"Claudio Castagnoli was originally one of my trainers," says 32-year-old AEW star

Claudio Castagnoli joined the AEW bandwagon this year when he debuted at the Forbidden Door event. Prior to joining the young company, he was associated with WWE for nearly a decade. Recently, Stokely Hathaway disclosed that the former ROH World Champion was one of his wrestling trainers.

The former WWE Superstar soon aligned himself with the Blackpool Combat Club. A month after his AEW debut, the 41-year-old won the ROH title, which he later lost to Chris Jericho. The two are set to clash again for the championship with the stipulation that Castagnoli will have to join the Jericho Appreciation Society if he loses.

On the latest episode of Renee Paquette's The Sessions podcast, Stokely Hathaway highlighted his initial journey into the wrestling industry, revealing that he trained while also attending grad school. He also revealed that Castagnoli, Orange Cassidy and Chuck Taylor were his trainers.

"I initially started doing this because it was my thesis project in grad school. I wanted to prove that I thought that wrestling was an art form. So all my professors said, yea, sure. They thought I was going to flunk out, so they allowed me to go on this journey. So I moved to Philadelphia for a few months and I trained. Funny story, Claudio Castagnoli was originally one of my trainers, Orange Cassidy, and Chuck Taylor. So, I graduated. It went well. I have my masters in performing arts.” [H/T Wrestling News]

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Claudio Castagnoli's first world title reign was in AEW

While Claudio Castagnoli was associated with ROH before signing with WWE, he never held a world title. The AEW star is a former United States Champion and WWE Tag Team Champion along with Sheamus.

He competed at ROH's Death Before Dishonor in July, where he was successful in his bout against Jonathan Gresham and won his first world title. With Tony Khan purchasing the independent promotion, there has been a crossover of talent and titles.

Do you think Castagnoli will be able to have another reign as ROH World Champion? Sound off in the comments below.