Jay Lethal Discusses Walking Into the G1 Supercard at MSG as World Champion, Explains ROH’s Winning Formula

– Sporting News recently interviewed ROH World champion Jay Lethal this month. Below are some highlights.

Lethal on beating Samoa Joe’s record with most combined days as ROH world champion: “When I was pulled aside and they said, ‘You know, you’re about to beat Joe’s record of holding the belt for a certain amount of time.’ I said, ‘No way! That’s insane!’ I remember being in Ring of Honor when Joe was champion and I was his protege, and I would come to the ring holding his towel. I didn’t think anyone would ever beat his record.”

Jay Lethal on why he loves ROH: “Here’s the thing that made me fall in love with them. Even when I was just that kid that didn’t feel like I belonged, my skill level was nowhere near a CM Punk or Austin Aries or Alex Shelley at the time, but yet I was still wrestling with those guys. Even then, this company has always gone above and beyond for me. This company has always taken great care of me. I’ve never had a reason to even dream about wanting to go somewhere else. I love this place.”

His thoughts on ROH rebuilding and the company’s winning formula: “I feel that Ring of Honor has always been in the rebuilding phase. Ring of Honor in all the time I’ve known it, it’s never been fully settled. It’s always in this rebuilding phase because other rosters out there constantly pluck from the Ring of Honor roster to make their roster better. Look at all of the companies out there and their champions. Most of them came through and from Ring of Honor. I think the winning formula is: you don’t try and replace those guys. How do you replace The Young Bucks? How do you replace a Cody Rhodes or an AJ Styles? That hole in your tapestry is going to be there, but you have to have sense enough to know that hole leaves some character. That hole has done some great work and you don’t try to cover that up. It just adds character.”

Jay Lethal on walking into the G1 Supercard as World champion: “To me, it’s all about walking in as the champion. If I don’t leave as the champion, that wouldn’t be too heartbreaking for me. But going in as the champion, they could never take anything away from me after that. If I can hold onto this belt — we do have one more pay-per-view in March, I have to get through that first. If I can walk into Madison Square Garden as the champion, that’s what I would really like. Winning the big one in Madison Square Garden, that would be cool, but to me, being the first Ring of Honor champion walking into Madison Square Garden and defending the belt, that’s the coolest part to me.”