Matt Taven recently appeared on Interactive Wrestling Radio to discuss his match against Cody at the ROH 16th Anniversary PPV tonight. You can check out the full interview by clicking here, below are some more highlights that they sent us:
What made his Kingdom with Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis special:
“I think it is because we had fun. We had a blast doing it. We lived in the moment and enjoyed every second of it. That is kind of what I wanted the next installment of the Kingdom to be. There was a natural chemistry between Mike Bennett, Maria, and myself because we are all friends outside of the ring for years. Man, I’ve known Mike Bennett since almost day one in wrestling. It is one of those things where it is just so natural – You’re just out there with your best friend. I mean, that year with winning the IWGP and ROH World Tag Team Championships and then that ending with Mike leaving and me blowing out my knee, it was like what a way to end that story. (laughs) It really was the genesis of the Matt Taven that you see today.”
The cultural moment when Gallows and Anderson hit the Magic Killer on Maria:
“You have to understand, New Japan never really had women in the ring. Our feud went from ROH to NJPW and back again. I can remember the New Japan officials saying “Don’t ever let Maria back in the ring again.” Obviously, it is a different culture and they also don’t want women and men in a combat situation. Maria was the first person in a New Japan ring since Joanie Laurer, since Chyna. It was kind of a big deal and we didn’t even realize it at the time. It kind of morphed into Amber Gallows and Maria joining the two teams. Looking back on it, it is a kind of monumental moment for New Japan with the first Mixed Tag match and the first time, since Chyna, of women competing. So, them hitting the Magic Killer (on Maria) and it being shown in Japan really did cause some waves because it was so out of the ordinary.”
His recovery from his leg injury in late 2015:
“I’m not going to lie. There are good days and bad days. Coming back from major knee surgery is hard on not just your knee but the rest of your body. The alignment of your hips, your back is going to be thrown off. My right knee now is, it had to pick up the slack for so long that now it is starting to hurt. It is a balancing act of going hard at the gym but realizing your knee can only take so much so you have to conserve it and do the proper maintenance. It is probably something I will deal with for the rest of my life, especially the rest of my career. It is so ingrained to be these tough guy wrestlers, I blew my ACL out a minute or two into the match at Final Battle and continued wrestling the next ten minutes. I was doing stuff like my walk up the ropes springboard elbow with no ACL. Obviously continuing to wrestle was probably a mistake because I ended up rupturing one meniscus that had to be surgically removed from the back of my quad, tearing the other meniscus at the same time. That is what makes us wrestlers. We love doing this so much that looking back on it and knowing everything that I know now, I would have been like, “Mike, I don’t think I can keep going.” But, if I were in the same situation, I probably would keep going 10 times out of 10. Just because, that is the way it is done in wrestling. My first Doctor that I saw after it said it would be 2, 2 and a half years before I could wrestle again which was a pretty scary situation. I look back on it now like it was this fuzzy dream. Like, that happened. But, did that really happen? 9 months out of my life for this? But, here I am back. It is an accomplishment when you sit back and look back on it.”
TK O’Ryan’s injury:
“It is coming up to the 1 year anniversary at the 15th Anniversary show that TK broke his leg. Obviously being in that situation not too long previous to that situation, you kind of know how to handle it. I saw TK’s leg and I’m not sure if it was picked up on camera but I kind of screamed, “Are you all right? Are you all right?” Being in that situation and being asked that question by Mike Bennett, you never are really able to answer that question correctly. TK grabbed his leg and screamed in pain. I saw his leg kind of floating in the wind there. I had to do what I had to do to make sure that A. He wasn’t going to be in any more danger and B. To finish the match in a reasonable fashion and to continue the story that we were developing. Unfortunately for TK, the Sunrise Hospital is not the best medical facility. We had to hold his leg together with tape and glue and our bare hands until we got him on a plane back to Boston that actually fixed him up correctly.”
Konnan and Sami Callihan saying they want to see Impact work with ROH:
“I’ve never really thought too much about it. Obviously TNA has had to do some rebuilding and they’ve gotten back on their feet. I’m very very happy for them. I have a lot of friends there as well. It seems like one of those things where Ring of Honor, New Japan, and CMLL have this partnership that is a triangle that is working really well around the world. If you (Impact) is trying to get back on your feet, you’re going to want to be a part of that. (laughs) This is the first time I’m really hearing this. I don’t know if it would be a smart business move for Ring of Honor considering they are on this upward trend and they (ROH) are doing it already without any help from another, and I know they’re Canadian based but really another American company. To be honest, I never see that partnership coming to fruition. But, you never say never in wrestling.”
The XWA Wrestling Kingdom school he runs:
“XWA Wrestling Kingdom. I’m literally there 3 times a week. It is in Rhode Island. So, anybody interested can message me or the XWA. XWA Wrestling Kingdom actually has a Facebook page. So, there are a lot of ways you can contact us.”
