At Ring of Honor: Death Before Dishonor, Claudio Castagnoli had a short but sweet technical 3-course meal against the immensely talented Jonathan Gresham, the title that eluded Claudio Castagnoli since his initial Ring of Honor debut in 2005… he finally had it in his grasp.
You could see how much it meant to him as his arm was raised and showered with applause. But now a question looms… who’s next for Claudio Castagnoli after Chris Jericho at Arthur Ashe? Well! You’re in luck! As of today, I have 5 count them FIVE! Ridiculously talented individuals who I believe would stand across from Claudio and fight tooth and maybe even nail!
Chris Ridgeway
Chris is someone I’ve been watching for quite some time, I watched him develop from this young talent that didn’t stand out against the others and emerge into an absolute killer whose technical prowess ground down opponents before metaphorically tearing them limb from limb. it’s what id imagine swimming with sharks being like. He is the current PROGRESS World Champion and one-half of the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship with Yoshinari Ogawa, He has also won a plethora of other accolades over his career such as the Progress Heavyweight Champion. I’d suggest watching Ridgeway vs Gresham from Wrestle Carnival 2021 (it’s on YouTube) it will give you a good understanding of how fantastic he is and why I want this match to happen.
Daniel Garcia
Daniel Garcia is someone who I didn’t know a huge amount about before his debut in AEW, I had heard the name and heard stories of how incredible he is and ‘’The Red Death’’ hasn’t disappointed. I went back and watched a few of his matches, and more recently his match against Bandido at the Pro wrestling Guerrilla’s Delivering the Goods. He defeated Bandido who himself had the title for 864 days, the title’s longest reign to date. I would suggest checking out the most recent match he had against Bryan Danielson at AEW: Fight for The Fallen. In his short time in the squared circle Garcia has won several titles, Capital city championship combat world heavyweight champion, Empire State Wrestling Heavyweight championship, limitless wrestling champion, his career truly has no ceiling. I look forward to him taking AEW by storm and hopefully at some point down the line taking on the Swiss superman.
Biff Busick
Biff’s name is one I have heard for quite some time; my brother had been watching him since his early Combat zone wrestling days. It was there that he won the heavyweight championship and had a very successful 3-year period putting on hard-hitting battles against the likes of Chris Dickinson and Drew Gulak. From there he had stints in such companies as Evolve, PWG, and WWE where he went under the ring name Oney Lorcan. It’s here that we managed to win the NXT tag team championship with Danny Burch. After a while though Biff asked for his release from WWE and was granted this in November of 2021. Since his release, He’s had some absolute bangers. I’d suggest going back and watching Josh Barnetts – Bloodsport 8 when he faced John Moxley in a particularly bloody affair. Two guys with a clear respect for each other clubbing and beat each other for 10 minutes, which felt like an hour (in the best kind of way). so, let’s throw these pit bulls into the ring together… would be fun!
Timothy Thatcher.
Thatcher is someone who I’ve followed for quite some time, and real throwback, and likes to mix in various styles. Since his 2005 debut, he’s wrestled all through Europe, wrestling for such companies as WXW, Progress Wrestling, Preston City Wrestling, Insane Championship Wrestling and many others. In his stint with WXW, he won the tag team championships and the world heavyweight championship. From here we found his way to Evolve where at one point he became a double champion winning the heavyweight championship and the open the freedom gate championship. He finally lost the world heavyweight championship to Zack Sabre Jr ending his reign of 596 days. From here he had a run in the WWE and had a spattering of really great matches. One especially great match against Riddle in a fight pitch match. But I’d suggest checking out any of the matches he had tagging with Walter in WXW and his match against JR Kratos at Bloodsport 8. Currently, He is wrestling under the Pro Wrestling Noah banner…let’s hope he finds his way to Ring of Honor at some point and ties it up with Claudio Castagnoli.
Eddie Kingston
I sort of feel like I don’t need to explain this, BUT IM GONNA! Kingston has been an industry mainstay on the independent scene for 18 years up until his debut in AEW (well-deserved by the way) before that though he’s had many many MANY fantastic matches in innumerable fantastic companies such as CHIKARA, WXW, CZW, ROH, PWG, And Impact wrestling. A true, gives no fucks, unbridled madman, excellent wordsmith and seemingly great human being. But he also has a grudge to bear against Claudio Castagnoli. They had a long-running rivalry in chikara so basically, the feud itself is built on their old Chikara feud, which never got a blowoff match because Claudio went to WWE. Eddie has kept the feud alive this whole time…. I mean… you gotta respect the dedication. Two matches I’d suggest watching to help you brush up on why Kingston’s one of the best to lace up a pair of boots:
- Eddie Kingston Vs Chris Hero, Loser Leaves Town; 04/07/2007 CZW – Out With The Old In With The New.
- Kingston Vs Hallowicked In A Falls Count Anywhere At Chikara Chapter 11