During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Matt Taven spoke on why he’s so loyal to Ring Of Honor. Here’s what he had to say:
You know, there’s so many different things. I’ve always been a fan of those guys that stick with one team forever, you know what I mean? The Larry Byrds. Like, in my mind, Michael Jordan never played for the Wizards, that’s just ridiculous. Magic Johnson. It’s just like those guys that are synonymous, they brand themselves basically with their team logo. And it’s always been something that’s been on my mind. But there’s been a million things that Ring of Honor has been there for me time after time. I’ve made a million mistakes, you know, I’ve done a million dumb things. And it seems like Ring of Honor’s always kind of, instead of pushing me down, picked me up.
There’s one thing in particular that happened. When I got injured four years ago, you know, I blew out my ACL at a time that was — if people knew what was going on backstage, it was just complete chaos. Because Mikey and Maria were going to TNA, or they were at least in the midst of their contract stuff. Me and [Adam] Cole, there were talks about us doing something else and boom, I blow out my ACL. Any my contract’s about to expire. It’s about to expire like Mike’s is. And so Mike knows that he’s going elsewhere, I thought I was staying, but now all of a sudden I’m hurt before my contract expires. And Ring of Honor comes to me and says, ‘You know what, don’t — we’ll honor our deal the way it was until you’re back, and we’ll take care of things from there.’
And I was like, from a guy that really killed himself on the indies, and you never know when that next paycheck’s coming, when the next — in the indies, you’re lucky if you get a hot dog and a handshake after you wrestle. And to be in a scary situation where you’re like, ‘I’m about to be a free agent and hurt. What am I to do? How do I sell myself to people’ … so for Ring of Honor to say ‘Hey man, we want you to be here We’ll take care of you, you’re part of my family.’ I never forgot that for a second, and I never will.
You can listen to the interview below:
Credit: Chris Van Vliet. H/T 411Mania.
