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With what may be the final Ring of Honor PPV, Final Battle 2021 set for this Saturday 12/11 in Baltimore, PWInsider.com has reached out to current and former Ring of Honor perfomers, personalities and fans for their thoughts and memories of the promotion. Every day this week, we will be running memories and comments. Enjoy part one of a very special look back at Ring of Honor.
Jonathan Gresham:
"I think everything happens for a reason. I fell in love with Ring of Honor. It got me out of a lot of trouble, kept me out of a lot of trouble when I was younger. That I became obsessed with the company and I was already obsessed with wrestling but then I found my destination. And everything I did travel around the world training with people, different things like that was all because I wanted to get the Ring of Honor. And finally got to Ring of Honor and I started to evolve until I am today. And to see everything that I was blessed enough to accomplish, to be in this position, it's kind of full circle for me. So regardless of win or loss, I've lived my dream to the fullest and I'm just looking towards the next chapter now, after Final Battle."
Gresham debuted in ROH in 2011 and signed with the company in 2014. He will headline the last PPV of this incarnation of the company this Saturday, challenging Bandido for the ROH title. Gresham has announced the formation of a new company he will be promoting, TERMINUS, this January in Atlanta.
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Steve "Monsta Mack" Carrasquillo:
"My early memories of Ring of Honor. It's kind of cool because the way that I look at it, others might disagree with me, but I feel like all the work that the SAT, Low Ki, Homicide, Red, Special K, pretty much all of Jersey All Pro Wrestling, USA Pro, Frank Goodman, Jac Sabboth, LIWF, all those New York, New Jersey companies that we were working for in 2000, 2001, all that work that we did, pretty much changed the scene.
We were bringing a whole new style. Hard work, athletic, competitive...it was almost like a martial art Obviously it's professional wrestling...a worked martial art, but nonetheless, serious as ever and that's what gave ROH it's early identity, the serious competitiveness, which, we were all friends in the locker room, but when we were in the ring, everything that we displayed out in the ring came off as real because we wanted it to be seen as real and taken it as something serious....not the normal stuff that was seen on the Indies the last few [previous] years that were a part of the Indies, which was pretty much just TV guys who were not on TV anymore, trying to get a paycheck and guys who didn't take this business serious and just wanted to hang out to get rats and hang out with the boys.
It's cool for me, especially because I always looked at Maff and I as being the early faces of the company. We were the number 1, 2, 3, 4, depending on who you asked, to be signed and named with the company, between us, The SAT, Low Ki and possibly Red. So, we were in that top five, top six, but I'm pretty sure we were at the top four though to be announced as talent for the company. Considering that, you know, my whole career, I've always looked at myself as a lucky kid from Brooklyn who really should not have amounted to anything...we got to come out to be one of the faces of the company.
Everything that we did was taken as if we were the voice of the company. We were the ones that set what Ring of Honor stood for [at the Era of Honor Begins, February 2002, in a segment with The Christopher Street Connection.] and despite the fact that there have been many attempts over time, because, you know, the way it was set up, what we did with the Christopher Street Connection, a lot of people in today's sensitive society look at as [the segment] as, you know, demeaning or whatever. At the time, that's what it was. Whether you take it as an excuse or whatever, if you didn't live it back then, you don't know. I've said many times, if you don't have that strong mental ability to overcome a lot of things, like name calling, then you really shouldn't be in this profession, but we were all were able to take that, absorb it and come out on top.
Some of my favorite memories from Ring of Honor Obviously the first show getting on the buses, your buses from New York and getting those half-drunk fans riled up and ready for the show. The very first time Christopher street is out there and then we come out. Ready for us to come out and and I'm sitting and I come through the curtain. As soon as I do, it felt like there was a wall of humanity just right there and I had a moment of claustrophobia and it just felt like the whole world was collapsing. I paused for a quick, I mean, not even a full second, but it felt like an eternity and then I just broke through and I knew what I had to do. As soon as you hear the crowd...we're Philly, I mean, we only wrestled in Philly a handfull of times for Jersey All-Pro and other companies. You hear them chant for Da Hit Squad and they're excited to see us come out and they're going nuts for everything that we're doing...simple stuff, and they're making it seem like we're setting the building on fire. That made me feel good.
