Shane Taylor On His ROH TV Title Win: I’m Not A Guy ROH Wants To Be Champion

In an interview with Wrestling Inc, Shane Taylor spoke about his reaction to winning the ROH TV title and wrestling with a chip on his shoulder for the promotion. Here are highlights:

On winning the ROH TV title: “Me describing it to you wouldn’t do it justice, but to see all of the shocked faces…it was incredible. I live for those moments – the moments that make people look stupid, the moments that shock the world and shake up landscapes. That’s what I live for and that’s what I was able to do in Toronto,” said Taylor before adding why he calls himself ROH’s worst nightmare. Because I’m not a guy that ROH wants to be champion. I’m not a guy that can be puppeted or walk that company line of saying and doing the right things. I say what I wanna say and do what I wanna do. In today’s society, that’s a very dangerous thing. ROH has a mold of what they want out of a champion such as walking around in a suit and going to board meetings. I’m not that guy. You’ve got a guy who’s been held back for so long that’s now at the forefront of the company and it’s gonna be a problem to deal with for sure.”

On people saying he didn’t beat Jeff Cobb: “Woah! Woah! Woah! I didn’t beat him,” Taylor asked about Cobb. “…If two teams are playing in the Super Bowl but one team is missing a player due to injury, does that Super Bowl not count? It’s no different here. I talked ROH into making that match a World TV Championship match. I had a game plan and executed that game plan to walk out as champion. Now, they’ve asked Jeff Cobb if he wanted a rematch and he said no. What does that tell you?”

On Cobb moving on to fight Matt Taven: “That’s all well and good, but he knows what the first two matches that we had were like. Even though he came out on top, and I’ve always lived by the philosophy that my dad taught me, even if you fight someone and you win or lose, you make sure they never wanna fight you again. I do believe at some point we’re gonna have to have that Ali-Frazier settle up of things because I don’t like having losses on my record without the ability to avenge them. At some point down the line, I’m sure there will be a Taylor-Cobb III. To me it doesn’t matter; I have no preference. …My concern right now is being the most dominant ROH World TV Champion there’s ever been. My goals are to shatter both of Jay Lethal’s TV Champion record which are 567 days as champion and 35 championship defenses in a single run.”

On when people started noticing him: “If that’s the moment that people decided to open their eyes, then they’ve been missing everything that I’ve been doing before that. Going into that I definitely had a point to prove as I’ve been with ROH for about three years and that was my first singles PPV match. That was my first singles championship match. I definitely have and continue to have a chip on my shoulder and have a point to prove every time I go out there. Now that their eyes are open, they’re getting ready to see just exactly who I am.”