Shane Taylor Discusses Goals In New ROH, Why He Let Free Agency Play Out

Shane Taylor speaks after ROH Final Battle. 

Taylor joined Ring of Honor in the Tony Khan era at ROH Final Battle, teaming with JD Griffey to take on Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee. Strickland is a former ROH TV Champion and Six-Man Tag Team Champion, but had been absent from the first two ROH shows under Tony Khan’s management. 

Speaking to Ron Funches on One Fall, Taylor explained why he didn’t immediately sign with a company after ROH went on an initial hiatus after ROH Final Battle 2021. 

“A lot of it, especially with wrestling, there are politics and there are people who want to make sure they’re good and their friends are good and they want to make sure this guy coming in here is not trying to take someone else’s job. A lot of it, too, is just timing. Unfortunately, when everyone got let go at ROH, there were releases everywhere. Now, it’s this whole big free agent pool and I’m not the most famous person in that group so you have to figure out where you fall in that line and wait to see what happens. When it comes to any business, timing is everything and being at the right place at the right time can move mountains. It was important for me to not get caught up in the whirlwind of debuts and not be another number but when you get that opportunity to come in, you make that impact, make a lasting moment, make people remember and make them want to see more. I want people to be so invested that they ask, ‘damn, what took so long?’ If I’m watchable, then that can’t be anything but success and that’s what we’re striving for,” said Taylor. 

While it hasn’t been made official that Taylor has signed with ROH, he still has unfinished business in the promotion. 

“It’s a little bit of both,” Taylor said when asked if he was looking to do what he was doing previously or if he’s going to try something new. “Anytime you step into a situation with new management, new ownership, there is going to be new opportunities, new challenges, and so I’m looking forward to those challenges but also quickly re-establishing to the audience and my competition as to who the man is. The one thing I have yet to do, that I couldn’t accomplish, is to win the ROH Championship. Being that guy, to reach the top of the mountain, and being only the third African American to do that other than Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham, that’s a big goal for me. I was the third black male to win the TV Title. It’s lining up to where I could possibly make that history again. I’m anxiously looking forward to it, there are a lot of things I want to do, but also keep that momentum going and give people what they think they’re going to get when they think about Shane Taylor.”

Taylor noted that he had a chance to win the ROH Championship from Bandido the same week Bobby Lashley won the WWE Championship, saying they would have been linked forever had that happened. 

Taylor & Griffey were defeated by Swerve & Lee at ROH Final Battle. If you missed anything from the show, check out Fightfu’s full report by clicking here. 

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