Ring Of Honor star, Jay Lethal, recently sat down with Rich Laconi of Paste Magazine & discussed what led him to the sport of pro-wrestling, working with Ring of Honor & much more.
Here are the highlights:
What Got Lethal Into Pro-Wrestling:
“There is a question I haven’t been asked in a long time actually. You know, a lot of these interviews asked the same questions, but I haven’t been asked that question in a long time. I got into wrestling when MTV Tough Enough was big, no I didn’t go to Tough Enough.”
How Did He Support Himself While Trying To Pursue Wrestling A Career In Wrestling:
“No, because I had just gotten out of middle school going into high school and I wasn’t old enough to work any good jobs anyway. I remember I had a “good” job for a week. It was the worst job in the world, my brother actually got me the job but it was hell, it was hell. Especially since I was still in high school and my schedule made it so that when the last bell rang; I had to run with two of my buddies. If I didn’t run, there was no catching the train, I had to run to catch the train into NYC, then, I had to catch the Long Island Railroad all the way to the last stop, Ronkonkoma, just to make it to practice. If I missed any one of those trains, I wouldn’t be able to make it to practice because at that point, five months after I won that contest, Jersey All Pro Wrestling School closed down. So then, I had to find another training school, luckily, I found Mikey Whipwreck’s school, he was in Long Island.”
His Experience Working In TNA As The Black Machismo & How Ric Flair Helped Him:
“Ok, so the Macho Man impression I’ve always known and I really feel like that Black Machismo character is what put Jay Lethal on the map. If it weren’t for that Machismo character, I’m sure I would have been looked over because I really had no character. I was just plain Jane wrestler, I was actually still in a shell too, kind of shy. That character really broke me out of that shell, man. Same with the Ric Flair stint that I did, it really made me loose and relaxed in front of a crowd. Because, with that Ric Flair promo that I had with him, before then, I had never been given a microphone in front of a live crowd, that was my first time. All the Macho Man stuff I was doing; all that stuff was filmed in the locker room and it was all “one take” stuff, because even if I said “banana” by mistake, they just let it go because it’s the character. I could almost say anything and get away with it. So I had never been in front of a live crowd with a live microphone until I got in the ring with Ric Flair.”
“How stressful was that? I mean, I was freaking out, but, I love my time working in that company, I have no regrets. The only negative thing I have to say is that they released me at a time where I thought that I was doing really good. I feel that the Machismo character and the Flair character not only put me on the map, but prepared me for a lot of the stressful roles, or roles that could have been stressful for me. Here in Ring of Honor, for instance, being in the main event, having to cut these promos, not selfishly having to carry the company on my back, I had both singles titles at the same time. I really feel like those two characters prepared me for everything that I had to do later on in the wrestling business and I will be forever grateful for working there.”
Ring Of Honor:
“So the goal here is to make Ring of Honor bigger and better than it was yesterday and the fact that some of the guys leave… now think about the history of Ring of Honor; look at all of our past champions, look what they have gone on to do. They have all gone on to win other world championships in other companies. That to me, shows that the proof is in the pudding. Ring of Honor has and always has had the greatest wrestling roster in the world. Other companies constantly pluck from our roster to make their roster better and I’m real excited to be a part of the company that other companies pluck from to make their company better and also, like I said before, everybody here in this locker room, everybody has one goal and that is to make Ring of Honor the biggest we possibly can make it.”
