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Kelly Klein Discusses Joining Ring of Honor, The Growth of Women of Honor, More
– ROH’s Kelly Klein recently spoke with Wrestledelphia, here are the highlights…
After years on the indy scene, what was your initial reaction when you found out that you’d be joining Ring of Honor?: Klein: “I was excited because a big part of something that held me back for a long time is I didn’t go out and take chances. I just didn’t think I was ready. But you never think you’re ready. It got to the point where I needed to go do it and just push myself to take the risk. If you never ask the question, the answer is always no. I went and did the tryout and I was proud of myself. I had done what I could do, and I thought I had done well. Whether other people were better or worse than me had nothing to do with it. I went and pushed myself out of my comfort zone and put myself out there. Then I was given another opportunity to do even more and show what I could do at an event and in front of a crowd was a big accomplishment for me.”
How has your experience?: “I really enjoy it. I just get antsy and impatient because it does take time for something like the Women of Honor division to build and grow. I wish we could just do it and for all the girls to have matches all the time. But that’s not how it works because that would implode immediately. It’s just being patient right now and getting more girls there who are a good fit, and getting to work with different people has been a lot of fun. It’s been very cool that I’ve had the opportunity to share a locker room with different women. One example is I wrestled ODB when I was very, very new. I had never worked with her since then so when I had the opportunity to wrestle her again, it was because of Ring of Honor, and it kind of came full circle. I was able to contribute in a different way. The first time, I was the babe in the woods and she was doing all the work. So it was cool for me to come back and work with her as more of a peer.”
What’s it like backstage during the War of the Worlds tour? Have you ever been to Japan?: “I’ve not, and of course, I want to wrestle everywhere I can. I want to work with different people and have the experience of wrestling in front of different people. When you have guys from those different groups come into the same locker room, it’s all people that are really passionate about wrestling and being their personal best and putting on a really great show. When all that comes together, the energy really expands. Everybody is like minded and has similar philosophies, we’re all there to push ourselves and do really well. It’s very motivating for me and for a lot of people.”