Jay Lethal Hopes Tony Khan Owning ROH Leads To More Jobs For Other Wrestlers
Jay Lethal was known as a franchise of ROH during the later years of the company and is one of the most decorated champions in Ring of Honor history.
Lethal had signed with AEW before ROH Final Battle, but returned to face Jonathan Gresham in the main event for the original ROH World Championship. Before Final Battle, the company announced it would go on hiatus until ROH Supercard of Honor. On March 2, Tony Khan announced he had purchased ROH.
Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Lethal weighed in on Khan owning ROH.
“I was more shocked when it was going away, only because, financially, that was my bread and butter. It was more of a shock to me to find out, ‘now you don’t have a job.’ It was definitely unbelievable when I heard that Tony bought it. The coolest thing to me is, throughout all the years of Ring of Honor, it has always been and felt like this cult fighting club. if you didn’t know about it then you weren’t cool and you were an average wrestling fan. Only the cool and knowledgeable wrestling fans knew about it and they dictated who they thought was the best in the world. ‘You think this guy on television is great? You have to see this guy on Ring of Honor.’ That has really carried them throughout the years. Even though Ring of Honor has struggled and try to fight to become more than an underground promotion, we tried for years to overcome that, and sometimes we shouldn’t have rocked the boat and just stuck to that. Now that Tony Khan owns, it really, more than anytime ever, has a chance to break out of the underground feel and have more eyes on it and has a chance where stars can be made and developed, but they stay because its a destination and you can make a living there now. I was super excited when I heard Tony bought it. I was always excited, on another note, it was very tough for me to get over the fact that when they dropped that bombshell on us, not only did I not have a job at that particular time, but so did a lot of other guys. Hopefully, fingers crossed, it leads to some of my friends who are no longer employed, some fantastic wrestlers who need more experience and more eyes on them, hopefully it leads to guys who no longer have jobs, getting jobs. Fingers crossed,” he said.
Lethal was in action on Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite, losing to Jon Moxley in singles competition.
He is set to face Lee Moriarty at ROH Supercard of Honor. Fans can check out the current lineup for ROH Supercard by clicking here.
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