During a new interview with Solo Wrestling, Shane Taylor commented on working with Keith Lee in ROH, Lee’s move to WWE NXT, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On big men being “missing” in wrestling today: “They are not missing, because you have great men who are amazing in what they do—me, Keith Lee, Erik and Ivar from WWE, and the list goes on. They are all big athletic, strong men … now I think it’s normal, in other sports we have seen the same transition, the fans want things faster … the attention is less and they want, fast, fast, fast. Whether football, basketball, etc. People change the game to be fast. In wrestling, as in other sports, the biggest draw or presentation will always be Heavyweight Champion. Earn so much attention and prestige that you can never go far from that. For people like me, I think you have to prove that it’s still true every night.”
On his team with Keith Lee in ROH: “It was great, when Keith and I joined our goal was to break expectations of having to look in a way to make money. Not everyone is blonde with blue eyes. Unfortunately, it is believed to be the only way you can make money. Our goal was to prove that you can look like us and not only entertain, but do a great job, be able not only to make money but to be the franchise of any company.”
On Lee’s move to NXT and his success there: “It was a move for him and his family and worked very well,” Taylor stated. “He is very successful, he is happy, I wish him the best, and again, when we talked about what we wanted to do, our goal was to have careers, work and success. It would have been great to have done it in the same company, but having done it in two different promotions and being able to dominate as we have done it is more special.”
On the story about him complaining about ROH not promoting him properly and his release being announced: “There are two mistakes in that. First, I didn’t complain, I was telling the truth. Your television champion should not be left out of posters, the fights should be announced and the other champions were announced. Other champions were promoted as they should be. As I said, I am the guy who in wrestling is not supposed to look like that, that he should not do certain things, that he should not say certain things. As a television champion, one of the most prestigious wrestling champions, leaving you out of the poster is ridiculous. Instead of continuing and that ROH disrespected me or didn’t promote me as it should, I decided to do things my way. I bought my contract so that no one fired me and became a free agent, so I could open Shane Taylor Promotions, my promotional company, and have the platform and equipment I need to make sure that people can see everything I do and see the star I’ve become. They were not complaints, all I did was tell the truth. So, when I got bored of waiting, I did something about it.”
