Pro-wrestling star Kaun recently joined the Shining Wizards podcast to discuss a wide range of topics, most notably how he and most of the Ring of Honor roster reacted when they found out the company was going on hiatus and they were out of contracts. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
On finding out about the ROH hiatus:
It felt like a funeral, honestly. It was wild. The fact that we had this zoom call and they break everything down for us, and then people lost their livelihoods again. They’re crying. They’re acting like this thing is going under, but then they’re like, “oh, we’ll be back.” But then, why are we bawling our eyes out like this is it? If it’s coming back, why are we acting like this is the end of it and it just all ended. This is how ROH is ending right now, with a Zoom phone call; the end of the f*cking promotion. This is ridiculous. And then they’re like “guys, come back for tapings in two weeks, and come back for Final Battle too.” And it’s like Ok, that’s cool. I tried to remain optimistic. My contract was coming up in March anyway, and I was alright; like Moses and I had a plan if they want to resign us. I wanted to get these tag team championships before we go and if the Briscoes have them, have that real feud with the Briscoes, these living legends that we never got to wrestle at all. And they’re just like, “nope. All of y’all are fired.” It’s whatever. Sh*t happens. I’m in a very fortunate situation. I went to grad school first. I made sure I got a shoot job. I made sure I was very strategic and smart before I got into professional wrestling. So, if that was the end of it, I’d be happy that I even got to do it. I didn’t even know what Ring of Honor was five years ago, honestly, so to come into this company, and learn about the history of this place, and work here, and make history at the same time, I was like, “ok, chapter closed.” I’m content with it. Life goes on.
On the pose of solidarity:
In the moment, I had no idea. I just remember: “the moment this match ends, because I know they’re going to be tight on time, run your ass to the ring. We’re going to do this thing – pose.” To me, it was like a swan song, or goodbye. We were all here together. We had basically everybody except the last two (Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham) that were in the main event. “Let’s get this pose together.” And then, just scrolling through twitter, I’m like, “oh shit, this is actually a really huge deal. They’re talking about diversity in professional wrestling.” Ring Of Honor has done pretty well. We have African American champions. This was a pretty diverse roster, over here. We had Rush before. We’re doing pretty well, so seeing people, and how they responded to that, and seeing that we’re on t-shirts, and cups, and getting some random DM’s like “You guys have really changed my life and changed the landscape of wrestling.” That was so heartwarming. I had no idea a simple gesture like that, to me, like posing, was going to change people’s lives.