The Watch List takes a look at what matches you should be watching and they come recommended by today’s professional wrestling stars.
WrestleZone recently spoke with Matt Taven, who reflected on his Final Battle 2021 match with The Briscoes. Taven said that it felt like OGK’s title reign was overshadowed by Ring Of Honor’s impending hiatus and they had something to prove.
“It seems like we won this title and it wasn’t what everyone was talking about. Everyone was talking about the unknown future of Ring of Honor. We had this second title reign that happened five years after we had separated for the first time, and we came back together and we won,” Taven explained, “but it just didn’t have the same feeling with the dark cloud that was over, or the uncertainty I should say, that was over everyone’s head at the time. So for us to now be the IMPACT champions, it’s almost like we’re making up for two title reigns. We’ve got this one that we’re trying to prove in a new company, and we’re making up for the last one that ended against the Briscoe Briscoes at Final Battle.
“I truly think that’s one of the best matches to happen in a long, long time, us versus the Briscoes. And since that day, it feels like everywhere we’ve gone, whether it’s IMPACT or NWA, we’ve had something to prove that we came back with a purpose,” Taven added.
Outside of the title win in IMPACT, Taven highlighted some of his favorite matches since Honor No More joined the promotion.
“I would have to say there’s been two matches in particular that really stand out to me. It was kind of just incidental chemistry. Clearly, Eddie Edwards and myself and Mike and Vincent, we’ve known each other all coming up in the Massachusetts, New England, northeast area. But there were two opportunities of us doing six mans [tags], myself and Mike and Eddie Edwards, where we face the Motor City Machine Guns and Frankie Kazarian. Then another time we faced the [Motor City] Machine Guns and Speedball Mike Bailey.
“I think those two matches are probably my favorite so far of our IMPACT run just because they weren’t something that necessarily we expected to be as great or our chemistry to be as good with one another. Then all of a sudden you go out there and kind of magic just falls into place and you’re like, ‘Oh, there’s definitely something here.’ So the three of us have always been friends, but we haven’t had many opportunities to go out there and show us, show ourselves as a six-man tag. So I would say those two matches have been my favorite so far in IMPACT Wrestling.”
Check out some free-to-watch full-length matches from Matt Taven’s career, including
OGK vs. The Briscoes
NWA Powerrr — March 22, 2022OGK vs. Rich Swann & Willie Mack
IMPACT Wrestling: Countdown To Sacrifice — March 5, 2022Rush vs. Matt Taven
ROH Death Before Dishonor 2019 — September 27, 2019Matt Taven vs. Jay Lethal
ROH 17th Anniversary — March 15, 2019Matt Taven vs. Adam Cole
ROH 11th Anniversary — March 2, 2013
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