During a recent interview with Fightful, Shane Taylor commented on his issue with Ring of Honor, being featured more on TV, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On his issue with ROH: “I’ve said this entire time, that my biggest gripe with Ring of Honor is that fact they don’t promote me like they do their other champions. They don’t promote me like they did Jay Lethal. Because for whatever reason Ring of Honor still feels, like their brass, feels like maybe Shane Taylor is not the marketable guy for them. But like I said, Shane Taylor is dominating these Match of the Year lists. Shane Taylor is what everybody’s talking about. Putting me on TV weekly only helps Ring of Honor.”
On deciding to become a bigger name: “The second I got off the phone with my big brother was the moment that the switch flipped. For people that know me personally, a motivated Shane Taylor is the biggest problem you’ll ever have. So, once I decided, “okay, just putting food on the table is not enough, just being successful here, just being here is not enough.” I had bigger goals, bigger dreams, bigger aspirations in Ring of Honor and I wanna to start achieving those. My name is gonna be the one on the marquee. My name is gonna be the one that people are gonna remember. My name is gonna be the one that people are talking about as they leave. Once I decided to do that things took off.”
On moving into singles matches: “People—and I’m trying to figure out how to put it in a way that people who aren’t where I’m from will understand—when you have an opportunity to do something, you figure out a way to do it. Whether that be right, wrong or indifferent, you make a way. You find a way. So tag team stuff wasn’t working. Well, it worked for a bit. Then I had to find another lane. The Rebellion thing didn’t work, I had to find another lane. Singles stuff, that was my calling. That’s where things started to click. And then for me, in order to be the best fighter that I can be you have to make sure physically you’re able to do that. You can go out there with any style, any performer and hold your own and tear the house down and that’s all I’ve been doing. So, all of those changes are for that purpose to present the best form of Shane Taylor that people are going to see night in and night out. That’s why when they have these Ring of Honor match of the year lists [“Shane Taylor versus whoever it is,” “Shane Taylor versus whoever it is,” “Shane Taylor versus whoever it is”] dominates the list. Because Shane Taylor, right now, is money in Ring of Honor. I tell everybody “if you want the money, come and get it.”
On getting offers from WWE like Keith Lee did: “Those are gonna come because of how close we are. But when I mention talking to those people he was one of the ones I talked to and he told me these opportunities don’t come to us if we stand back and wait. You have to go take what’s yours. So, there is no comparison between the two of us. He will get gold when it’s his time and he’ll do a hell of a job with it. Just like I have my gold now, and I am on pace and will be the most dominant Ring of Honor World Television Champion there’s ever been.”
On being a big guy in wrestling: “There was no stigma for me. What people think I can do has never mattered to me. What I can do is what matters to me. And I don’t concern myself with the opinions of sheep. Whether I want to break out some lucha stuff, if I want to break out some high flying stuff or if I want to stick to my bread and butter, which is punching people in the face, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. My offense is predicated by who I’m facing and no more, no less. Listen, like I said, the moment predicates my offense. If that’s what I feel like I gotta do to put the opponent away, then I bust it out. If I gotta bust out moonsaults, whatever I gotta do, that’s what I’m gonna do.”
