There's a big difference between trolling and just attacking guys to attack guys, to get under people's skin, and to genuinely express how you felt about something. Like if I go to a movie for example, and I watch a movie, and I wasn't a fan of it. I don't mind turning to my family or some buddies I'm with and saying "oh man, I really didn't like that movie." But I've never acted or directed in my life. But I'm able to voice my opinion about whether or not I enjoyed it or not.
Los Angles to me seems to be a little bit more forgiving. They're just as rowdy and they're just as excited but they understand a [botch] happens sometimes, and they're excited to see the show and they just want to have some fun.
My all-time favorite match that I've ever had was against Kyle O'Reilly in 2012, the 'hybrid fighting rules match' where we were bleeding buckets all over the place. And it was really a match that took my career to the next level.
The cool thing is, when we first did our joint Ring Of Honour-New Japanies Wrestlers, I think that definitely existed. I think the ROH guys were like, "we can't let these New Japan guys outshine us" the new japan guys were ready to make a statement as it was this really big event in America. But the cool thing about this relationship is we've literally become a family now. A lot of us are friends with each. We obviously respect each other.
What is doing the damage is the fact that the U.K. is pulling in more imports, which shows the continued strength of the economy and the strength of sterling.
I don't necessarily notice too much of a change in the sense of the kind of matches that I have in say a Los Angeles as opposed to a New York City. The big difference that I notice, and this is what all love as New York city and Philadelphia has treated me fantastically, but man, you cannot screw up in Philadelphia and New York.
I've known Kyle O'Reilly since 2009. Me and him actually met each other when we had our very first match against each other for Gabe Sapolsyky's DragonGate USA show. Me and Kyle went in there and we had a match that kind of made waves throughout the independent scene as far as us getting our names out there. We both got signed to Ring of Honor at the exact same time.
We're more than ready to deliver. When the pressure is on, I think that's when the Ring of Honor roster does the best. Not only the main event, the entire roster feels the pressure and are ready to deliver.
I think most importantly the reason we've been on the upswing is Ring of Honor has been very smart about the speed of its growth. ROH is not a company that says ok we're going to throw all this money in and let's just go for it. ROH has the business approach of slow but steady.
Being put in this situation, where it's myself, Kyle O'Reilly and a Jay Lethal, I think it's the best main event you can have right now in Ring of Honor.
They are definitely pros and cons to triple threat matches. The cons to them is obviously coming up wth something very original and making sure everything makes sense.
The only difference with wrestling is we're like a live performance. So we're feeding off the audience and if they do't like something, they can let us know immediately.
I think that Ring of Honor is a true alternative in the world of pro wrestling. Some of the best in-ring pure competition in the world you will find in Ring of Honor.
We slowly work on getting more markets. We slowly work on building relationships. And over time once we gain people's trust and they see what we do and they see what we deliver each and every show, more and more people are interested in jumping on the Ring Of Honour train. I definitely think the success will continue.
However, the positive, and I mean this, Jay Lethal and Kyle O'Reilly are two of my favorite opponents. I couldn't ask for two guys I'd rather be in a triple threat match with. On top of that, creatively, if we are able to make something that's really exciting for the fans, any time there are more bodies in the ring, you can always create something that's different because there's more than two people in the ring.
I've wrestled Kyle O'Reilly all over the world. I know how good he is, our fans know how good he is. A lot of people feel he is the next guy in line to be world champion.
I think too, Jay Lethal being apart of Ring of Honor and being in that role where he's one of the guys who has the company on his back, he's taking that very seriously, and you can see it n his work. So it's been really cool to see.