Mike Bennett recently returned to Ring of Honor after a five year absence. In that period of time Bennett had stints in IMPACT Wrestling and the WWE, became a father to two kids, got sober, and found himself released during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He made an immediate impact in his RoH return, saving his former tag team partner Matt Taven from his old ally Vincent and before a brief cup of coffee where he had a match against Nick Aldis for the NWA World Title, Bennett seems to return full time to the company where he got his big break.
Bennett spoke to The Battleground podcast on their most recent episode where he talked about his stint in the WWE. While he does think his time away from RoH helped him from a personal standpoint, it doesn’t seem like he was too keen on his time in the WWE.
“I did say I never should have left. Professionally I think leaving Ring of Honor was the worst move that I ever made. Personally, it was by far the best because within those five years, I got sober. I had two children and I bought a house. I grew as a man. I grew as a husband. I grew as a father. I can’t sit there and say it was a bad decision because I became a better person.”
“I don’t want to downplay that. Professionally, besides my run in Impact which I loved, my run in WWE was a dud — It sucked. It wasn’t very good. I didn’t do very much. It won’t be memorable. So from a career standpoint, leaving Ring of Honor was the worst decision because when I went back last time, I just remembered being there and looking around the locker room and seeing guys like Jay Lethal, The Briscoes, Dalton Castle and Taven and all these people that were there when I left, and thought, this is family.” “Why did I leave home? This is ok. I can make a living here and I can have fun here. I can be happy. This is a place I can bring my kids and they can meet people that I love. I love The Briscoes as brothers. This is where I want to be. I probably shouldn’t have left, but, hindsight is 20/20. It’s a double edge sword because professionally I shouldn’t have left, but personally, I can’t take back the fact that I don’t want to throw away how much I grew as a human. It’s a mixed bag of emotions.”
Achieving sobriety is no easy task, but Bennett managed to do that and grow as a human and a performer during that time. Now he is back in RoH as a different man and ready to perform.
h/t to Wrestling News for the quote
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