonathan Gresham in the opening match of ROH's Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view -- the second ROH pay-per-view of the Tony Khan era.It all went down at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Massachusets on Saturday, July 23. Castagnoli and Gresham appeared to be evenly matched for most of the bout, with each man attempting to outwit the other with magnificent displays of technical prowess. Gresham fought hard to retain his title, but there was just no stopping Claudio, who unquestionably has a new lease on life since he parted ways with WWE.
As talented as both competitors are, this match never really got out of second gear and came to an end just as the pace looked to be picking up. The finish came when Claudio hit Gresham with a Ricola Bomb for the 1-2-3. After the bell, a disappointed Gresham obeyed the code of honor and congratulated the new Champion, who celebrated accordingly.
Claudio's victory marked the start of his first ROH World Title reign -- 18 years after he made his debut for the promotion.
The 11-year WWE career of the artist formerly known as Cesaro came to an end in February when his contract expired.
Claudio/Cesaro was constantly and consistently underutilized by WWE. He's an imposing physical specimen and one of the most gifted in-ring performers to ever set foot in a WWE ring. But sadly, the powers that be were unable to see his potential and his main event opportunities were few and far between. He made his AEW debut at Forbidden Door last month.
The 41-year-old Swiss wrestler made his pro-wrestling debut in December of the year 2000 for German promotion wXw. Castagnoli became a permanent resident of the United States after obtaining a green card in a green card lottery which enabled him to begin performing in the US for popular indie promotions including CHIKARA, Ring Of Honor, CZW, and PWG.
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