Claudio Castagnoli's Next ROH Title Challenger Revealed On AEW Rampage
Elijah King
Published Mar 27, 2026
Claudio Castagnoli ended a career-long drought without a World Title last month by becoming ROH Champion. A title most fans likely assumed he had held before considering how long Castagnoli spent in ROH before signing with WWE. So far The Swiss Cyborg has only defended the title once, but that will change next week.
A New ROH Title Challenger Emerges
Needless to say, if you don't want a major element of this week's Rampage to be spoiled, you'll want to stop reading now. Castagnoli came to the ring alongside his Blackpool Combat Club partner Wheeler Yuta during Wednesday night's Rampage taping (via SEScoops). The former WWE Superstar ackowledged Ricky Steamboat in attendance before issuing an open challenge for his title.
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Even though the challenge was for a title match on next week's Rampage, it was answered immediately. The man who answered Castagnoli was Dustin Rhodes, someone who hasn't wrestled a single match for ROH despite having competed in the ring across five different decades. That actually won't change next week, even if he manages to dethrone Castagnoli as the ROH Champion.
Castagnoli's Title Reign So Far
Castagnoli beat Jonathan Gresham for the ROH Title at Death Before Dishonor, a decision that doesn't appear to have sat well with the former champion. Gresham's deal with AEW came to an end after that match, reportedly due to the former champ and Tony Khan disagreeing over creative decisions. Castagnoli has since defended the title against Konosuke Takeshita.
As for Rhodes, his shot at the ROH Title will be the next chapter in a pretty remarkable career rejuvenation for the former Intercontinental Champion. By his own admission, Rhodes expected his first match in AEW, a brutal battle with his brother Cody, to be his last. That match was so good, three years later, his AEW run is still going.
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