Greetings friends and future enemies, Jake Longstone here and this is my debut for PWPNation.
In my first voyage, I want to express my hope and concern for the recently debuted Claudio Castagnoli.
Now, before I address Claudio, lets take a look back, Keith Lee, Swerve Strickland, Ruby Soho, Toni Storm, RedDragon, have all shown up on AEW and were billed and hyped as ”game changers” and to be blunt, they haven’t been.
Even CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, and Adam Cole didn’t move numbers the way one would think that group debuting within a few weeks of each other would have.
The Hardys have been a flop and disaster, Athena is just there to lose to Jade eventually. However, this one ”could” be different.
There was a completely different feel when Claudio walked out. He should have a huge impact during Blood and Guts, but what happens after that?
There was a tease of a feud with Eddie Kingston, but will beating a guy who mostly loses his big feuds matter? No it doesn’t. It has been reported that Claudio was actually going to debut at ROH’s Death Before Dishonor PPV. To me that doesnt scream ”major game changer”.
Here is where i expect the most push back, but I can clearly say, Clauio in the BCC is actually a bad spot for him push wise. Is he bigger than Interim AEW Champ Jon Moxley? No he isnt. is he bigger than Bryan Danielson? No he isn’t. Here is where it gets tricky, is he bigger than Wheeler Yuta’s push? That’s the tough one.
If you say yes, then Wheeler loses a ton of momentum. If you say No then Claudio Claudio becomes the 4th guy in a group of four.
Claudio can actually be a major star. Will he move ratings? No, noone coming in has. However he can be a top 5 guy in the company……that is if To Khan allows it.