Claudio Castagnoli‘s ROH World Championship match at Death Before Dishonor originally looked very different.
According to reports, Castagnoli was initially set to face off against longtime rival Eddie Kingston in the match, but that couldn’t happen due to Kingston’s match at New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s G1 Climax. Following Kingston, Castagnoli was set to face Mark Briscoe prior to his injury before things finally landed on PAC.
Speaking at the Death Before Dishonor Media Scrum following his victory over PAC, where he retained her championship, Castagnoli said he didn’t care too much about his opponent changing a handful of times leading up to the event.
“Well, I don’t care; I’m still the champ,” said Castagnoli. “I told everybody that Eddie wasn’t ready, so whatever excuse Eddie has not to be here, I’m sure if he wasn’t in Japan, he would’ve found something else. I told Mark he wasn’t ready, and I was right about that.”
Castagnoli noted that he was happy to get his hands on PAC following the events of Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite, in which he accidentally uppercut PAC during a Blood & Guts match.
“And I’m happy after Wednesday that I got my hands on PAC tonight,” Castagnoli said. “Plus, he’s also somebody that I haven’t faced in a long time, so on a competitive note, that’s very satisfying. And on a personal note, it’s even better.”
READ MORE: Claudio Castagnoli Reflects On NJPW Debut, Calls It A Moment To Remember
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the Death Before Dishonor Media Scrum with a link back to this article for the transcription.
