AEW News Roundup: Jon Moxley says 5-time world champion is "the greatest professional wrestler to ever live", legend discloses the reason for Claudio Castagnoli's failure in WWE (June 30, 2022)
Welcome to another edition of the AEW News Roundup, where we bring you the top stories from All Elite Wrestling.
Jon Moxley recently named one of his stablemates and multi-time world champion Bryan Danielson as one of his favorite wrestlers in the pro wrestling business. The WWE legend stated why Claudio Castagnoli's run in the sports entertainment juggernaut ended in failure.
We round off today's edition with a story about Chris Jericho revealing why he didn't compete in a singles match at the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view. So without further ado, let's begin:
#3. Interim AEW World Champion Jon Moxley heaps praise on Bryan Danielson
Jon Moxley won the interim AEW World Championship after a hard-fought battle against NJPW legend Hiroshi Tanahashi at Forbidden Door.
During the post-match interview, he spoke very highly about his Blackpool Combat Club member, Bryan Danielson. The Purveyor of Violence stated that the latter is "the greatest professional wrestler to ever live":
"For my money, and my opinion, the greatest professional wrestler to ever live, to ever do it in the ring, is Bryan Danielson and it's crazy... he's my partner," said Moxley. "I get to tag-team with him, you know? Also, he's one of my favorite wrestlers ever, like legit, on my top list of two or three or four whatever, he's in that group of my favorite wrestlers to watch ever. It's almost like two different... there's like one of my favorite wrestlers to watch, Bryan Danielson, who's right up there with my all-time favorite like Bret Hart and stuff and then there's Bryan, my friend, who's like all eco-friendly and s***."
Moxley added that he and The American Dragon have similar interests:
"He's like a good father and all this and we have similar interests. That's almost like two separate people. Sometimes I have to pinch myself out there, I get to team with one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. That's pretty cool, man."
While Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson are currently stablemates, it will be interesting to see if they battle each for the interim world title in the future.
#2. Bully Ray gives his take on why Claudio Castagnoli's WWE run ended in failure
Why does it look like at this moment, Claudio realized he made a mistake? https://t.co/765y0OxipI
Claudio Castagnoli (f.k.a. Cesaro in WWE) joined AEW at the recently concluded Forbidden Door event after his 11-year stint in the global juggernaut ended on February 24, 2022.
The Swiss star had an underwhelming run in WWE, winning only one singles title (United States Championship) in the company. Though he managed to win the tag team title on seven occasions (RAW Tag Team Title five times and SmackDown Tag Team Titles twice), he never reached superstardom.
While speaking on the Busted Open podcast, Bully Ray said that Castagnoli didn't have the sports entertainment factor that Vince McMahon was looking for:
"The reason why Cesaro never got to that next level in the WWE is he was too much of a pro wrestler, not enough of a sports entertainer. He didn't have that entertainment factor that Vince was looking for. Now, once they put him with Sheamus. Sheamus had enough sports entertainer in him that Cesaro could play off of them, and they gelled very well together," said Ray.
While WWE focuses comparatively more on the sports entertainment side of things, AEW is mainly centered around in-ring action. So it remains to be seen whether the Swiss Superman will be successful during his time in the Jacksonville-based promotion or not.
#1. Chris Jericho discloses the reason for not being in a singles match at Forbidden Door
Sing along to #Judas🎵
#AEW #AEWxNJPW #ForbiddenDoor @IAmJericho https://t.co/4ySPps4Bb7
The opening match of the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view saw Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Minoru Suzuki defeat Eddie Kingston, Shota Umino, and Wheeler Yuta.
During a recent interview with Inside the Ropes, The Wizard opened up on why he decided not to compete in a singles bout at the crossover event:
"We’re going to have to promote both Forbidden Door and Blood & Guts, because it’s the go-home show for both. So for me on Forbidden Door, I have to do something that continues the momentum to Blood & Guts. If I just randomly faced Minoru Suzuki, will we tear the house down? Of course. But how does that connect to what we’re doing just three days later?”
The victory at Forbidden Door gave the Jericho Appreciation Society the man-advantage in the Blood and Guts match on this week's AEW Dynamite. However, they ended up suffering a defeat after Claudio Castagnoli forced Matt Menard to submit via a sharpshooter.