Claudio Castagnoli credits baseball for unique WWE title win

Claudio Castagnoli, formerly known as Cesaro, has revealed that the unique finish to his 2016 WWE tag team title victory was inspired by baseball. During the WWE Roadblock: End of the Line event, Castagnoli and his partner Sheamus, collectively known as The Bar, ended the New Day’s record-breaking 483-day championship reign.

In an interview on the ‘My Mom’s Basement’ podcast, Castagnoli explained that Sheamus’ tactic of faking a tag was modeled after baseball players stealing a base. He noted that while such maneuvers in wrestling typically involve a partner betraying another, they decided to ‘completely change the script’ by reversing the scenario. This deception led Kofi Kingston to mistakenly target Castagnoli, allowing Sheamus to secure the win via a roll-up.

Although the victory was highly memorable for its innovation, The Bar’s reign lasted only 42 days before they lost the titles to Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows at the following Royal Rumble.