William Regal has revealed that a current member of the AEW roster once completed an incredible overnight trek on foot just to attend to a training session.
Claudio Castagnoli shocked the world when he debuted at Forbidden Door and wrestled Zack Sabre Jr. Blackpool Combat Club member Bryan Danielson handpicked him to be his replacement as he recovers from an undisclosed injury. The mentor of the stable, William Regal, recently spoke about how excited he is to have Claudio in AEW.
On the “Gentleman Villian” podcast, Regal revealed that Castagnoli once walked all night from an airport to train at Dave Taylor’s wrestling school. Regal stated that it was the first time that the would-be star had met Taylor, proving how much the Swiss Superman wanted to be involved in pro wrestling.
“Dave got there at nine o’clock and outside stood this statuesque gentleman with a bag that had his feet just stood absolutely straight back with his arms folded. And Dave went ‘Hello I’m Dave.’ And he went ‘Hello, my name is Claudio.’ He said that. Oh, right. Okay. Oh, how you doing? Good. Good. Good flight. Yeah. Good. Good flight. Yes, sir. Yes. Very polite.
Dave’s looking for a car. A lot of them used to stay was about two miles away. ‘So have you come from that now?’ He said ‘No, I’ve come from the airport.’ Dave said ‘Oh, you got a cab?’ [He said] ‘No I walked.’ He landed the night before, he’s got a map out, because he’s, you know, highly trained. You know, I let him tell his own story.”
“But Claudio has done a lot of things in life. Well, part of it is very intelligent, right out a whole other life. And that’s his story to tell, I don’t think a lot of people know, but very smart, very smart. Got a map out and mapped his way so he didn’t have to go on the highway all the way through, and some not so clever places in Atlanta to get through. And he’s waiting so we can be there on time. That was the start of me going, Oh, this is somebody who wants to really do this. “[8:34]
Castagnoli had just flown in from Switzerland when he arrived at Taylor’s school. Also present were future stars such as CM Punk and Chris Hero.
The former WWE star has so far helped The Blackpool Combat Club defeat The Jericho Appreciation Society inside Blood and Guts.
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