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Foundation member Hot Sauce Tracy Williams joins Spencer Love to chat about his experience with ROH, facing off against VLNCE UNLTD, the ROH Women's Division, Rhett Titus, the PWI500, nicknames, favourite hot sauces, and more!
Spencer Love: “Hello friends! Welcome back to Love Wrestling. Spencer Love here getting the opportunity to chat to another member of not only Ring of Honor his finest, but in this guy's humble opinion, one of Ring of Honor's finest factions - try saying that five times fast - of all time. Hot Sauce Tracy Williams, of course of The Foundation joining me. It's great to have you on, man. [It's] an exciting time for Ring of Honor, and I feel like I've been able to say that for about the last year. How are you doing? How are things on the precipice of a big match coming up on the 23rd?”
Tracy Williams: “Everything's great. It's a beautiful day here in New York City. Feeling good. It's an exciting time for Ring of Honor and an exciting time for wrestling in general. Can't complain about that.”
The Foundation vs. VLNCE UNLTD
SL: “Absolutely, man! Like you mentioned, an exciting time for yourself, personally, yourself and Jon Gresham are going to be taking on the team of VLNCE UNLTD this weekend, on the 23rd it will be airing. Just take me through your thoughts on that, because over the last little bit, you guys have been feuding with LFI and have sort of transitioned over to a very different style, but equally talented tag team in their own right. Take me through a little bit of that, and maybe is there a bit of a different mental preparation you're doing or approaching this match with versus maybe the last little bit?"
TW: “Definitely. We knew when we started The Foundation that this was going to be how it is, where no matter where we turn, there's going to be another group or another person who disagrees with what we want to see out of Ring of Honor. They want to force their image of Ring of Honor upon us and upon everybody else, and that's just the name of the game. We knew what we were in for, but like you said, we've been struggling with LFI for a long time. It's definitely a different preparation going up against VLNCE UNLTD because with LFI, they're known cheaters. They don't care about the rules. They're that kind of wrestler where you have to prepare for people coming in with chairs and them using the wires from the cameras and all that stuff. I know that VLNCE UNLTD is a little more confident in their actual skills in the ring. They may not have the same style as The Foundation, they may not have exactly a pure style so to speak, but we know that we're in for a wrestling match one way or another, and we're in for a fight at the same time. In that way, I prefer it, and I love fighting those VLNCE UNLTD guys because it's just a clash of wrestling styles rather than a clash of wrestling versus something else as it is with LFI.”
Choosing to re-sign with ROH in January
SL: “I love it, man. Even going through and doing my research and listening to interviews of years prior that's been really consistently your approach to pro wrestling. Let's not get the whosits and whatsits galore involved, let's go out there and prove who's the best professional wrestler. How cool is it for you that, obviously [with] re-signing about 10 months ago at this point, you're in an environment that's about the most conducive to that in professional wrestling at this point?"I love it, man. Even going through and doing my research and listening to interviews of years prior that's been really consistently your approach to pro wrestling. Let's not get the whosits and whatsits galore involved, let's go out there and prove who's the best professional wrestler. How cool is it for you that, obviously [with] re-signing about 10 months ago at this point, you're in an environment that's about the most conducive to that in professional wrestling at this point?"
TW: “Yeah, I think it definitely is. I think it's [that] a lot of luck got me here, but also I think it just makes sense in a way where this is kind of where I always saw myself one way or another. There were times where, when you're starting out, you don't really see that as a reality. But, if somebody was to ask me 'what kind of wrestling do you see yourself doing, where do you see yourself ending up?' Ideally, it would have been Ring of Honor. So, it means a lot.”
TW: “I think it's still the place where you got the most opportunity to really get by on your wrestling. But, I think we've still got a ways to go as far as getting Ring of Honor back to being the place where people come to see that wrestling and they know for sure that it's going to be there. That's what The Foundation is all about is bringing Ring of Honor back to that, re establishing that image, and rebuilding Ring of Honor in the image that made it what it is. It's still the place for it, and we're just trying to take that to the next level and create a new Ring of Honor that can honor the Ring of Honor of the past, and even build on it and make it better as we go forward.”
The early days of Ring of Honor
SL: “I love to hear that, man. What do you think - again, you're a historical fan of Ring of Honor as well as one of their professional wrestlers right now - what do you think allowed Ring of Honor maybe in the early days and now to separate? You've wrestled for CHIKARA and Evolve, two promotions that as well are very well known for the wrestling ability of its wrestlers. What really allowed Ring of Honor, like I've said and you've said yourself, to plant their flag as the 'wrestling' promotion?"
