Claudio Castagnoli Explains Why He Respects John Cena So Much

AEW star Claudio Castagnoli has been a consummate professional regardless of where he’s worked, but even he has to stop and admire John Cena. Castagnoli, who performed in WWE under the ring name Cesaro, worked alongside Cena for several years. The two shared the ring during Cena’s legendary run of open United States Championship defenses that helped launch several NXT wrestlers to the next level.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn are two examples of this. While Castagnoli didn’t exactly need the rub from the Face That Runs the Place, it was a blast to watch the two strongmen do battle for one of WWE’s secondary championships. Claudio appreciated how much effort John Cena put into those US Title matches even though he was already a legend by that stage of his career. It’s unclear at this juncture when the 16-time WWE Champion will return to the squared circle, but some of his philosophies are still held up and appreciated by Castagnoli.

During a recent interview on The Kurt Angle Show, Castagnoli spoke about why he respects John Cena so much to this day: “He’s one of those people that doesn’t just say how you should do it or say how it should be done. He shows you,” the ROH World Champion said. “If he tells you to watch all the matches, he’s sitting there at the monitor watching all the matches. If he tells you, ‘You should work out.’ He is there working out early in the morning. [He’s] somebody I deeply respect. That’s kind of how I tried to do my career.” (h/t and a thank you to sescoops.com for the transcription)

Claudio Castagnoli Doing John Cena Proud In AEW

While many people have tried to exert their will backstage in AEW through words, Castagnoli tries to set an excellent example for the younger guys. Given that many of All Elite Wrestling’s original crop of stars haven’t spent time in WWE, the former Cesaro brings a wealth of knowledge to the table. Of course, various reports indicate that not everyone is open to being told what to do or how to perform by ex-WWE guys (CM Punk brought this up during his scorched Earth post-All Out media scrum).

Still, Castagnoli has steadily brought his A-game every night since debuting in AEW. He stepped up and had a massive match at Forbidden Door since Bryan Danielson was injured, and he’s fit in wonderfully with the Blackpool Combat Club. Castagnoli is in the midst of a run where he’s defending a world championship for the first time in his career, and his matches have been the high point of several episodes of AEWFriday Night Rampage recently. It’ll be interesting to see who Tony Khan plans to have Castagnoli face in his first full-on feud in defense of the ROH World Championship.

Sources: The Kurt Angle Show/YouTube, sescoops.com