Jay Lethal Thinks WrestleMania Weekend Should be Called Wrestling Weekend, Addresses Walls of the Wrestling World Being Broken Down

– CBS Sports’ State of Combat podcast recently interviewed ROH talent Jay Lethal. Below are some highlights.

Jay Lethal on WrestleMania Weekend: “Not to take anything away from any company and how they are built throughout the years, but it really has seemed to be ‘Wrestling Weekend,’ not so much ‘WrestleMania Weekend’ because there has always been so many shows surrounding the big event.”

Jay Lethal on not seeing the G1 Supercard as competition for WWE and the walls for the wrestling world being broken down: “As cool and as catchy as that sounds, I actually don’t think anyone sees it that way, at least not on our roster. The way we see it is this is wrestling at its finest and wrestling is in a boom period right now. Because of this boom period, things that we thought were impossible — including another company running at Madison Square Garden, let alone selling it out — are now possible. Walls in this wrestling world that were up are now being broken down because of this boom period. What a fantastic time to be a professional wrestler and what a fantastic time to be a professional wrestling fan. It’s an amazing time for wrestling right now.”

Lethal on learning from top talents early in his career: “Only about a year and a half [into my career], I had Samoa Joe take me under his wing. I was learning from guys like CM Punk, who requested to work with me. I was getting to work with Bryan [Daniel Bryan] Danielson and Nigel McGuinness, and then shortly after, I got a trip to Japan where I learned how to wrestle different styles. Then I came back a few years later and I went to Impact Wrestling, where I got to step into the ring with one of the best technical wrestlers in the world, Kurt Angle, and get schooled on the aspects of technical wrestling.”

“I learned politics in wrestling and how to carry yourself in and out of the ring by becoming friends with Kevin Nash. Then I learned how to cut wrestling promos from the master of wrestling promos, Ric Flair, by going into a program with him. Then I got to step into the ring with guys like Jeff Hardy and Sting. I feel like it all prepared me for the role I would assume here at a later date, which is becoming the face of Ring of Honor and becoming the world champion.”