Another moment that I loved was that we got to share the locker room and learn and talk to, and become friends with Eddy Guerrero who not only as a Latino, but you know, just one of the best wrestlers ever, one of the coolest guys that I've ever met in this business and very humble. Like I said, I'm very much on that level where I feel like I'm just nothing special and just Steve and, you know, the same way I feel, I know he was feeling, but he knew his greatness. He understood his greatness and he taught us. It was pretty cool to have that moment with him.
Two more moments would be watching my cousin, my blood, Low Ki in that Fatal Four Way for the [ROH World] title at Crowning of A Champ. It was just incredibly hot that day and I've always been proud of my cousin. He really, I mean, we're born in the same year, but you know, he's a few months younger than me and we just always looked at each other like brothers and I was so proud of the work that he and all three of the other guys put in. It showed the world that if you wanted to compete for this company, you had to have your stuff put together. No one Joe Schmoe was just going to walk in and think that he was better than anybody. I'm glad that he had a chance and we had a chance to be there and carrying him on my back, down the stairs after 60 minutes of hell. I was so proud of my cousin and my family and everything that we had accomplished together up to that point.
Then one of the weirdest moments that I ever experienced, where [Da Hot Squad] just came back from Japan and we had the first show back at the Murphy Rec center. Abdullah the Butcher was there. This was Night of the Butcher and he was talking to us and he was like, I saw you guys in the [Japanese] magazine, I'll tell you what they said. I'll tell you everything that the magazine article in Japan had said about us, talked about us being like the next better than the Headhunters, the next Headhunters but better. He talked so much. We had shared locker rooms with him before for Frank Goodman, but we never really got a chance to talk, but this was like the first time we really got to sit and talk and learn from Abdullah.
We go up to the gorilla position, and we're still talking and he's getting ready for his match. He was still talking and he's like, 'You guys are really good. You know, keep it up, keep working hard.' Then his music hits and it's like a switch just goes off and Abdullah just looks away...looks in front of him, looks at the curtain. He just goes into a long gaze. Maff and I were just like, whoa. He hits his line that he says, I guess it's some Sudanese phrase and he grabs his garbage can and just flings it through the curtain. He doesn't care if anybody's on the other side or not and Maff and I were just amazed at how that switch just hit. That was one of the coolest things that we ever got to witness because we know not a lot of people in the wrestling world, let alone the rest of the world, got a chance to witness that. So, we felt very special to have shared that moment with him.
There's just so many things. I was only there for what 12, 13 months and a lot of my stuff still gets talked about. I've got to share the ring with so many of the greatest talent in the world today, not even back then, but still today, and I'm very proud of my time. I'm also proud of things of getting to know guys better. ROH was really where my friendship with guys like Xavier built up as, SAT, Red, Quiet Storm. We had known each other doing all these other shows where we hung out before, but doing Ring of Honor monthly was the reason why we got to get even closer and build a bond and do things like play football in the street outside Murphy Rec or go to the Chinese spot down the block and get some iced tea. It's stuff that I'll never ever forget.
I'm glad to have been a proud of being a part of that era and I'm glad we started something that lasted as long as it did. I'm just hoping it doesn't die and it just goes back to its roots though."
As one half of Da Hit Squad's Monsta Mack, Steve Carrasquillo, along with Dan Maff, Allison Danger and The Christopher Street Connection, officially opened up the very first Ring of Honor event. The NYC star still competes regularly and mentors talents in the Northeast.
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Brian Milonas:
"I think everybody probably knows the deal with professional wrestlers. We all get a little bit of an ego. We all have a certain something about us and I think for Ring of Honor represented some validation that the hard work and the years and the punishment I put through my body was worth it. That somebody, you know, recognized that I was talented and could make a contribution on a larger scale.
First and foremost, there that I heard a lot of "No" over the years and ROH aew really the first ones to ever look at me and, not to take away from Joe Koff and Greg Gilleland because they obviously saw something in me as well, but the guy who really saw something to me and gave me that opportunity, it was Delirious, I don't know if I'm supposed to say that or not supposed to say that but whatever. He's the guy, the first guy that ever looked at me in my career and said, yeah, we want you as part of the team. So that's pretty cool.
Some of the bigger moments...main eventing the ECW Arena, the 2300 Arena, whatever it is called now with The Young Bucks and Cody, with Silas young and the Bruiser, and that was like a week before the first All In PPV. Working with those guys, no pressure like six days before before that, but that was, that was a really, really cool, experience to go through.
