With Ring of Honor facing an uncertain future, Kenny King aims to be the “king” of the open market.
ROH is going on hiatus in the first quarter of 2022, and the company reportedly won’t renew the contracts of its talent roster at the end of 2021. As a result, stars like King are preparing for the next chapter of their career, and fans are already seeing some top-level names make eye-opening moves. For example, former ROH World Champion Jay Lethal signed with AEW and debuted in November at the Full Gear pay-per-view.
Like Lethal, King has been one of the veteran members of the ROH roster in recent years. The 40-year-old debuted for the company in 2007 and enjoyed plenty of success with the promotion; he’s a three-time ROH World Tag Team Champion. But now that the past era of ROH is over, many fans wonder what’s next for King.
In an interview with WrestleZone, when asked about his future, King noted that he’s weighing his options; he explained that, at this point, he could choose any number of directions for his next step, so it’s an exciting, albeit stressful time. He also warned anyone on the open market that they should get ready for the “sharks” that are entering the water now that numerous members of the ROH roster are available.
“Of course, everybody is thinking about the future,” said King. “I’m thinking about the moves that I might make. I might, I’m looking at certain avenues and the things that I might take. And everything’s on the table, right. You never know what graphic you might see me pop under in the next couple of months. So it’s exciting, it’s a little stressful, but it’s very exciting and it’s a little encouraging.
“The one thing is that, a lot of people were safe because you look at the absolute sharks that have just been set into the water, coming from Ring of Honor, you know what I mean? And so it’s, if you’re not good, man, you better get better because we’re coming.”
In a previous interview, before the news about ROH’s hiatus, King stated that he’d be open to reuniting with WWE stars Bobby Lashley and MVP, his former stablemates in the Beat Down Clan in TNA/IMPACT Wrestling, though his contract with ROH limited his ability to do so. With the new freedom to choose his next move, King teased that he’d like to join forces with the duo again; after all, they’re all friends, so they’ve been in touch. But he emphasized that fans will have to wait and see which “graphic” he pops up under, whether it’s WWE, AEW, IMPACT Wrestling or any number of possibilities.
“The reason why [The Beat Down Clan] worked so well is because all of us are real-life friends,” said King. “So it would stand to reason that real-life friends would be in communication with their other real-life friends in real-life situations. So like I said, this is a very exciting time. There’s a lot of options on the table. Of course I would love to reunite with one of the, not only most successful, but just one of the most fun times of my career was teaming with Bobby and MVP.
“So it would be obviously something that not only I would like…and I think the fans would enjoy it too. So again, you just never know what graphic might pop up behind me in the next couple months.”
In the meantime, King is taking bookings on the independent scene; he has already popped up in Reality of Wrestling, among other promotions.
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