Claudio Castagnoli
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| Claudio Castagnoli | |
|---|---|
[[Image: |200px]] |
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| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | Claudio Castagnoli Tenshi Takami A Very Mysterious Ice Cream |
| Billed height | 195 cm (6 ft 5 in) |
| Billed weight | 105 kg (232 lb) |
| Born | December 27, 1974 Schaffhausen |
| Resides | USA |
| Billed from | United Bank of Switzerland |
| Trained by | SigMasta Rappo Dave Taylor Chris Hero Mike Quackenbush Skayde |
| Debut | December 24, 2000 |
"Double C" Claudio Castagnoli (born December 27, 1974) 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. In November 2006, he had agreed to a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment, but was later released before working for them.
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[edit] 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 28, 2006 as a police officer in a backstage segment.
On September 16, 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 14 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.
In late 2006 Castagnoli appeared in WWE developmental territory Deep South Wrestling. He later received a developmental deal for his impressive performance in Deep South Wrestling, LLC. His signing with WWE was confirmed on November 8.
On November 11, the Kings of Wrestling lost the CZW Tag Team Championship to BLKOUT (Sabian and Robbie Mireno). Six days later, on November 17, they lost CHIKARA’s Campeones de Parejas to F.I.S.T. (Gran Akuma and Icarus), leaving them with one championship left. On November 25, the Kings of Wrestling lost the ROH Tag Team Championship to Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal. With Castagnoli scheduled to report to Ohio Valley Wrestling in January, the end of the Kings of Wrestling is near. Castagnoli seemingly wrestled his final match in Ring of Honor at Final Battle 2006, when the Kings of Wrestling lost to the Briscoe Brothers. After the match, Hero left with Larry Sweeney, seemingly abandoning Castagnoli.
ROH official Gabe Sapolsky stated in an Wrestling Observer Live interview with Dave Meltzer that Castagnoli will still perform for Ring of Honor until March 2007. Later, it was reported by Dave Meltzer that Claudio had been released from his WWE contract, even before making it to WWE's developmental promotion. Several wrestling online news site originally reported over his work visa and legal status in the country. Castagnoli refuted these claims on his official My-Space, pointing out that he would not have been able to wrestle in promotions such as ROH and CZW for over a year if he didn't have a visa.
[edit] Finishing and signature moves
- Finishing and signature moves
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- Ricola Bomb / Pyramid Bomb (Cross-arm sitout powerbomb)
- Roaring Swiss Uppercut (Discus European uppercut)
- Swi$$ Sleeperholding (Modified cobra clutch)
- Neutralizer (Grounded Argentine leglock with headscissors)
- UBS Neckbreaker (Inverted fireman's carry into cutter)
- Swiss Uppercut (Various European uppercut variations)
- Cough Drop (European uppercut to the back of a falling or seated opponent)
- Alpamare Waterslide (Side Death Valley driver)
- Elbow from the Alps (Diving elbow drop)
- Jim Breaks Special (Lifting wrist lock submission)
- Match Killer (Horizontal back to belly suplex hold spun out into a sitout facebuster)
- Money Dive Headbutt (Diving headbutt)
- Delayed vertical suplex
- Cravate
- Suicide dive into European uppercut
- Signature weapon: Halliburton
- Theme music
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- I've Got To Have It (instrumental version) – Jermaine Dupri
- We Are the Champions – Queen (With Chris Hero)
- We Will Rock You – Queen / Sledgehammer – Peter Gabriel Re-mix
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
- Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling
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- CAPW Unified Heavyweight Champion (1 time)
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- CZW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Chris Hero
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- Chikara Campeonado de Parejas (1 time) – with Chris Hero
- Tag World Grand Prix 2005 winner – with Arik Cannon
- Tag World Grand Prix 2006 – with Chris Hero
- German Stampede Wrestling
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- GSW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ares
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- IPW:UK Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ares
- Independent Wrestling Association: Switzerland
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- IWA Switzerland World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
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- ROH World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Chris Hero
- Swiss Wrestling Federation
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- SWF Powerhouse Championship (2 times)
- SWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ares
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- wXw World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- wXw Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Ares
[edit] 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. The previous record was held by Kenta Kobashi with 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.
- Claudio's favorite catchphrase "Heyyy!" is often repeated by the crowd when he performs moves
[edit] References
- Claudio Castagnoli at OWW.com [[1]]
