Jay Lethal On His Favorite Era Of Ring Of Honor, Impact Of The Elite Leaving ROH In 2018

In a recent interview on Talk Is Jericho, Jay Lethal discussed his favorite era of Ring of Honor during his run with the company, the impact of Elite leaving ROH, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Jay Lethal on his favorite era of Ring of Honor during his run with the company: “I’m afraid to answer that because I don’t want to sound like I’m tooting my own horn here.  I think if you ask anybody, they’ll have a different time, and that’s cool. But for me, it seems like 2015 when I won the belt, and maybe I’m answering this too personally. It was like the peak of business, especially for me.  We were selling the most merchandise. When the Bucks and Cody were there, that was another high point. I was home probably one weekend a month if I was lucky. I thought that was good. We were doing great crowds. We were selling out. We weren’t running these massive venues, obviously. The Hammerstein Ballroom always sold out. Then we stopped running Hammerstein I heard because they were charging so much. But yeah, for me personally, I would say one of the highest points was 2015.”

On the impact of Elite leaving ROH in 2018: “Let’s talk about that – that was a massive exodus of a good, solid group of people that were drawing the fans there. When this exodus, this massive leaving happened, my heart broke. This was also during a contract renegotiation time for me. An offer was made for me, and they extended the offer to me to say, ‘Hey, come with us [to AEW].’  I didn’t take it obviously, and here’s why. Throughout my entire Ring of Honor career, it really feels like they’ve laid out the red carpet for not only me, but my family. They’ve always gone above and beyond. I can’t think of a single bad thing to say about them, except for they let us sit home too long and paid us. When all these guys were leaving, and I don’t want it to seem like I’m some savior, but when all those guys left, I literally thought about the state of the company, and not only that, but the state of that my friends would be left in because I’m friends with everybody there. I thought, ‘Well, I can’t do it all by myself, but at least if I’m here, I can try and help because I really feel like the company is going to suffer.’ They have been good to me. Let me repay the favor. That’s the only reason that I stayed. I wanted to go so bad. I already knew from the start what was going to happen, but yeah, my loyalty, even today I feel like it was the right thing to do.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Talk Is Jericho with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.