Claudio Castagnoli Hopes To Use ROH World Title To “Showcase” Young Talent

In a recent interview with Joey Hayden of the Dallas Morning News, Claudio Castagnoli talked about challenging Chris Jericho for the ROH World Title and what he would like to see happen if he regains the belt. He spoke about his philosophy regarding title defense matches and what he hopes he can use it for should he defeat Jericho this weekend. You can read a highlight from Castagnoli below.

On what he would like to do as incumbent title holder to promote upcoming talent: “I would be a fool to say that Chris Jericho didn’t defend the title a lot, and in some tremendous matches and brought a lot of eyes to the Ring of Honor world championship just by defending against all comers in AEW. So, I would love to win the title back – A. So I don’t have to join the Jericho Appreciation Society, and B. So I can bring honor back to the ROH championship. And then I would like to defend it in a similar way that he did, but not against former champions. I feel like I would like to defend it against young talent that has been grinding their teeth, for example, on AEW Dark, and hasn’t had that chance yet to showcase that talent on television. Give them a shot at the Ring of Honor title because I feel like that’s what it’s always been and meant was to showcase new talent and give talent the chance [who may not have] another outlet. That’s what Ring of Honor always was. It was kind of the proving ground for people to prove how good they really were before mainstream saw it.”