Dalton Castle Says He’s Not So Different From Cody, Talks ROH Final Battle Match

Dalton Castle spoke with ESPN ahead of his match with Cody for the ROH World Championship at ROH Final Battle tonight. Highlights are below:

On Cody coming to ROH from WWE: “When he initially came into Ring of Honor, there’s always the excitement, [but] everyone’s a little skeptical at first of a guy leaving a big company. You don’t know what kind of attitude you’re going to get from somebody when they come in. Are they going to think they’re above us? Are they going to think that they are better in some way or don’t need to work as hard as the rest of us because they’ve built this name value for the last 10 years? It didn’t seem like that when Cody came over at all. It seemed like he absolutely was all in.”

On the similarity between him and Cody: “I don’t think we’re very different at all. I think we are both well-dressed men. Our styles might be a little different — he enjoys a nice three-piece suit with two buttons, while I like to keep the whole body covered with a sparkly fabric accented by feathers. Where we also see common ground is, I think we both take this very serious. He’s seems like somebody who absolutely loves pro wrestling, and this is his first and foremost thought. As am I.”

On using his time as a ROH fan as motivation to get on the roster: “Going to a Final Battle event as just a friend of Bobby Fish, watching his performance and just sitting in the wings and watching the entire show is really what lit a fire under my ass to get working hard, to become a better performer and get an opportunity in Ring of Honor. Once I got a shot, I couldn’t stop. I just remember it really motivated me to do better because I saw a goal. I saw Final Battle at the Hammerstein and I knew that’s where I needed to be — and I [was] going to do everything I [could] to start myself on the path to get there. I’ve done Final Battle at the Hammerstein, and now I’m on my way to main-eventing it.”