TW: “That's a good question. I think the thing about all those different places was that they all kind of had their own distinct flavor. Even though they were all focused on in-ring competition a lot, they kind of cater to different fans. Where CHIKARA was a little more over the top with the characters and catered to more of a comic book or kind of casual fan, and that was great. Then, with Evolve - I think that Evolve kind of had the idea that I think The Foundation has now, where they looked at what they saw that was special about Ring of Honor and wanted to recreate it. It's a hard thing to do. I think that that just even points to light more the fact that Ring of Honor was the premier place, and is the premier place in the States for professional wrestlers. I think a lot of that has to do with being in the right places. The fact that Ring of Honor has a foothold in New York - you know, Ring of Honor's the first company since WWE for like decades to run Madison Square Garden when we did with New Japan a couple of years ago. Even before that, I mean, go right around the corner from Madison Square Garden and Ring of Honor was in the Manhattan Center in the Hammerstein Ballroom month after month and year after year. It's such a cliche, it's so corny, but if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere. I think that has a lot to do with Ring of Honor's success and with their cred is that they go out there in front of the toughest fans in the world and succeed.”
Chris Ridgeway joining The Foundation
SL: “I agree man, and not to brown-nose by any means - but that's my job as an interviewer - I think with the stable like The Foundation as a part of it, you're well on your way if not already there as far as that goes. Now, for the first time in a long time, [The Foundation's] making some additions over the last little bit. Talk to me a little bit about Chris Ridgeway and what inspired you guys to invite him to be a part of The Foundation."
TW: “It's an exciting development, I think. I know I agree with Gresham on this that we don't see The Foundation as just a faction in Ring of Honor. We know that if we're going to stand by our ideals and our vision of wrestling that we want to find the people all across the world who
agree with that and get the most power and most momentum behind that we can. So, to now see that coming into fruition and seeing people from all over, not just in Ring of Honor, being welcomed in and being acknowledged as people who can carry that flag and represent what The Foundation is all about is super exciting. I think Chris Ridgeway is a great example of that. He's a great first step in that process, and I'm just excited to see who else pops up, and who else we can make connections with, and share those ideas between each other and all that. It's exciting. It's definitely exciting.”
Potential new additions to The Foundation
SL: “It's safe to say because you did an interview a few months ago with WrestleZone I think it was, where you talked about a phase two of The Foundation where phase one was [to] establish yourself and win all the championships. Now it's looking like you're moving into that phase two of recruiting. Obviously, you kick it off with Ridgeway, but without giving away the farm, is there anybody else that maybe you would specifically be looking at to bring into The Foundation, whether with Ring of Honor right now or crossing the proverbial forbidden door?"
TW: “When you start thinking about all the doors you could go through [and] all the bridges that you could cross, I mean, there are tons of people. I think it's no secret I've always been a huge supporter Wheeler Yuta, [and] always been a huge supporter of Fred Yehi. These are both guys that I've teamed with in many other places, but I think it would be great to see people of all different kinds and all different genders represent The Foundation. There are great technical wrestlers across all spectrums of human existence. And so, uh, yeah, I mean, I'm a big fan of Nicole Savoy. She's a great technical wrestler. I think she would be - I'd be proud to have her
carrying that flag. Yeah, there's a couple of names that I could think of, but there are people of all kinds all across that we've got our eyes on.”
The Ring of Honor Women’s Division
SL: “Everybody, of course, has asked you - and rightfully so by this point - about the Pure Tournament. I did want to ask you about the Women's Tournament. You mentioned Savoy, but you look at Rok-C, and Chelsea Green, and Miranda Alize, and the great women coming into Ring of Honor right now. How cool is that to be part of the promotion, when, again, they're really starting to make major major steps forward in that department."
TW: “It's great. I think Rok-C is a great first champion because she kind of reminds me of the old Ring of Honor in the way where she's somebody who is going to go all around the world and keep building her career as she continues to do independent promotions and carry the Ring of Honor flag everywhere she goes. She's even defending that Ring of Honor Women's Championship on these outside shows, which I think is great. It's giving opportunities to people who haven't had the opportunity to come into the Ring of Honor to now get that spotlight on them and get those eyes on them where the powers that be are looking at these title matches and seeing all these new faces really stepping up. I think that that's really great. It hasn't happened yet, but I'm waiting to see the first women's pure wrestling match in Ring of Honor. I think that we've got to be the place to do that, and I think it's only a matter of time.”
