Claudio Castagnoli

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Claudio Castagnoli
An image of Claudio Castagnoli.
Statistics
Ring name(s) Claudio Castagnoli
Swiss Chocolate Ice Cream
Billed height 195 cm (6 ft 5 in)
Billed weight 105 kg (232 lb)
Born December 27, 1980 (1980-12-27) (age 27)
Lucerne, Switzerland
Resides United States
Billed from United Bank of Switzerland
Trained by SigMasta Rappo
Dave Taylor
Chris Hero
Mike Quackenbush
Skayde
The Honky Tonk Man
Debut December 24, 2000

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, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, and CHIKARA. In November 2006, he had agreed to a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment, but was later released before working for them.

Contents

[edit] Career

Castagnoli received his initial training in his homeland of Switzerland from fellow Swiss wrestler SigMasta Rappo, and made his debut on December 24, 2000 in Essen for the German westside Xtreme wrestling.[1] Castagnoli first used a Japanese gimmick before becoming a Swiss banker along with Ares, together known as the Swiss Money Holding (SMH).

While performing in England, Castagnoli received training from Dave Taylor. Claudio met Chris Hero in Germany, who invited the SMH to perform in the United States. They competed in IWA Mid South and CHIKARA and received training from Hero before returning to Europe. While Ares remained there and formed the new Swiss Money Holding with Marc Roudin, Castagnoli returned to the American independent circuit to wrestle full time, making regular appearances for ROH and CHIKARA.

In late 2005 Castagnoli made his way to Combat Zone Wrestling, where he teamed up with Chris Hero to form the highly successful Kings of Wrestling stable and shortly after won the CZW World Tag Team Championships.[2] Days after losing these titles a few months later, Castagnoli and Hero won the CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix 2006 to become the first Campeonatos de Parejas.[3]

The success of the Kings of Wrestling continued into Ring of Honor where on September 16, 2006 they defeated Austin Aries and Roderick Strong to become the ROH World Tag Team Champions.[4] The next month at CZW Last Team Standing (October 14) they defeated three other teams to win their second CZW Tag Team titles,[5] thus holding the titles of three of the top American independent companies simultaneously.

Within a month their luck began to change as they lost the CZW belts to BLKOUT (Sabian and Robbie Mireno),[6] the CHIKARA belts to Team F.I.S.T. (Gran Akuma and Icarus)[7] and the ROH titles to Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal,[8]. With WWE showing interest in Castagnoli the Kings of Wrestling split after a loss to the Briscoe Brothers at ROH Final Battle 2006, where Hero abandoned him and allied himself with Larry Sweeney.

In November 2006 it was revealed that Castagnoli had signed with WWE, having impressed them with an appearance on RAW (as a police officer in a backstage segment) and a successful tryout for Deep South Wrestling.[9] Shortly after, Castagnoli was released from his WWE contract. Reports stated that this was due to VISA problems with Castagnoli, although he disputed those reports.

In April 2007, Castagnoli represented CHIKARA in the inaugural King of Europe Cup, a sixteen-man tournament held in Liverpool, England. He lost in the opening match against CZW's representative and former partner, Chris Hero.[10]

Castagnoli wrestled on Ring of Honor's first pay-per-view Respect is Earned on May 12, 2007, teaming with Matt Sydal to challenge the Briscoe Brothers for the ROH World Tag Team Championship.[11] Despite losing the match, Castagnoli was granted a rematch with the partner of his choosing. He chose former partner Chris Hero but the duo lost to the Briscoes on June 9.[12]

Success would occur in ROH singles competition on July 28 as Castagnoli won Ring of Honor's Race to the Top Tournament, a 16 man, 2 night event. He defeated Hallowicked, Mike Quackenbush and Jack Evans, before defeating El Generico in the final.[13] He faced Takeshi Morishima for the ROH World Championship at Death Before Dishonor V: Night One on August 10, but lost.[14] He received a second shot, this time a three-way match with Brent Albright, later that month, but was again unable to win the title.[15]

During the Summer of 2007 Castagnoli competed in a tournament for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship under the Terry Funk bracket.[16] He defeated Pepper Parks in the first round qualifiers and Sicodelico Jr. in the second,[17] before losing to Brent Albright in the semi-finals on August 12 in Charlotte.[16]

In September, Castagnoli competed in his second Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Battle of Los Angeles Tournament. He defeated Doug Williams in the first round but lost to PAC in the second round. Castagnoli also competed in and won the annual Chikara "Torneo Cibernetico" event, a 16-man elimination tag match.

