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RHETT TITUS TALKS HIS ROH RUN, JOINING THE FOUNDATION, ROH IN THE PANDEMIC ERA, BEING CONSIDERED A TAG TEAM GUY AND MORE

Rhett Titus Interview w/ Spencer Love (Originally Recorded April 16, 2021)  

Just prior to the 500th episode of Ring of Honor Television, Rhett Titus joins Spencer Love to  talk about historic moments in ROH history, his own beginnings with the program, being a part  of a training class of two people, standout moments from Ring of Honor's TV program and more!  

Spencer Love: “Hello, friends! Welcome back to Spencer Love Interviews. A very special edition  today, and for a special edition of the show, you got to have a special guest. It is the 500th  episode of Ring of Honor television taking place tonight and one of the longest-tenured, if not the  longest-tenured depending on whose math you go by, members of the Ring of Honor roster, not  only a member of the Foundation, but a foundational member of ROH, Rhett Titus is joining me  today. Rhett, it's great to chat with you [and] especially, like I was saying before we started  recording, on such a monumental day for the promotion. I would have to assume yourself How  are you doing? And, how are you feeling on what's one of the promotion's biggest days in  history?" 

Rhett Titus: “Well, first off, Spencer, thanks for having me. It's an absolute pleasure. I'm feeling  great, man. It's crazy to think that 500 episodes have passed by. I remember when we're taping  episode one and two, and three and four."  

SL: “Counting them on your fingers rather than having a calendar!" 

RT: “Yeah! To think all these years later, we're at 500. It's a very unprecedented thing if you  think about it. I was reading something today - WCW Monday Nitro only had like, I think 248  episodes. For Ring of Honor to have 500 is a big deal.”  

Beginning his career in the Ring of Honor Dojo (01:31) 

SL: “And, for yourself as a guy who quite literally wrestled his first match for Ring of Honor, it  has to mean a little bit more, right? Take me through, I guess, the process! You trained with the  Ring of Honor dojo, but obviously, I don't know how you ended up there. So maybe take me  through that, and then how your first match came to be with the promotion?" 

RT: “Well, honestly, it was right after, you know, in 2002, and WCW went out of business and  ECW went out business, and wrestling was kind of just like 'ahh,' at the time because there was  no competition or anything like that. I remember my brother-in-law was like, 'hey, you want to  

go to this indie show? It's called Ring of Honor.' I was like, 'ahh,' you know because I'd been to a  lot of indie shows ever since like ECW went out of business and live it was, you know, just-" 

SL: “They were 'indie shows.'"

RT: “He was like, 'well, Steve Corino and Eddie Guerrero are going to be there,' I was like, 'oh!'  Those being two of my favorites, I was sold. So, I went to the Ring of Honor show. From the first  match, I was like, 'oh my gosh, what the hell is this? This isn't sports entertainment. This is  wrestling as a sport!' I had always wanted to be a professional wrestler growing up, but I was  like, 'man, this is something like I've never seen. This is what I want to do with my life.' From  that point on, I was hooked on Ring of Honor. I was checking the website every day, and buying  all the VHS tapes, and all that stuff. Then, all of a sudden they said, 'hey, we're opening a  wrestling school.' And when the school opened, I was only 15 at the time, but I was like, 'oh, I  gotta get in there!' I kept emailing them, and finally, when I turned 17, they let me in there. I was  trained by Austin Aries. Awesome training from Austin Aries. One of the best wrestlers to ever  do it. A two-time Ring of Honor World Champion. About six months after my training, I got  thrown into the fire! My first match was literally on a Ring of Honor show in Dayton, Ohio, and I  wrestled Shane Hagadorn. Leading up to it, I wasn't really too confident about it. You know, I  was like, 'oh my gosh, uh,' and then, as soon as I got out the curtain, I was like, 'this is where I'm  supposed to be. This is what I'm supposed to be doing.' It all kind of felt right, you know. And the  rest is history, as they say.”  

Being part of a training class of two (04:02) 

SL: “I was just gonna say! Now, Wikipedia is to be believed, and Cagematch is sometimes in the  same situation. But, if if it's correct, you were one of two trainees as part of your training class?" 

