Claudio Castagnoli should lead AEW’s Death Riders | Opinion
Image: AEW
The Death Riders were built on the act of betraying a mentor figure. In fact, current leader Jon Moxley pulled the trigger on that, leading his fellow Blackpool Combat Club teammates in excommunicating Bryan Danielson.
It’s about time that fellow senior member Claudio Castagnoli takes that mantle, fittingly usurping the purveyor of paradigm shifts.
I write this not as a denigration of Moxley; far from it. It’s possible that such an angle can steer all parties into new territory. Moreover, Claudio, as the leader of the pack, will have a distinct image change of the group.
Observing the past month of AEW programming, the seeds for Castagnoli stealing the reins have already been sown.
Why a Castagnoli-run Death Riders is plausible
Moxley’s had a rough second quarter of 2025. Losing the AEW World title to Hangman Adam Page at All In Texas was the start. Yet, he still maintained his momentum. His bravado hid all traces of diminishing confidence. A few losses here and there, but the Death Riders remained on top.
Then came WrestleDream. Thanks to interference from Sting to offset the heels, Darby Allin defeated Moxley in a memorable I Quit Match. Since then, Moxley has consistently lost on AEW shows with a recurring story of seeing his shield chip thanks to Kyle O’Reilly and his ankle lock. From late-October to late-November, Moxley exercised every means possible to escape O’Reilly’s unforgiving technical prowess.
A disqualification and a double countout later, O’Reilly had Moxley’s number, ultimately submitting him at November’s men’s Blood & Guts match. Moxley rebounded with Castagnoli on the following Dynamite, but then, Full Gear saw Moxley submit to O’Reilly in a no holds barred match. His promo afterward did carry his usual confidence, but that same confidence was not shared in the eyes of his teammates.
Despite a successful start to the Continental Classic in a triumph over CMLL’s Mascara Dorada, Moxley has since lost to Castagnoli himself and Konosuke Takeshita. Conversely, Castagnoli’s 2025 has seen a marked improvement.
Though he spent the early half in frustration, he recovered and eventually became the soul of the Death Riders; Moxley had simply become the lungs. In trios or tag bouts with either Wheeler Yuta, Daniel Garcia, and/or PAC, Castagnoli stewarded his team to wins and began to have a silent winning reputation, with a smattering of losses here and there. He even became the CMLL World Heavyweight Champion.
Coincidentally, he went on a brief winning streak, broken only by Mascara Dorada in his third Continental Classic bout followed by a draw with Takeshita.
Death Riders under Castagnoli’s leadership
Castagnoli has worked excellently with PAC and the younger Garcia and Yuta. They even accompany him to his matches. On the surface, he seems like an older brother who knows how to navigate the world. Thus, their eyes, though hardened and serious, appear loyal and curious. Yuta, PAC, and Garcia seem eager to follow, and in doing so, they wrestle more confidently with the reps they get alongside the towering Swiss athlete.
A second glance at Castagnoli gives off militant vibes as though there’s a numb, yet classy, demeanor. Perhaps it’s the way he looks like Agent 47 from the Hitman video game series, or perhaps it’s the use of classical music. Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” and Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” bolster this aura. He may be stoic, but there’s a deadliness beneath.
Not only is it this visage and his presence that entice me to see Castagnoli as the Death Riders commander, but his history. CHIKARA fans will remember his time in the stable Die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (The Brotherhood of the Cross) where he became a central figure bent on a hostile takeover of the promotion, teased with the quote “A war (is) coming”.
Often, he has stood in the shadows, in the background and on AEW programming, fans haven’t seen too much of him. Considering this and everything mentioned above, it’s time he steps into this role.
What of Jon Moxley?
The rest of the Death Riders can thrive Claudio Castagnoli just fine and the same as they did with Moxley and Danielson. But the more that things continue as they have, it would make sense in the storyline to have a seismic shift change the group once more. They don’t even have to change the name.
If his twilight in the stable comes by a betrayal, this can leave Moxley in a state where he understands who he is again. He’d be alone, with several of his bridges burned, the embers flickering out long ago. Or, he could remain in the group if the Death Riders so wish, under the direction of Castagnoli.
Moxley would enter this environment as a captain whose crew mutinied against him. Could he repair the fractured relationships with other wrestlers? Can he make peace with enemies? The character Moxley is, he’d be stubborn and scrappy, likely to catch loss after loss, unable to climb up that hill. He didn’t get this far by giving up. Ultimately, though, he’d have to shed the mentality that spawned the Death Riders from Blackpool Combat Club’s ashes to stand a chance.
What’s important to note is that AEW is swimming in a sea of heels. That’s where Moxley comes in; he can be that underdog, yet badass, babyface to challenge this swarm.
In retrospect, the Blackpool Combat Club and Death Riders accomplished their mission by heightening the AEW roster’s potential. In giving AEW’s wrestlers a threat, everyone worked to their full potential. There’s nothing more Moxley can do, but Castagnoli can take the group to another level. To him, there are no limits to the Death Riders as he said in a recent interview with Wrestling Republic.
The Death Riders need to become stricter, meaner. They don’t have a roster to inspire through rage, spirit, or hate anymore. Now, it’s time to take for themselves, not as a band of outlaws, but as a hostile force, a militia of killers. Through this, a relentless approach is needed. Everything must be seized by force.
I am of the mind that Castagnoli is far better than given credit for, but hasn’t had the same time to shine and has done just enough to get by in a still great spot in the company. Were he given this spot, the Swiss wrestler can transform the Death Riders into something soulless like a fascist military seeking a coup to usurp the status quo. Furthermore, he has shown he cares for his teammates, adding an emotional core that would translate well under his authority.
With that in mind, this reinvention of the Death Riders can keep the title scene interesting with multiple shifts in the card. Wrestlers could come out of this better or worse than they started — sink or swim.
As the Don Callis Family faces their own plot developments from in-fighting to championship pursuits, the Death Riders will need something else. They’ll need to stand out. That’s what professional wrestling as a business does: it evolves and reinvents itself for the next generation.
Corey Michaels covers the play-by-play action of events hosted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Referenced by content creators and Wikipedia articles, he adds his prosaic voice with authority to the F4W/WON audience.
A content writer and wrestling fan, Corey has woven the stories of our great sport into literature. He cuts to the emotional core of characters, rivalries, and angles.