Later in September, Castagnoli competed in the Ted Petty Invitational 2007 tournament. He defeated Nigel McGuinness in the first round, Davey Richards in the quarter-finals, & Brent Albright in the semi-finals to compete in a three way elimination match, with finalists Mike Quackenbush & IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Champion Chuck Taylor. He was first eliminated by the eventual winner, Quackenbush, being pinned following a Quackendriver II.

Castagnoli recently replaced Fergal Devitt in the 8-man NWA Australian Title Tournament which was held in November.

In February 2008, Castagnoli was invited to and competed in his first tour with Pro Wrestling NOAH, wrestling in all tag matches with partners Doug Williams and Chris Hero.

[edit] Wrestling facts

  • Finishing and signature moves
  • Signature weapon
  • Nicknames
  • "Double C"
  • "The Most Money Making Man"
  • "Stalwart Swiss Powerhouse"

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling
  • CAPW Unified Heavyweight Champion (1 time)
  • German Stampede Wrestling
  • GSW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ares
  • Independent Wrestling Association: Switzerland
  • IWA Switzerland World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • Swiss Wrestling Federation
  • SWF Powerhouse Championship (2 times)
  • SWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ares
  • westside Xtreme wrestling
  • wXw World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
  • wXw Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Ares

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ wXw Extreme Wrestling Party results, Cagematch.net, retrieved July 29, 2007.
  2. ^ CZW Big Mutha F'N Deal results, Cagematch.net, retrieved July 30, 2007.
  3. ^ CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix 2006 Day 3 results, Cagematch.net, retrieved July 20, 2007.
  4. ^ ROH Glory By Honor V Day 2 results, Cagematch.net, retrieved July 29, 2007. "ROH Tag Team Title Match: The Kings Of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) [defeated] Austin Aries & Roderick Strong (c) (21:34) - [title change]."
  5. ^ CZW Last Team Standing results, Cagemetch.net, retrieved July 30, 2007.
  6. ^ CZW Night of Infamy results, Cagematch.net, retrieved July 30, 2007.
  7. ^ CHIKARA Brick results, Cagematch.net, retrieved July 30, 2007.
  8. ^ ROH Dethroned results, Cagematch.net, retrieved July 29, 2007. "ROH World Tag Team Title Match: Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal [defeated] The Kings Of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) (c) (22:45) - [title change]."
  9. ^ Claudio Castagnoli: Wrestler Career Highlights, Online World of Wrestling, retrieved August 18, 2007. "October 19, 2006--Deep South Wrestling: Kofi Nahaje Kingston defeated Claudio Castagnoli in a dark (try out) match."
  10. ^ King of Europe Cup 2007 Day 1 results, Cagematch.net, retrieved July 29, 2007. "King Of Europe Cup 2007 First Round Match: Chris Hero [defeated] Claudio Castagnoli."
  11. ^ ROH Respect Is Earned results, Cagematch.net, retrieved July 29, 2007.
  12. ^ ROH Domination results, Cagematch.net, retrieved July 29, 2007.
  13. ^ ROH Race to the Top Tournament Day 2 results, Cagematch.net, retrieved July 29, 2007.
  14. ^ Past results, Ring of Honor, retrieved August 18, 2007. "Death Before Dishonor V- Night 1- Boston, MA 8/10/07: Takeshi Morishima defeated Claudio Castagnoli to retain the ROH World Title."
  15. ^ Hartford, CT- Caged Rage August 24th, Ring of Honor, retrieved August 18, 2007.
  16. ^ a b National Wrestling Alliance - Reclaiming the Glory, NWAWrestling.com, last accessed August 18, 2007.
  17. ^ CHIKARA Showdown in CrisisLand results, Cagematch.net, retrieved July 29, 2007. "NWA World Heavyweight Title Tournament Quarter Final: Claudio Castagnoli [defeated] Sicodelico Jr."

[edit] External links

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