RT: “Yeah, just myself and Ring of Honor alumni, Grizzly Redwood. There was one other guy.  He came for day one, but he didn't make it today two."  

SL: “I was going to say, he took that first bump and wasn't coming back." 

RT: “Yeah. So it was a little little bit of hard training with Grizzly, because we had a little bit of  size difference. When you're learning things, it's a little bit harder, because sometimes you need  somebody your size because you're not that well at, you know, getting the light and stuff like  that, but we got through it! I'm still friends with Grizzly Redwood to this day. He was a groomsman in my wedding and all!”  

The backstage culture of Ring of Honor (04:58) 

SL: “Very cool. I know it's jumping ahead a little bit, but it's a casual conversation! How do you  think you've maybe affected or how has the culture, I guess to use the buzzword for it, changed  from your starting Ring of Honor to now? The wrestling product's always been there. I don't  think many people would argue that. But, even interviews you've done with guys like Sean Ross  Sapp, you've talked about it being apples and oranges now. So maybe take me a little bit through  the history of those growing apples versus growing oranges." 

RT: “Yeah, no, it's one of those things where everybody, like, kind of looks to me as like a  veteran of the locker room and to me, it's like, man, these 15 years just went by so quick. I'm still  a hungry dude just trying to get comfortable, you know what I mean? But, you can never get  comfortable, because everything is always changing and there's always new guys coming up and  keeping you on your toes and that sort of thing. But for right now? Ring of Honor, man, I have to say it's the best it's ever been. The product that we're putting out right now is absolutely amazing  even with the limitations that the pandemic has put on us. We brought back to the Pure title and  pure rules and that sort of thing, and that's something that you really got to focus on. It's a  different level of thinking of pro wrestling. Even when you're watching at home, you're  watching, you're saying like, 'how many rope breaks does this guy left have left on your TV  screen?' Those sorts of things. You've really got to - you can't just like casually watch it. There's  strategies to it, and there's a psychology behind it. You definitely want to sit and watch it with a  fine eye. But I mean, everything from the presentation to the matches to the commentators - Ian  and Caprice, they're the best duo going today. Ring of Honor is really firing on all cylinders right  now, so to be part of it after all these years and continue to be a driving force in the company. It's  an absolute - you know, pardon the pun, but Honor.”  

ROH through the pandemic (07:06) 

SL: “Of course, then, I know you've talked about it before as well. But, any chance you've got to  put over great work that companies are doing right now, take it, in my opinion. Take me through  the experience in the Ring of Honor bubble, and then, what the experience has been like for you  

in the most positive of senses. I've had the opportunity to chat with Matt Taven and PCO and  Mike Bennett, and it's very, very nice to hear that everyone's consistently talking about what a  great job they've done." 

RT: “Yeah, you know, from the moment this pandemic all kind of started, it was my wedding  anniversary, and I was on my way to Las Vegas for the Anniversary Show and the TV taping. I  got off the plane and I actually bumped into Cheeseburger and Grizzly Redwood, and Grizzly  was actually coming back, it was, I think, almost a 10-year hiatus for him. He was coming back  for the Past versus Present show. So, I got off the plane, they're like, 'hey, do you check your  email yet?' I was like, 'no,' they're like, 'the shows are canceled.' I was like, 'what? Man, maybe  this is a little bit more serious than I thought it was!" Because I know how much money it takes  to put on pay-per-view, have that time slot, you know, the satellite, and they had catering waiting  for us, and all the flights for everybody to get out there, and hotels for multiple days and, you  know, all these reservations made. So a lot of money, it was just kind of like thrown out right off  the bat there."  

SL: “Not the stuff you're getting a refund on." 

RT: “That was to just make everybody feel safe, because, at that time, the news media were kind  of saying like, hey, this is gonna be a big thing, and nobody knew at that time what it was gonna  be, but it seemed like it was gonna be serious. They also spent a lot of money on changing our  flights to go home as well, too, if we felt like we wanted to go home. That [I'm] so, so, so  thankful for. But, from there, I was like, 'alright, this is gonna be cool. I'm gonna have two weeks  to sit at home and do this quarantine thing!'"  

