Story byClaudio Castagnoli huffing and puffing during a match - Etsuo Hara/Getty ImagesEric MutterMon, January 26, 2026 at 8:49 PM UTC·2 min readIt's safe to say Claudio Castagnoli was in a good mood after successfully defending the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship against Roderick Strong on "AEW Collision." Just one day later, CMLL released a video of the Death Riders enforcer announcing that he would be back in Arena Mexico this Friday, and was willing to put the CMLL World Heavyweight Title on the line against "a young luchador who thinks they have what it takes to take this away from me."One day later, CMLL found a luchador that's up for the challenge. On X early Monday afternoon, CMLL star Xelhua officially answered Castagnoli's challenge, with CMLL confirming the match would take place this Friday. After cutting a promo mostly in Spanish, Xelhua had one final statement for Claudio in English. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"Claudio, I'm ready," Xelhua said.