Claudio Castagnoli makes AEW debut at Forbidden Door

[Liz]

As expected, Claudio Castagnoli was Zack Sabre Jr's mystery opponent at last night's Forbidden Door and the man formerly known as Cesaro in the WWE got the proverbial "Road Warrior pop" by the Chicago crowd.

The former multi-time WWE Tag Team champion stayed at the top of the stage for a bit, taking it all in as the crowd went absolutely bananas as soon as his graphic hit the screen.

Sporting a Blackpool Combat jacket with Claudio and 22 on the back, Castagnoli greeted fans at ringside and then hilariously posed with the AEW cameraman who fans online always said it was him under cover.

After all the dust settled, Castagnoli and ZSJ had a terrific match which lived up to the expectations, even though fans were hoping for a Danielson vs ZSJ dream match.

Following his win, AEW President Tony Khan tweeted the Castagnoli was now "All Elite" along with the usual graphic.

Castagnoli showed up again at the end of the pay-per-view after Danny Garcia and Chris Jericho attacked Jon Moxley after he won the title. The rest of the Blood & Guts participants joined and Castagnoli was the last one in and delivered the swing to Matt Maynard as fans counted into the teens.

The artist formerly known as Cesaro left WWE in February of this year after his contract expired and decided not to renew it.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1541245396986601472

https://twitter.com/i/status/1541266893507641344