Shane Taylor is ready for his “Jay-Z moment” as ROH Final Battle.
The former Ring of Honor Television Champion appeared on the December 2 episode of AEW Rampage, officially making his company debut. There, he challenged a familiar face to a tag team match at the upcoming pay-per-view. Now, Taylor will team with JD Griffey to resolve some unfinished business with his former Pretty Boy Killers partner, Keith Lee. “Limitless” Lee will team with his ongoing partner Swerve Strickland to take on Taylor and Griffey at Final Battle this weekend.
In a recent appearance on Knockouts and 3 Counts, Shane Taylor discussed his All Elite Wrestling debut and responded to the notion that many felt it was overdue. “This is the thing about wrestling. You can’t really blame them (AEW),” he said. “They’re going with the best options that they feel they have available at the time. When you have a situation like when ROH closed down, there was a bunch of releases from WWE as well. It’s this surge of talent that you didn’t expect to have fall into your lap, and you sift through however you can.”
“You go with the best options that you feel as though you have available, as with any group, any company, any sport,” he continued. “You have a whole bunch of free agents that come in, you’re gonna go with the most notable first, and then work your way through the whole group. So, it was a matter of timing, it was a matter of opportunity. It just so happens that it’s lining up right now. To sit here and think about what could have been, what should have been, yadda yadda, makes nobody any difference. It doesn’t do anybody any good. It doesn’t make anybody any money.”
Regarding his upcoming tag team match at ROH Final Battle, Taylor believes now is his chance to “reintroduce” himself to wrestling fans. “My job now is now that I have this — now that we’re in this tag team match, myself and JD Griffey against Swerve in Our Glory at Final Battle, my job now is to go out and do what everybody who’s been a fan of me for years knows that I can do, and to now show whoever doesn’t know who I am. Like we said before, this is my Jay-Z moment.”
“Allow me to reintroduce myself,” he said. “Let me show you why I am Shane T, the baddest champion you’ve ever seen, the baddest of all time, [and] why I am every bit the guy that I say I am.”
Ring of Honor Final Battle will air this Saturday, December 10 at 4 PM ET on Bleacher Report and traditional pay-per-view.