Wrestling on pay-per-view for the first time, that Death Before Dishonor in a Bar Room Brawl, that was definitely up there. Sharing the ring with guys like Jay Lethal and guys of that caliber. The Briscoes, for sure, those battles we've had with the Briscoes, challenging for the World Tag Team championships in Lowell, MA, you know, my backyard in front of my friends and family, having my kids in the third row. That was special as well.
The things that kind of just mean more on a emotional sense. Myself and Todd Sinclair, ROH's Senior Official, we started wrestling school together, like the very same week. So, to be there with him and guys like Matt Taven and Vincent and Mike Bennett coming back, all these different guys that I came up with has been pretty special. I think one of the most special things was last year when we filmed the Christmas surprise match with John Walters and Todd Sinclair refereeing. Those are two guys that were there with me literally day one and when I say day one, I mean the actual day, one of my pro wrestling career, both of them were there with me and to do something on TV. So there's those moments like that too. That match probably doesn't mean anything to anybody, but for me it represented something super special.
Then of course, I mean, I think I'm leaving, I probably buried the lead, Mike, you know, you're here, you're very much a reporter. I buried the lead! Madison Square Garden. I mean, that's the highlight. Here's the way I remember it though, Mike, I remember it as me selling out the Garden with Jushin Thunder Liger. That's how I'll always remember it. [Laughs] I really enjoyed that match by the way. It did happen. I mean, if was in the confines of an Honor Rumble but we faced off in Madison Square Garden.
It's wild. It's just funny, it's one of those things where Madison Square Garden, right from the start of my pro wrestling...it was, was something important to me. So when I first break it in, I'm going to make this vow to myself and this is something that I actually did, it's insane, but I was like I made it. I'd never had been to the Garden. I always wanted to go see a show there and never did. It was like, well, the first time I step foot in Madison Square Garden is when I booked there. All these so many years later, you know, I thought the dream was sort of ending. After my daughter was born, I kind of thought, not that I was going to stop wrestling, but I'm probably just going to be a local guy and that's about it.
At that point I thought that dream had sailed, but I never, you know, went to MSG. I talked about it every year, about going to see a show at the Garden but I never did. And then when that opportunity came up, it was, it was pretty special. It was pretty cool. I mean, to be, I mean, I know renovations and all that makes it different now, but that's the arena Bruno Sammartino sold out. That's, uh, you know, that's where, you know, whatever you think of him now, that's where, Hulkamania was born and what started the road to Wrestlemania 1, all these great moments. They're all WWF and WWE moments that have happened in the Garden.
Again, being a Northeast guy, that's what I grew up on, you know, the 80s through the 90s era of the WWF, I'll think of all these great moments in the Garden for me to even just get the opportunity to be there, to perform there even, even in the something like the Honor Rumble. It was just cool. I was booked, I was there. I wrestled, I didn't get a feature match or whatever, but just to say I was there and wrestled in MSG. Again, what made it special is to have a number of my family and even have friends there who bought tickets, not through me, with Ring of Honor giving us access to family tickets and stuff, but just hearing from friends, "Hey, I bought tickets. I'm coming." That was cool too. The Garden was way up there."
Brian Milonas has been competing as one half of the Bouncers for the past five years with Ring of Honor.
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Sugar Shawn Price:
"I was working a job in Virginia back in 2001 when one day in walks in a guy who they had just hired. To my absolute shock it was none other than J. T. Smith! It was so hard not to turn into an complete fan working side by side with an ECW original, and slowly we became friends, and I let him know that I was a wrestling fan.
He was so kind and generous with his stories and his advice. Honestly, you couldn't find a nicer person.
One day he comes in and tells me that he's been booked at this show in Philly, and they were going to honor his time in ECW. Without batting an eye, he invited me to come along!
We drove up and arrived at this little place in South Philly called The Murphy Rec Center, and that was the night when Ring Of Honor came into my life. That was my first dose of Low-Ki, Xavier, The Christopher Street Connection, The Amazing Red and so many future stars of the business. Needless to say, I was blown away by what I was witnessing.
