Claudio Castagnoli

Claudio Castagnoli (born December 27, 1974) is a Swiss professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, working in its developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling under the ring name Antonio Cesaro. He is best known for his work on the American independent circuit in promotions such as Chikara, Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and in Japan for Pro Wrestling Noah. Castagnoli originally signed a developmental contract with WWE in November 2006, but was later released before working for them.

Europe (2000-2004)
Castagnoli received his initial training in his homeland of Switzerland from fellow Swiss wrestler SigMasta Rappo, and made his debut on December 24, 2000 in Essen, Germany for the German westside Xtreme wrestling. Castagnoli first used a Japanese gimmick before becoming a Swiss banker along with Ares, together known as the "Swiss Money Holding" (SMH).

While performing in England, Castagnoli received training from Dave Taylor. In Switzerland, Castagnoli met Chris Hero and Mike Quackenbush, who invited the SMH to perform in the United States. They competed in IWA Mid-South and Chikara and received training from Hero before returning to Europe. In 2004 Castagnoli received a United States Permanent Resident in a green card lottery and moved to the United States and began making regular appearances for Ring of Honor and Chikara, while Ares remained in Switzerland and formed the new Swiss Money Holding with Marc Roudin.



Chikara

Kings of Wrestling (2003-2006)
Castagnoli and Ares made their Chikara debuts on May 7, 2003, at the 2003 World Grand Prix, out of which they were eliminated after drawing with the SuperFriends (Chris Hero and Mike Quackenbush). Castagnoli returned to Chikara in 2004 as a member of Larry Sweeney's Sweet 'n' Sour International. The following year Castagnoli teamed up with Arik Cannon to form AC/DC. The team entered the 2005 Tag World Grand Prix and ended up winning the tournament after Chris Hero turned on his partner Mike Quackenbush in the finals of the tournament. Together, Castagnoli, Cannon and Hero would form the stable known as the "Kings of Wrestling". Cannon would leave the promotion at the end of 2005 and together Hero and Castagnoli entered the 2006 Tag World Grand Prix. In the tournament Castagnoli and Hero defeated Equinox and Hydra, Sumie Sakai and RANMARU, the North Star Express (Ryan Cruz and Darin Corbin), Incoherence (Hallowicked and Delirious), and finally Team Dragondoor (Skayde and Milano Collection A.T.) to become the first "Chikara Campeones de Parejas".

On November 17, 2006 at the Chikara show Brick in Reading Pennsylvania, Castagnoli and Hero lost the Chikara tag titles to Team F.I.S.T. (Icarus and Gran Akuma) in a 2 out of 3 falls match. Following the match, Hero and Team F.I.S.T. turned on Castagnoli and engaged in a beat down.

In November 2006 it was revealed that Castagnoli had signed a developmental deal with the World Wrestling Entertainment, having impressed them with an appearance on Raw (as a police officer in a backstage segment) and a successful tryout for Deep South Wrestling. Shortly after, Castagnoli was released from his WWE contract. Reports stated that this was due to Visa problems with Castagnoli, although he disputed those reports.

Going Solo and Los Ice Creams (2007-2009) Castagnoli returned to Chikara on February 16, 2007, under a mask and the ring name "Very Mysterious Ice Cream", as a part of Los Ice Creams. Afterwards Castagnoli started feuding with his former partner Chris Hero. On April 22, 2007, at Rey de Voladores Hero defeated Castagnoli and as per stipulation of the match Castagnoli was forced to re-join the Kings of Wrestling. The following month Hero, Castagnoli and Larry Sweeney joined forces with Team F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Akuma and Chuck Taylor to form the Kings of Wrestling superstable, which would later be joined by Mitch Ryder, Max Boyer and Shayne Hawke. On September 22, 2007, at Cibernetico & Robin the Kings of Wrestling faced Los Luchadores in the annual torneo cibernetico match. The Kings won the match with Hero, Castagnoli and Mitch Ryder as the survivors, but since the match could only have one winner, they were forced to face each other. Castagnoli forced Hero to tap out and then pinned Ryder to win not only the match, but also his freedom from the Kings of Wrestling. On December 9, 2007, at Stephen Colbert > Bill O'Reilly Castagnoli defeated Hero to finally end their long feud. After the match Hero left the company and Castagnoli took over his training duties at the Chikara Wrestle Factory.

In 2008 Castagnoli started a new feud, this time with Brodie Lee. On September 7 Castagnoli defeateed Lee in the first steel cage match in Chikara history to win the feud. On October 19, 2008, Castagnoli won a 7-on-7 Global Gauntlet match where Chikara wrestlers faced off with wrestlers from Big Japan Pro Wrestling.

Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (2009-2011) Castagnoli entered the 2009 King of Trios teaming with Bryan Danielson and Dave Taylor as Team Uppercut. The team advanced to the finals of the tournament, where they were defeated by F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Akuma and Taylor). After the tournament Eddie Kingston, whose team The Roughnecks Castagnoli and his team had eliminated on their way to the finals, claimed that he had been embarrassed and disrepected by Castagnoli. On May 24, 2009, Kingston, who had claimed technical superiority over Castagnoli, pinned him cleanly with an Oklahoma roll. After Castagnoli defeated Kingston via countout at the 2009 Young Lions Cup, the two of them were booked in a "Respect Match" on November 22, 2009, at the season eight finale Three-Fisted Tales, where the loser of the match had to show respect to the winner. Castagnoli won the match, but instead of showing respect, Kingston laid him out with a spinning back fist, after claiming that both Castagnoli and his former partner (Chris Hero) are shady and deserve respect from no one. At the conclusion of the show Ares revealed himself as the man who had been stalking UltraMantis Black, at which point Castagnoli turned rudo by attacking Mike Quackenbush. After beating the entire tecnico roster Castagnoli aligned himself with Ares, Tursas, Pinkie Sanchez, Tim Donst, Sara Del Rey and Daizee Haze to form the Bruderschaft des Kreuzes.

After picking up the three points needed in order to challenge for the Campeonatos de Parejas in just one weekend, Castagnoli and Ares defeated The Colony (Fire Ant and Soldier Ant) on March 20, 2010, to win the titles, making Castagnoli the first two-time Campeon de Parejas in Chikara history. In April Castagnoli, Ares and Tursas defeated the teams of The Osirian Portal (Amasis and Ophidian) and Sara Del Rey, Team Perros del Mal (El Alebrije, Cuije and El Orientál), Team Big Japan Wrestling (Daisuke Sekimoto, Kankuro Hoshino and Yuji Okabayashi) and The Colony (Fire Ant, Soldier Ant and Green Ant) over a three day tournament to win the 2010 King of Trios. On October 23 Castagnoli represented BDK in the torneo cibernetico match, where they faced a team composed of Chikara originals. He eliminated himself from the match by low blowing Eddie Kingston, but his plan did not work out as Kingston came back to eliminate Tursas and win the match. At the season nine finale on December 12, Castagnoli and Ares lost the Campeonatos de Parejas to Jigsaw and Mike Quackenbush. On March 13, 2011, Castagnoli and Eddie Kingston finally faced each other in a grudge match fifteen months in the making, with Castagnoli emerging victorious after hitting Kingston with a chain. In May, Castagnoli entered the 12 Large: Summit to determine the first ever Chikara Grand Champion. During the Chikarasaurus Rex weekend on July 30 and 31, Castagnoli was involved in two main event matches, both of which were also a part of the 12 Large: Summit. After losing to Mike Quackenbush on Night 1, Castagnoli suffered an upset loss against his BDK stablemate Sara Del Rey on Night 2, after which he turned on not only Del Rey, but also Daizee Haze as she was standing up for her regular tag team partner. At the following event on August 27, Castagnoli was defeated by Icarus, eliminating him from contention in the 12 Large: Summit.

In Wrestling
Tag Teams and Stables
 * The Kings of Wrestling
 * Swiss Money Holding
 * Theme music
 * "I've Got to Have It (Instrumental)" by Jermaine Dupri featuring Nas and Monica
 * "We Are the Champions" by Queen (Used while teaming with Chris Hero)
 * "Engel" by Rammstein (Chikara, used as a member of the Bruderschaft des Kreuzes)
 * "KoW (Kings)" by Cody B. Ware, Emilio Sparks and J. Glaze (used while teaming with Chris Hero)

Championships and accomplishments

 * Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling
 * CAPW Unified Heavyweight Champion (1 time)


 * Combat Zone Wrestling
 * CZW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Chris Hero


 * Chikara Pro Wrestling
 * CHIKARA Campeonatos de Parejas (2 times, currennt) – with Chris Hero (1) and Ares (1)
 * Tag World Grand Prix 2005 winner – with Arik Cannon
 * Tag World Grand Prix 2006 – with Chris Hero
 * King of Trios 2010 Winner - with Ares and Tursas


 * German Stampede Wrestling
 * GSW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ares


 * International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom
 * IPW:UK Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ares (held as part of Swiss Money Holding)


 * Independent Wrestling Association: Switzerland
 * IWA Switzerland World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)


 * Ring of Honor
 * ROH World Tag Team Championship (2 times, current) – with Chris Hero (2)


 * Swiss Wrestling Federation
 * SWF Powerhouse Championship (2 times)
 * SWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ares


 * westside Xtreme wrestling
 * wXw World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
 * wXw Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Ares