Matt Taven: If You’ve Been Watching, You Can’t Deny Me

Matt Taven is undeniable.

At ROH-NJPW G1 Supercard in April, Matt Taven surprised 16,000 fans inside Madison Square Garden  when he climbed the ladder and won the ROH World Title. Three months later, Taven is still at the top of the ROH ladder, having successfully defended his title against the likes of PCO, Jeff Cobb, Flip Gordon, and more. Despite victories and good in-ring performances, Taven can’t shake the online criticism. 

Speaking to The Sporting News, Taven discussed how fans love to hate him.

“I honestly think you can love me, you can hate me but you can’t deny me, especially if you’ve been watching instead of just reading other people’s opinions or just going out there to put out negativity. If you’re actually watching the product, me and Jay Lethal 60 minutes, the ladder match at Madison Square Garden, me and PCO, me and Mark Haskins, me and Tracy Williams,” said Taven “I think if people actually watched instead of just going online and trying to be a little ‘Negative Nancy,’ if people enjoy wrestling because I grew up as a wrestling fan. I didn’t go out to tear wrestling down. I wanted every single promotion, I wanted every single wrestler to succeed and so I always watched with a wrestling fan eye to the product. I think if people are actually tuning it and watching, they’ll see that I’ve talked a lot and you might hate everything that I say but I back it up every single time in the ring.”

Taven will face arguably his toughest test to date when he battles former ROH World Champion Jay Lethal in a one-on-one bout tonight at ROH Manhattan Mayhem. 

Fightful will have full results from ROH Manhattan Mayhem following the conclusion of the event.