Generally speaking, ROH championship matches are hard fought and grueling, and the fans are really into it. The ROH Championship means a lot to me for those reasons.
When you think about the guys who started Twitter, and the Google guys, and the Facebook guys and the Napster guys, and the Microsoft guys, and the Dell guys and the Instagram guys, it's all guys. The girls, they're being left behind.
The ROH guys looking at the New Japan guys coming over, we're just psyched. We think, "oh great this is just going to make our show even better." The respect level with New Japan and ROH is at an all-time high. And anytime we get a company like New Japan Pro Wrestling on a ROH show, it just benefits our show. It has everybody all jacked up, ready to do the best we can like we always do.
I think it's fun to fantasize about the idea of NXT and ROH butting heads and seeing which one will do better, especially with WWE looking at ROH guys to hire.
And guys don't get attached, guys don't give themselves over completely, and guys lie. That's why they should be handled with great trepidation, not trusted, and held at arm's length whenever possible.
I kind of knew already what kind of company ROH is, and I know the platforms that they give their guys, and for me it was very important to have that kind of freedom. Obviously, I let ROH know that was the case.
As a competitor, you want to pitch against the elite guys and really good guys.
You look at all the elite players around the League, the guys that are responsible defensively, the guys that can score at will, they kind of do it all.
I've said this before, but going and playing with the guys that have been to the World Series, the elite players of the game, there's no harm in hanging around those guys at all.
Beautiful fans of Oklahoma City, I can’t say enough about you guys. All the support you give our team. The home-court advantage we have is the best I’ve ever seen. We disappoint you sometimes, but we try our best every single night to win for you guys. And we want to win a championship for you guys.
I think any time you bring those guys in, one with a lot of playoff experience, with rings - those guys won - guys in the locker room gravitate towards those guys. Those guys have been there, so there's a lot that they can teach the guys.
I don't have a list, really. I just want to fight guys that are highly respected by the fans, and I want to fight guys who make me nervous. With high risk comes great reward. I want to be a champion that can honestly look people in the eye and say, "I've fought the best guys in the world."
There are franchise players to build around that have championship-level talent, skill, basketball IQ, and character - it's hard to find those guys. Those guys are rare.
Heavyweight championship. People want to see the big guys bang. Other champions are great, too. But ain't nothing like seeing the big guys throw down.
The group of guys I came up with in the 1990s were very innovative. I remember some of the older guys were complaining about how the music had changed, and they were being left behind. I didn't want to be one of those guys who sat around and complained because they weren't growing and evolving.
The cool thing is, when we first did our joint Ring Of Honour-New Japanies Wrestlers, I think that definitely existed. I think the ROH guys were like, "we can't let these New Japan guys outshine us" the new japan guys were ready to make a statement as it was this really big event in America. But the cool thing about this relationship is we've literally become a family now. A lot of us are friends with each. We obviously respect each other.