At Ring of Honor‘s Honor For All event on November 14, The OGK (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) won the ROH World Tag Team Championship. In doing so, they kicked off their second reign with the titles and culminated a remarkable comeback story that began when Bennett returned to the company in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. But as joyful as this triumph was, it was also filled with sadness, in some ways, given the news that ROH will be going on hiatus in the first quarter of 2022 and not re-signing its talent roster to new contracts.
During a recent appearance on the ROHStrong Podcast, the duo looked back on this emotional victory. Taven stressed how it was “hard” to fully appreciate the win with the uncertainty surrounding ROH right now and the knowledge that, one way or another, the current era of the promotion’s history is ending.
“It’s so hard, it’s just so unbelievably hard,” said Taven. “I don’t know how else to say it. You wanted something for so long, and it happens, but it’s just not the way it’s supposed to happen. I’ve been talking about, since we’ve been back and in the pandemic era, the things that have happened with no crowd, from my own return to Mike Bennett’s return to you know, something that we had been backdoor planning for years, happened in front of no one. And for this to happen in this circumstance, not just without the crowd, but knowing that we don’t know what tomorrow brings, it’s a tough one.
“It’s a tough one. And you know, it’s funny because you want to enjoy these things and you know, you don’t too much stock to the things online but everyone, you know, questions about what’s happening for the future and they have their little comments to make. And obviously that’s been in our minds the whole time, but when you’re holding on, you’re looking at your suitcase and there’s this big trophy that you’ve been desperate for for almost six years now, but when you pick it up, you think of all these uncertain things that might happen. It’s, you know, you’re playing with a double-edged sword. And it’s been tough. It’s been really tough.”
Taven went on to note that he feels especially bad for the other wrestlers in the locker room because they have familes and other responsibilities to take care of. He described how every member of the ROH team works hard before he stated that the entire roster is a family. The former ROH World Champion expressed his sadness about the knowledge that this family is getting broken up once this era of ROH history ends.
“It’s a tough thing for all the guys in the locker room,” said Taven. “So when I watched [the match] last night, I loved it because of what it was for Mike and I, and such a road to get back here. But it was a tough one, just because I know hard everyone works in that locker room, you know, everyone, from the production to the people that set up the ring. God, I love this place so much, and they’re all my family. And to see kind of the end of the road coming up sooner than later, it was tough because at the end of that match, I knew we were one step closer to the end. So I mean I have all the faith in the world that all these guys and girls will do great things in this business, one way or the other.
“But it’s always tough because no matter what, when someone leaves or goes somewhere else, you don’t see them as much, you don’t talk to them as much. This is just such a hectic world that you kind of live in this bubble where, if someone’s not in that bubble with you, they’re on the outskirts of your life. And to think the family that we’ve all grown together here in Ring of Honor, to think that we’re not gonna be in the same bubble anymore, that’s tough. That sucks.”
AND NEW ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!! @MattTaven @RealMikeBennett ??#HonorForAllhttps://t.co/KrfEyQvw2Y pic.twitter.com/DMgHeFR7yB
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) November 15, 2021
Bennett then shared his thoughts on the victory; he noted that Taven described his own emptions and added that, upon winning the titles, he experienced a unprecedented emotional response, he cried uncontrollably. He then explained how, for him, the triumph produced a complex swirl of emotions, from anger and sadness to joy and satisfaction, and evverything in between. Still, he made it clear that the personal significance of this match will ensure its place on his list of special moments in the ring.:
“Matt couldn’t have said it any better about how I’m feeling, honestly, he kind of summed everything up about my exact emotions,” said Bennett. “The only thing I’ll add is that the win last night, it was the first time in my very long career that I feel like, not that I feel like, but what actually happened was, when the three count happened, I don’t ever remember uncontrollably crying like I did in that exact moment. And I didn’t exactly know what I was crying for because the emotions were all so conjumbled and joined together, and it was kind of like what Matt was saying. It was this moment of, we had set out on something that was very personal to us, and that was regaining the tag team championship because I feel like when I left and when everything kind of hit the fan, it was that one thing that we always had in the back of our mind that we’re like, ‘Alright, we always have this goal that we’re gonna get back to.’
“And then to see the paths that our careers took and then to come full circle in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of all this crap happening, and to just once again be on that path and that goal, and to set it and to feel like we were on that trajectory that we wanted to accomplish, and then to have the rug pulled out from underneath you, yeah, it’s an emotion of happiness and sadness and anger and being terrified and being sad, it’s just, literally every single emotion went though my body at that point. And I guess the only way to handle it was to just uncontrollably cry, and so that was the first time I experienced that in a match. But it was a special moment. And regardless of my emotions behind it, whether they’re sad or anger or just pure happiness, it’s probably gonna be one of, if not the the most significant world championship win I’ve ever had in my entire life.”
The OGK is set to defend the titles against The Briscoes at what promises to be an unforgettable ROH Final Battle: End of an Era pay-per-view on December 11. The duo has also started taking bookings for other promotions, such as Beyond Wrestling and the National Wrestling Alliance. They will put the the ROH World Tag Team Championship on the line at NWA Hard Times 2.
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