On Saturday, June 25, Ring of Honor will hold a show in Concord, North Carolina, which will be recorded for television and will have the added bonus that one of its most symbolic wrestlers will say goodbye to the company. After thirteen years with Ring of Honor, Roderick Strong has requested his release from the company, during which he achieved the Triple Crown, being one of the three members of that exclusive club to hold it (Jay Lethal and Eddie Edwards are the others to have achieved all three titles in the company).
Roderick Strong - ROH TV Tapings (April 6, 2013) Manhattan, NY - Photo By: Randall Gordon
It wouldn't be surprising if Roderick Strong already has one foot in NXT, as WWE had already shown interest in the 32-year-old gladiator, who during his career has faced some of the best wrestlers in the world, including AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, Hiroshi Tanahashi, CM Punk, Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe, Kazushika Okada, Austin Aries, among others.
"After joining ROH for the first time, I immediately wanted to train and said: 'wrestling for ROH' became the peak of my goals. It was everything I wanted as a fan. As a wrestler, I knew getting there and staying there would be difficult and would shape my career.
"The first time, as I prepared to walk through the curtain, all I could think was, 'I must not mess this up!' Honestly, I felt I was still too young to wrestle (I was 19 years old), but I couldn't have been more prepared and didn't know when I would have another opportunity like that."
Sick Kick de Strong / Fuente: facebook.com/ringofhonor/
When asked about the monsters of ROH he faced at the beginning of his career (Styles, Danielson, Joe, Punk, etc), he responded:
"Those guys were the reason I wanted to come to ROH and why I fell in love with wrestling here. I wanted to go out and be tested by the best and prove that I either had what it takes or I didn't. Every match was a great learning experience and made me who I am today."
He thanked the company, and in fact, the same company indicates in its official statement that the "goodbye" could be brief and the wrestler could return soon to Ring Of Honor.