This past Saturday CBS Radio’s Chad Dukes Wrestling Show was at the William J. Meyers Pavilion in Baltimore, MD for the Ring of Honor Wrestling Live Television Taping as well as an opportunity to chat with some of the stars of the promotion.
Joining Dukes were Ring of Honor World and Television Champion Jay Lethal, Dalton Castle, & Moose. Below are some interview highlights, and you can check them out in full at this link.
All of the interviews conducted throughout the year are also available on iTunes, Play.it, and http://chaddukeswrestlingshow.com/.
Jay Lethal on being the face of ROH:
“I feel like I won the lottery because what a perfect time to be the world champion of Ring of Honor with all the momentum from Sinclair and everything and now the acquisition of being on Destination America and with the inevitable downfall of the other company who assumed the number two slot, because we are the number two wrestling company in the world right now. But yeah it’s an exciting time I feel like I won the lottery.”
Jay Lethal on wrestling a 60-minute draw:
“I don’t believe there’s any way to prepare for that. It’s like, ‘Oh, I’m a runner. So I’m going to go practice in the gym on the treadmill and on the elliptical.’ I have actually run on the treadmill and I’ve run on elliptical and then I decided to run through my park at home and let me tell you there’s no substitute for really running. When there’s something that you need to get done there’s no substitute other than actually doing it. So there was really no preparing to have a sixty-minute match, it was tough.
It’s one of those moments where you have to dig down deep and pull everything that you have and I swear by the end of that match I had nothing left. There was nothing left in the tank, so to speak.”
Dalton Castle on the creative freedom within ROH:
“It’s great. I love being a part of Ring of Honor. I love wrestling. I’m very good at it and I will continue to do it, and to be able to do it here at Ring of Honor and to share the ring with so many amazing talents while getting to be myself at the same time without anybody trying to censor me or hold me down is a great feeling. I spent years working in other places whether it be wrestling or my other radio gig I used to do years ago being told, “Tone it down a little bit baby doll.” And I get to come here in Ring of Honor they’re like, “Hey what you are is what you are and we love it so be that.” I don’t think a lot of people in their field of employment get to do that.”
Moose on re-signing with ROH:
“Ring of Honor gave me my very first chance. They helped create the brand ‘Moose.’ So I mean it was an easy decision, they told me that they were going to stick by me with whatever decision I made and I just felt like I’m a real loyal guy, so they helped me get get me to where I’m at now so I’m going to return the favor.”
Moose on the pressures of living up to prior former football playing wrestlers and cutting ties with football:
“There’s the goods and there’s the bads. You’ve got Goldberg, Wahoo [McDaniel], Ernie Ladd, greats. So there was the pressure of can I be as good as those guys and then you have some of the guys who wasn’t so good that came in from the football world. There was also the pressure of, “Man what if I suck as bad as those guys.” So I mean it’s big pressure, the best thing to do is just work my ass off, work as hard as I can, so that I can be up there with the Wahoos, the Ernie Ladds and the Goldbergs and other guys.
When I left football I decided I want to leave that behind me. I don’t want to have any teases about going back even though I knew there wasn’t going to be one but I didn’t want to have that maybe so I shut the door completely. I don’t follow it, which sucks because I have a lot of friends in the football world and I don’t get the watch their stuff because I’m scared of my watch it and go, “Oh man I miss football I want to go back and play.” So I kind of like shut the door.”
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