Being a part of the first-ever Pure Rules Tag Team Match
SL: “How much pride do you take being a part of the first-ever pure rules tag team match with Rhett Titus?"
TW: “I love stuff like that, because I think that there's still so much to be done in wrestling as far as experimenting with different match types and rule sets and that sort of thing. It's easy to settle into a pattern of wrestling and fall into the same kind of tropes over and over again. But, when you're forced to work within a different set of rules and work within a different structure, it opens your brain up a little bit and gets the ideas flowing. So the Pure tag match was definitely like that, and I've done a couple of them since where you can't rely on the same tactics that you've always relied on in tag matches like breaking up pins and stuff. It's just not an option to just throw out there all the time. You need to be careful with the decisions you make on the apron, and not putting your team at risk. I think it just adds an extra level of danger to the match and some nice things to think about without getting too complicated, I think. Yeah, I think that's great.”
Working with Rhett Titus
SL: “I completely agree. Talk to me a little bit about Rhett Titus, specifically, because when I spoke with him like, it's, again, a pretty easy answer and it's pretty easy to see as a fan that you guys just have something there, whatever that may be. So, as the guy inside the ring, maybe give me a little bit of insight into what makes you guys so special as a tag team?"
TW: “Yeah, I think it's kind of cool. I find it very interesting because we definitely do have something. But - I'm trying to remember as I speak - I think that that pure tag team match on Final Battle, that was Rhett and [I's] first time teaming together as a tag team. We instantly felt that we had something, and we were talking about it. I think part of that is that we both had pretty long careers at this point, and we've been tag team wrestlers for so much of that career, where I think now we're at a point where we are we can just get plugged in with anybody who's good and it'll fit. Which, is really nice to know that all those years of tag team wrestling, you know, Rhett's a former Ring of Honor tag team champion before we were. I was a former Evolve tag team champion, AIW tag team champion. I've done a lot of tag wrestling, and it's nice that that has now gotten to a point [that] where in our first match teaming together I think we looked like somewhat of a tag team. So it's nice, and now we're trying to build on that even more. It's like if you can start there, then there's no way to go but up, really, so it's great."
SL: “When you hear the phrase tag team specialist, is that something you take pride in? Does it maybe give you a chip on your shoulder? Because you mentioned all your tag team runs, but take some pride in the fact you've done a damn good job as a singles guy before too, right? So what are your feelings when you hear that?"
TW: “Yeah, it doesn't really bump me, because some of the best matches ever been tag matches. I was just watching some AJPW tag match from the early 90s, I think, with four of the best wrestlers ever, and it was an awesome tag match. So, it doesn't really bump me. I don't know. Yeah, I think that I'm confident enough to not feel like I'm being pigeonholed or anything like that when I'm in a tag team because it's a great match structure and it adds something to a show. I think that if you are in a tag team, you're something different right away. [If] promoter has seven singles matches already and you are a nicely packaged tag team, boom, there is your in right there. So, no problem with that, really, I'll be a tag team specialist, if that's the role.”
Ranking at #90 on the PWI500
SL: “A five-tool player I think they call it in baseball. But, let me tell you, if you think I would be a bad pro wrestler, you should have seen me play baseball. Obviously, other people are noticing how great you are too, man. Number 90 on the PWI500. Is that cool for you? Does that mean a lot? You get a lot of different reactions from pro wrestlers and people in the business when you talk about rankings and stuff like that."
TW: “I get that, and I've kind of been that guy here and there where it's - once you're so deeply, actually in wrestling, you do kind of see those things differently. Especially with, you know, there's sometimes some questionable decisions on those lists and sometimes people are just totally left off that definitely should have been on. So, I understand why people have their issues with it. But, it's one of those things where you have to kind of step back and look at it as like, no, this is really cool. If I wasn't me now, if I was me as a kid and I knew that I was going to be on this list and seen in this way and a part of this, that's pretty cool. I just try to look at things that way, and not be bitter, and just take them for what they are, which is [that] it's nice to just be a part of that. It's kind of legitimizing in a way, even though it's not a legit list. It's weird in that way! Like, it's kind of a goofy list, but at the same time, it's very legitimizing to be a part of it, and I think a lot of people feel that way."
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