Claudio Castagnoli has finally broken his silence on the strange hug from Tony Khan during the Forbidden Door media scrum.
Claudio Castagnoli officially made the jump from WWE to AEW at Forbidden Door on 26 June. Many fans had been anticipating ‘The Swiss Superman’s’ debut since he departed from WWE, and he did so by defeating Zack Sabre Jr. at the highly-anticipated pay-per-view.
What caught many off guard, however, was the bizarre hug AEW President Tony Khan gave to Castagnoli during the Forbidden Door media scrum. Khan held on to the new star for several seconds and appeared somewhat emotional as he rested his head on his chest.
During an interview with NBC Sports Boston’s Steve Fall, Claudio Castagnoli discussed the awkward encounter and mentioned that people may have taken it out of context:
“It’s so strange because that was after the Forbidden Door. It was literally like, it was like a quick hug. It was just like I was done, and it was just like, it lasts. It was like, you know when you see your friend and then you give like a high five and then like a pat on the back kind of hug and like it was screen captured, and I guess people ran with it. It’s just a few pros hugging.”
Nonetheless, Claudio Castagnoli has already made himself at home in AEW. He picked up a win over Jake Hagger on week one of Fyter Fest, and now has his sights set on becoming ROH World Champion. Castagnoli has the chance to become the champion when he faces Jonathan Gresham at Death Before Dishonor on 23 June.