ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli has recalled the origins of the name of his WWE tag team with Sheamus, The Bar.
Before joining AEW earlier this year, Claudio Castagnoli spent over a decade in WWE under the ring name of Cesaro. One of his most successful runs in the company came when he joined forces with Sheamus in 2016 to form the tag team known as ‘The Bar’.
Over the course of the following three years, the pair dominated the tag team scene in the company, becoming four-time Raw Tag Team Champions as well as having a 103-day reign with the SmackDown Tag Team Championships.
Despite their success as a team, the two were forced to disband in 2019 due to Sheamus needing to take time off following a concussion and Cesaro being drafted back to Raw.
During a recent appearance on The Kurt Angle Show, Claudio Castagnoli explained to the Olympic Gold Medallist just how the team got its name and signature thumb gesture.
“So it was something where we were taking pictures and we just kind of did the thumbs up for a bit. And then we were like, ‘Oh that’s kind of lame.’ So we just started doing this, like the sideways thumb. I don’t know how it was, but it was just like, you know, this is the bar and we’re above it.
“Then it just snowballed into one thing led to another and we were just like, ‘We don’t just set the bar, we are the bar!’ and there’s just like that. That kind of became a thing and we just rolled with it. And then they just named us The Bar. And I’m like cool, this is awesome.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Claudio Castagnoli revealed his dream matches in the AEW roster.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit The Kurt Angle Show and give an H/T to Inside The Ropes for the transcription.