Mike Bennett was the latest guest on the AEW Unrestricted podcast to discuss a wide range of topics, which included the Kingdom member discussing his current role in Tony Khan’s Ring of Honor and how happy he is to be working for a boss who respects the ROH brand. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
Says he is having the time of his life in ROH:
I am having the time of my life during this run, for a few reasons. First of all, when Ring Of Honor shut down, it crushed us. I’m not going to sugarcoat it, it crushed us. Not just from a financial standpoint, but from an emotional standpoint, like that was our family. Anyone that has ever been in the Ring Of Honor locker room, it’s The Kingdom, it’s the Briscoes, it’s Dalton Castle, it’s Delirious, it’s Shane Taylor, it’s all these guys that made up this incredible company, but more so, we were a family and you broke up the family, so we felt instantly crushed. When Tony came in and bought it, it was like ‘Okay, but what’s this going to be? Did he just buy it for the library? What’s he gonna do with it, what is Tony’s viewpoint of it?’. Right out the gate, before we had shows, before we started hiring people in, to see the level of respect that he gave to company right off the bat, to know what Ring Of Honor meant, not only to us, but to the wrestling world as a whole… I instantly knew it was in good hands. Regardless of what happens, the person who now owns Ring Of Honor is holding our baby and he looks like he respects it as much as we do.
How the Kingdom are the gatekeepers of ROH, a position he is happy to hold:
As far as me, Taven, and Maria go, it feels like we’ve been put in these roles. I don’t want to step on toes, but it feels like we’re kind of like the gatekeepers of Ring Of Honor where we come in and we’re like, ‘Hey, we want everyone to know what this company is about and we want to know what the vibe is about, so we’re going to show you what it’s about.’ That means if you have a five minute match in front of 400 people at Universal Studios, you’re still going to go out there and you’re still gonna kill yourself, and you’re still gonna bust your ass. Why? Because that’s the Ring Of Honor way. For me, if I get busted open a minute into the match, I’m finishing the match regardless because that is the Ring Of Honor way because we put our blood, our sweat, and our tears into this ring. Whether it’s a five minute match or a twenty minute match, we’re going to show people what Ring Of Honor stands for. I love that role. Being in the ring with Action and Darius, here’s these two young guys, we’re trying to figure out where they fit. Dante just got hurt, what are we going to do with Darius, what are we going to do with Action? Let’s put them together. Okay, Mike, Matt, Maria, let’s guide them through something. Then we went out there and had that Fight Without Honor match, which I hold so much pride in. Watching Darius and Action wrestle now, they look like two men with a purpose. We’re elevating The Kingdom, we’re elevating Ring Of Honor, we’re elevating the younger talent. Mind blown, that’s what we’re supposed to do as we get older in wrestling, as we mature in wrestling. That doesn’t mean the cool stuff ends for The Kingdom, we can keep going and keep rising and keep doing cooler stuff, but while we’re doing it, we’re gonna pull up Action and Darius. We’re going to pull up The Infantry with us. Why? Because that’s what Ring Of Honor represents.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful
)