Claudio Castagnoli
| Claudio Castagnoli | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 27, 1980 Schaffhausen, Switzerland |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Claudio Castagnoli Tenshi Takami |
| Billed height | 196 cm (6 ft 5 in) |
| Billed weight | 105 kg (232 lb) |
| Billed from | United Bank of Switzerland |
| Trained by | Chris Hero Dave Taylor SigMasta Rappo Mike Quackenbush Skayde |
| Debut | December 24, 2000 |
"Double C" Claudio Castagnoli (born December 27, 1980) is a Swiss professional wrestler. He performs primarily on the American independent circuit in promotions such as Ring of Honor, Combat Zone Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, and CHIKARA. He has recently signed with WWE.
Career
Castagnoli got his first training in his homeland of Switzerland by fellow Swiss wrestler SigMasta Rappo, and debuted on December 24, 2000 in Essen for the German westside Xtreme wrestling. Castagnoli first used a Japanese gimmick before changing it to a Swiss banker one with Ares, another Swiss wrestler, together known as the Swiss Money Holding.
While performing in England, Castagnoli received training from Dave Taylor. Claudio met Chris Hero in Germany. Hero invited the SMH to perform in America. They had matches in IWA-Mid South and CHIKARA and received training from Hero before returning to Europe.
A few months later, Castagnoli returned to the USA to wrestle full time while Ares would team up with Marc Roudin as the new Swiss Money Holding in Europe. Castagnoli now wrestles on the American independent circuit, and is a full time worker for CHIKARA and Ring of Honor.
Claudio Castagnoli would also make his way to Combat Zone Wrestling, where he would team up with Chris Hero to form the highly successful Kings of Wrestling, and would win the CZW Tag Team Titles. With Hero, Castagnoli won the Tag World Grand Prix 2006 hosted by CHIKARA, becoming one of Los Campeones de Parejas in the process.
Castagnoli made a brief appearance on WWE Monday Night Raw on August 29, 2006 as a police officer in a backstage segment.
On September 16th, 2006, Castagnoli, with Chris Hero, defeated Austin Aries and Roderick Strong to become the ROH World Tag Team Champions. This is Castagnoli's first championship win in Ring of Honor.
On October 14th of 2006, the Kings of Wrestling defeated 3 other teams in a one night tournament at the CZW show "Last Team Standing" to become 2 time CZW Tag Team Champs. They defeated Team Masturbation (Beef Wellington & Excalibur) in the first round, the BLKOUT (Ruckus & Human Tornado) in the second round, and the makeshift team of Justice Pain & The Human Tornado (subbing for Pain's partner in the H8 Club, Nick Gage, who left the building before the match) in the third round.
Castagnoli recently appeared in WWE developmental territory Deep South Wrestling. It is unknown if this is a one-time tryout or if he will make repeat performances. Claudio Castagnoli looked good in his Deep South (WWE developmental) tryout last week, and there is interest in Chris Hero as well after WWE got a tape of one of his matches in the UK.
Castagnoli has received a developmental deal for his impressive performance in Deep South Wrestling, LLC. On November 8th, 2006, his signing with WWE had been confirmed.
Quotes
- "Heyyy!"
Finishing and signature moves
- Ricola Bomb (Cross-arm sitout powerbomb)
- Swi$$ Sleeperholding (Modified cobra clutch)
- Neutralizer (Grounded Argentine leglock with headscissors)
- UBS Neckbreaker (Inverted fireman's carry into cutter)
- Alpamare Waterslide (Side Death Valley driver)
- Cough Drop (European uppercut to a falling or seated opponent)
- Elbow from the Alps (Diving elbow drop)
- Jim Breaks Special (Arm lift submission)
- Match Killer (Horizontal back to belly hold swung into sitout facebuster)
- Money Dive Headbutt (Diving headbutt)
- Swiss Uppercut (Various European uppercut variations)
- Swiss-Plex (Delayed vertical suplex)
- Cravate
- Signature weapon: Halliburton
Championships and accomplishments
- 1-time CAPW Unified Heavyweight Champion
- 2-time CZW Tag Team Champions (with Chris Hero) (current)
- Tag World Grand Prix 2005 (with Arik Cannon)
- Tag World Grand Prix 2006 (with Chris Hero)
- 1-time CHIKARA Campeon de Parejas (with Chris Hero) (Current)
- Independent Wrestling Association: Switzerland
- 1-time IWA-Switzerland World Heavyweight Champion
- German Stampede Wrestling
- 1-time GSW Tag Team Champion (with Ares)
- 1-time ROH World Tag Team Champion (with Chris Hero) (Current)
- Swiss Wrestling Federation
- 2-time SWF Powerhouse Champion
- 1-time SWF Tag Team Champion (with Ares)
- 2-time wXw World Heavyweight Champion
- 3-time wXw Tag Team Champion (with Ares)
Trivia
- In August 2005, Claudio Castagnoli set the all-time record for holding an opponent up in a vertical suplex with 70 seconds. He repeated this feat once again at Ring of Honor's 100th Show when he held Christopher Daniels up for 70 seconds. He broke the record set by Kenta Kobashi of 54 seconds, which happened in Japan.
- Claudio's finisher, the Ricola Bomb takes its name from Ricola, a famous Swiss cough drop.
- Claudio appeared on the August 28, 2006 edition of WWE Raw as a police officer in a backstage segment with DX.