After the show, J. T. was invited The Oregon Diner by Gabe Sapolsky and he allowed me to tag along. It was here that J. T. spoke highly of me, and suggested that maybe I could be something to the company. Absolutely floored. Gabe started talking to me and asking me questions and I guess I made some sort of impression, because he asked me to send him a tape of my stuff. I couldn't take a bump at that time so save my life, so I sent him a tape of some promos. A few months later, and he sends me an email to call him, and after that phone call I was hired by Ring Of Honor.
For 2+ years, I was a backstage interviewer and I went by "Sugar" Shawn Price.
I'm not going to remotely attempt to convince anyone that I was the best thing ever, but I must have been doing something right in order for the company to continue to bring me back and use me. It really was a dream come true to see so many on the stars of today cutting their teeth and growing into themselves, and to be able to say that I was a small part of their journeys is pretty darn cool.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention three people. My friend and probably one of the greatest living encyclopedia of pro wrestling knowledge, Paul Cormier. He would drive me up to the shows and we got to share some much of that experience together. There is an awesome Samoa Joe story that we laugh about to this day. The other two are Mary Gage & Wayne Fitzgerald. They worked the lights and sound for ROH at the time and were so kind and friendly to me. They are so fantastic souls, and they went out to their way to make me feel welcome.
It is really unfortunate to see Ring Of Honor as we knew it come to an end.
As a pro wrestling fan, we should all pour one out for that company. Look at who walked through those doors and walked into the spotlight. We were truly gifted with that organization, because it gave birth to the future of pro wrestling.
Thank you, ROH. You made a dream come true."
Shawn Reid is now a certified personal trainer in Philadelphia after overcoming a heart attack and changing his entire way of life. He is also a celebrated photographer who has had his work featured in numerous exhibitions. His official website is ShawnReidImages.com.
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Mike Tobin:
"Some of my favorite memories from The Era of Honor Begins were in the locker room that day in February 2002.
My partner Danny Drake and I were excited to finally have the opportunity to wrestle in Philadelphia, especially against Boogaloo and Homicide, The Natural Born Sinners who we had wrestled in the Elks Lodge in Queens a few months before. That was the match that got us booked on the first ROH show. After the match in the Elks, a guy named Gabe Sapolsky introduced himself and handed me his card with the ECW logo on it that night and said they were starting a new company in Philly and he would be in touch.
When we arrived at the Murphy Rec Center in Philadelphia, we knew we were a part of something special that day. There was talent from all over the country there. The TWA crew from Texas, guys who were famous from the Super 8 tournaments like Christopher Daniels, Spanky and Bryan Danielson and all of us from the NYC Crew in one place.
All of us were honored to be in the same building as Eddie Guerrero as well. One of my favorite memories of that day was how cool Eddie was to us. We had met him a month before when he came into the Elks for a show and Drake and I picked him up and took him to and from the show that night. He remembered us and couldn’t be nicer to everyone who was in that locker room.
Ring of Honor even booked the rubber chicken that the Prop Guys in NYC had made famous for the previous few months for this show and wrote it into the promo that introduced Homicide and Boogaloo to the world.
When we got to the ring that night Drake and I knew we were a part of something special. The energy in the room told us that we were. Harry Slash once told us, “Your offense is your entrance." We knew what our job was that night.
When we heard the buzz of Boogaloo’s chainsaw and the reaction the Sinners got when they came out, you could just feel it. This was something different. We stood across the ring from two guys we knew well and respected and had to break our usual character and shake hands with them before the bell.
The match was the same style we had in the Elks with Boogaloo stretching and suplexing us all over Philly, leading up to Homicide getting the hot tag. Once he did, we knew this was a special night. By the time they hit Drake with the South of Heaven, the place exploded. All those fans from Philly, NYC, and Boston let us know what they thought of us.
That Chicken saved us.
Homicide beat Drake and I shot after shot after shot with that rubber chicken until something crazy happened. The Bell rang.
We won. The first cheap win in the history of Ring of Honor was won by the Boogie Knights by DQ.
We weren’t there long but we were there. It was an Honor to be in the locker room that night in South Philadelphia almost 20 years ago with an AMAZING group of hungry talents who wanted to show the world what they could do.
My other favorite Ring of Honor memory was two boys from the Bronx walking to the ring at Honor Invades Boston in Yankee road jerseys two years before the Curse of the Bambino ended.
It was a great time to be a wrestler!"
Mike Tobin, one half of the Boogie Knights, is now retired from the ring, pursuing a broadcast career and living in Florida.
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