Wrestling Observer Live recently welcomed NJPW/IMPACT star Jonah on their show (fka as Bronson Reed) to discuss a wide range of topics, including his desire to remain loyal to Pro Wrestling NOAH and how Triple H grew frustrated with the main roster writers for not getting the ball rolling with him while he was on the roster. Highlights from the interview are below.
Says Triple H got frustrated that the WWE main roster didn’t get the ball rolling with him:
I think it comes down to there’s a lot going on, you know what I mean? You have writers trying to write different people into different spots and then at the same time in a place like that [WWE], you always have new talent coming in, some people swap out, things exchange, some people go to Raw, some people go to SmackDown so there’s always something happening and it seemed like week-to-week, not that I was forgotten about but it was always like, ‘Ah, next week, next week.’ Almost where like they wanted to keep me strong so they didn’t want me to look like I was just a, you know, one of the other run of the mill guys there. But they could’ve obviously got on the ball quicker and I know that from speaking with Hunter, he was frustrated that the writers didn’t do that but you have writers, you then have Hunter and Shawn [Michaels] to go through, you then have your match producers. It’s a lot of chefs in the kitchen I guess.
On his loyalty to NOAH and decided to sign with NJPW:
I’ve been a fan of New Japan Pro-Wrestling since I was a teenager, probably around 13, 14 years old was the first time I saw New Japan Pro-Wrestling and it was Jushin Liger and that made me a fan instantly. But I was also a huge fan of a company called Pro Wrestling NOAH and that’s sort of where I sort of got my first taste of Japanese wrestling as an actual pro wrestler so I wrestled in Australia for maybe five or six years before I actually got a contract with Pro Wrestling NOAH and I worked with them in 2013, ‘14 and ‘15 so I had my — I’m a very loyal pro wrestler so where I am, I’m very loyal to that company, same as I just was with NXT, I was with NOAH as well. I didn’t wanna — I obviously would love to work with New Japan but I wanted to keep my interest there. Then obviously, time goes on, I get signed to WWE, I now get released from WWE and I feel like it’s the right time for me as the Top Dog to go into New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
(H/T and transcribed by Post Wrestling
)