SL: “This will be over with, can't wait for the summer." 

RT: “I had never heard of the word quarantine before all of this, and then all of a sudden, it's like  this word that we use every day now. But yeah, what we thought was gonna be two weeks turned  into two months and then it was like, 'all right, we're gonna get back to work soon,' but the thing was Ring of Honor didn't want to put us at risk whatsoever, or our fans that, because we have  people coming from multiple different countries, multiple different states from all over, you  know, so the risk that would be putting everybody at would be very high. They chose to keep  everyone safe, keep everybody at home, keep paying us, and taking care of everybody. We hop  on some Zooms here and there and chit-chat and come up with creative ideas about what we  could do going forward. But, it wasn't 'till they really figured out the testing and the transmission  of the disease where they brought us back into the bubble. 

RT: “So, basically, with the bubble, it's a way where we can go and usually tape about eight  weeks of TV or so and do it all at once. Basically, they bring us into the hotel - well, even before  we go to the hotel, we got to take a test before we even leave our house. So once we pass that test  to leave our house, we go to the hotel, we get a room by ourselves. We can't have any visitors  anything like that, nobody [else] inside there. We take another test when we get to the hotel, then  another test before we wrestle, and then temperature checks at the door and questionnaires before  we go into the building. And then, we have to wear face masks the whole time we're there unless  we're on camera, which tears your ear up!"  

SL: “I know, I had to adjust to one of the adjustable ones. because let me tell you, [my ears]  were stuck like this for three-quarters of my first part of this." 

RT: “But even after that, all those steps they take, each match gets a brand new ring canvas, and  those are quite expensive. The ropes, turnbuckles, any area that was touched, or anything all get  sanitized and wiped down. They're really, really sparing no expense to make sure everybody's  safe and everybody appreciates that to the utmost.”  

Joining The Foundation (11:48) 

SL: “Absolutely. Now obviously, I don't have any idea where you were headed prior to the  pandemic coming and any of that sort of stuff. But, you don't want to say a benefit of everything  that's happened in the world. But, you've become a part of what is one of the coolest factions, not  just in Ring of Honor but in professional wrestling, in my opinion. Just give me a little bit of  background on how it came to be and how you started to team with guys like Jon Gresham and  Jay Lethal and a guy who's got, by my money, the best name in pro wrestling, Hot Sauce Tracy  Williams. How did that end up happening?" 

RT: “Well, to be honest, prior to the pandemic, I really had no idea of the direction that I was  going either. The pandemic gave everybody time to think and kinda come up with new stuff and  that sort of thing. But, you know, I still wasn't really sure on what I was going to be doing. It was  the first TV taping back in August, the first bubble that we had, and I got there and there wasn't  really anything for me. I was just kind of like, 'alright,' you know. Here I am, and there's nothing  to do. Jonathan Gresham pulled me aside and you know, me and Gresham have wrestled before,  and we had a lot of cool talks about wrestling before, and we had a lot of similarities and  mindsets about wrestling. He pulled me aside and he's like, 'hey, man, like, I had this idea.' And,  basically, he laid it all on me right there. I was like, 'wow, this sounds amazing to me. This is  something I want to be a part of, of course!' Too many times have I seen people come into Ring  of Honor and use Ring of Honor for their own benefit, and not really think about, you know,  what Ring of Honor was built upon and people that want to be in Ring of Honor to be IN Ring of Honor. We're four like-minded individuals, myself, Jon, Hot Sauce, and Jay Lethal, where we're  all about bringing the company back to its glory days and making sure the Code of Honor is adhered to and restoring honor. It's not just a gimmick or an angle. This is how we all really feel  and personally if you don't feel the same way, you know, the door's right there.”  

Hot Sauce Tracy Williams (14:20) 

SL: “Beautifully played. Absolutely beautifully played! I have to ask on Tracy Williams, though,  what makes him a particularly great tag team partner? I know that you're a great wrestler. He's a  great wrestler, you've sort of been a tag team specialist, even in your own words, but there's just  something - and again, it might just be my personal bias coming in - but that just makes you guys  work. You know what I mean?" 

