WWE NXT Superstar Roderick Strong recently appeared on E&C’s “Pod of Awesomeness” podcast and revealed that he nearly quit wrestling before he signed with Ring of Honor. Strong said he was considering hanging it up prior to getting the call from ROH’s Gabe Sapolsky to work with the company at the time. He said,
“Yah, almost 13 with them (ROH). For me, the craziest part of that is that, there’s a buddy of mine that I was helping teach wrestling to and I told him – “Ah man, I just don’t really know. I think by the end of 2003, if I don’t make it to Ring Of Honor, I think I’m just going to quit” … and legit, 20 minutes later, I got a call from Gabe Sapolsky saying, “Hey, can you make this date?” I was like yup, and it was my tryout and I was like sure, yah. Lets go. Little did I know, 13 years later I’d still be working there. It’s crazy.”
Roderick Strong worked with Ring of Honor from 2003 until 2016, before signing with WWE (NXT).