Dalton Castle Praises Jay Lethal, Talks About Having a Chip On His Shoulder

– Dalton Castle spoke with Sporting News for a new interview ahead of this weekend’s ROH Supercard of Honor. Highlights are below:

On when he thought he had to be more serious as a character: “I don’t think I had a defining moment where that happened. I never lost track of what I wanted. As far as you see me as a character, that’s still who I am and I still love to be like that. It just so happens that I’m also a really excellent wrestler as well. It was more or less making sure everyone else around knew that I was more than what they perceived the second I walked out the curtain. It was kind of like you get a first impression and you’re like OK, there’s a fun character. Clearly he’s not anything more than that but I never went out of my way to show people that I was more than that. When I walked in, I always wrestled hard. I always tried to do my best. So, it wasn’t a matter of me trying to show the world. It was just kind of me wearing on them and them all seeing it at once.”

On his title defense against Jay Lethal: “Jay Lethal, in my opinion, is one of the greatest wrestlers in the world. It’s amazing that we have him on the roster at Ring of Honor. It’s incredible that I get to share the ring with him as often as I do. I have not got to face him as often I would like to. When I walked into Ring of Honor, my second match at Ring of Honor TV, was against him for his Television title. It was a short one but it was not lost on me, the privilege is was being in the ring with him. Then I worked my ass off and here we are three years later, I now Ring of Honor World Champion and he was challenging me for my title. To be in the ring with a talent like him is great. To do it on such a platform and spotlight of the main event at the 16th anniversary show was beyond what I could have imagined happening four years ago. It was great. And to show the world that I can hang with such a talent like him and come out the victor, it’s just one step closer to showing everybody I am as good as I claim to be.”

On feeling the need to prove himself: “Yeah, I do have a bit of a chip on my shoulder. I believe that I am the greatest talent in the world right now. The belt, to me, proves to the world that yes, right now I am as good as it gets. I think the only thing that holds me back sometimes is I’m not marketing myself to the fullest that I could be. So maybe not enough people know about me. I’m not being seen on as many screens as I could be but every time I go out there, that’s not going to change my attitude. I’m going to still go out there and act like the world’s watching. I’m going to work my ass off to show that my heart’s in this 100 percent.”

On his history with Marty Scurll: “I believe we wrestled each other a few months ago in San Antonio, Texas on a Ring of Honor tour show. We had a singles then. When Marty came in to Ring of Honor, I was his first match in the United Kingdom. It was his start moving forward. He had a really good run in his first loop of shows for us and ended up winning the Ring of Honor Television title on the final night of the tour. Then, we crossed paths a couple of times throughout the year. And here we are, me with the world title and him coming after me.”