Shane Taylor is back in ROH.
Shane Taylor returned to Ring of Honor for the first time in the Tony Khan era at ROH Final Battle where he teamed with JD Griffey to take on Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee. Taylor is a former ROH TV Champion and Six-Man Tag Team Champion, but had been absent from the first two ROH shows under Tony Khan’s management. Speaking to Ron Funches on One Fall, Taylor explained why he didn’t immediately sign with a company after ROH went on an initial hiatus after ROH Final Battle 2021.
A lot of it, especially with wrestling, there are politics and there are people who want to make sure they’re good and their friends are good and they want to make sure this guy coming in here is not trying to take someone else’s job. A lot of it, too, is just timing. Unfortunately, when everyone got let go at ROH, there were releases everywhere. Now, it’s this whole big free agent pool and I’m not the most famous person in that group so you have to figure out where you fall in that line and wait to see what happens. When it comes to any business, timing is everything and being at the right place at the right time can move mountains. It was important for me to not get caught up in the whirlwind of debuts and not be another number but when you get that opportunity to come in, you make that impact, make a lasting moment, make people remember and make them want to see more. I want people to be so invested that they ask, ‘damn, what took so long?’ If I’m watchable, then that can’t be anything but success and that’s what we’re striving for,
– Shane Taylor via One Fall
While it hasn’t been made official that Taylor has signed with ROH, he still has unfinished business in the promotion. When asked if he’s looking to do something new or continue what he did in the previous ROH, he said a little bit of both.
Anytime you step into a situation with new management, new ownership, there is going to be new opportunities, new challenges, and so I’m looking forward to those challenges but also quickly re-establishing to the audience and my competition as to who the man is. The one thing I have yet to do, that I couldn’t accomplish, is to win the ROH Championship. Being that guy, to reach the top of the mountain, and being only the third African American to do that other than Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham, that’s a big goal for me. I was the third black male to win the TV Title. It’s lining up to where I could possibly make that history again. I’m anxiously looking forward to it, there are a lot of things I want to do, but also keep that momentum going and give people what they think they’re going to get when they think about Shane Taylor.
– Shane Taylor via One Fall
Taylor and Griffey ultimately lost to Swerve and Lee at Final Battle.
H/T Fightful
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