RT: “You know, it's one of those things where - I always had really good chemistry with Kenny  King as a tag team, and once we stopped teaming, I was kind of searching for another tag  partner. I just never found that same chemistry, like I had with Kenny, and Tracy Williams, he  has had a lot of different types of partners as well. A few different ones in Ring of Honor, and  also other ones on the indies. But, with all those different partners, you kind of learn how to  work with different people and that sort of thing. You kind of learn how to adjust. With the  experience of having all these other partners, when we came together, it was just kind of like it fit  like a glove. [We've] both kind of been deemed tag team specialists over the years, so to put the  two of us together, it was right from the start. We made history at Final Battle, in the first-ever  pure rules tag team match, which I'm very proud of and we wrestled two really, really good pure  wrestlers in Fred Yehi and Wheeler YUTA. But, from there, we kind of went on a roll, and now  we're the Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champions. So, hey, man, we've only had four or five  tag team matches together as a team, but we're the champs now and we can only get better from  here.”  

Being branded a tag team specialist (16:01) 

SL: “Yeah, it's a real cliche in pro wrestling sometimes, but you guys have that X-factor, right?  It's absolutely fantastic to get to watch. On your end as well, maybe again, another cliche that's  thrown around a ton is the phrase underrated. In my opinion, it does somewhat apply to you in that watching some of the singles matches you put on, they're absolutely fantastic. Again, you do  get branded, rightfully or wrongfully, as a tag team specialist sometimes. Do you take pride in  being underrated sometimes? Do you see it as maybe something that gives you a chip on your  shoulder? Or, when people describe you as an underrated guy, what's your first thought?" 

RT: “I'd rather be underrated than overrated! But, it's one of those things where like, yeah, it  kind of puts a little bit of a chip on my shoulder because I know that I can just go out there with  anybody and have whatever style match that they want to have or whatever style match that I  want to have and you know, it's gonna come out being a banger. It's cool because I think it's one  of those things where I've been around for so long that sometimes people start taking me for  granted and that sort of thing. They're like 'oh yeah, you know, he's been here and he'll always be  here,' and you know, they kind of just don't look at me like that way. But now, in 2021 and the  end of 2020, people really have been turning their heads and be like, 'man like where the hell's  Rhett Titus been all these years!' But, you know, I've been right here having great matches and they've just been getting overlooked. But, now it's finally nice to see people are starting to take  notice.”  

Ring of Honor’s 500th TV episode (17:48) 

SL: “100% my friend. As I mentioned off the hop, Ring of Honor's 500th TV episode airs  tonight. Before we get into that, let's talk about maybe some of your personal favorite television  moments from Ring of Honor. I know 500 episodes is a lot to have to pick from so don't maybe  give me the top one, maybe just give me a few moments maybe not even some that you were  involved in that stand out to you as far as ROH's 500-episode run." 

RT: “One of my personal favorite matches from all 500 that I participated in was the Steel Cage  Warfare which put Team S.C.U.M against Team Ring of Honor. That was a pay-per-view main  event worthy match, but they put it on free TV for everybody to see. A lot of different moving  parts in that match, and a lot of different stories told. That was ultimately the match that got me  kicked out of Ring of Honor for a while. But, I found my way back in!”  

RT: “Another match that I really enjoyed, too, that I wasn't a part of was for the Ring of Honor  World Championship was Jay Lethal defending against Kyle O'Reilly. I want to say that was in  the summer of 2016 or so, somewhere around there. All those years bleed together. Another one  was if you ever seen this one, The Briscoes versus RUSH and Dragon Lee. Man, that was a  barnburner."  

SL: “I'll have to check it out! I would have to say [is] if you think it's all blended together for  you, the nice thing is, it's all blended together for me in a very positive way in that again, Ring of  Honor has always had an excellent television product. They have always, like you said about that  steel cage match, always seemed to go above and beyond for their TV program, and that's  something that sometimes doesn't happen in other promotions or on other television programs in  pro wrestling.”

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