Claudio Castagnoli Wins ROH World Title At Death Before Dishonor
A golden homecoming for Claudio
Claudio Castagnoli is the new ROH World Heavyweight champion, after defeating Jonathan Gresham in the opening match of Death Before Dishonor on Saturday night in Lowell, MA.
At the end of a technically-sound match-up, Castagnoli pinned Gresham following the Ricola Bomb. Castagnoli was showered with confetti afterward, and shook Gresham's hand.
The win gives Castagnoli his first singles World title of any sort in wrestling. In ROH, Castagnoli previously held the Tag Team titles twice with Kings of Wrestling tag team partner Chris Hero.
Gresham's World title reign ends after 224 days. He defeated Jay Lethal to win the vacant title at Final Battle on December 11, the final ROH show before Tony Khan announced his purchase of the company earlier this year.
Castagnoli becomes the third member of the Blackpool Combat Club to presently hold a championship. Wheeler Yuta is currently the ROH Pure champion, pending his defense against Daniel Garcia on tonight's pay-per-view. In addition, Jon Moxley is presently the interim AEW World champion while CM Punk is out with an injury.
Written by Justin Henry
In addition to writing lists and commentaries for Cultaholic, Justin is also a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine, and is co-author of the WWE-related book Titan Screwed: Lost Smiles, Stunners, and Screwjobs.