– This past Saturday CBS Radio’s Chad Dukes Wrestling Show was at the William J. Meyers Pavilion in Baltimore, MD for the Ring of Honor Wrestling Live Television Taping as well as an opportunity to chat with some of the stars of the promotion. Ring of Honor Television Champion Jay Lethal, The Addiction- Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian, and The Kingdom- Maria Kanellis Bennett, Mike Bennett, & Matt Taven all appeared on the show. Here are the highlights:

Jay Lethal on wrestling Alberto El Patron:

“The coolest part of it is my dad, who watches anything and everything wrestling, is a big fan of Alberto’s, so it was actually cool getting to wrestle somebody that my dad was a fan of AND beating him so that way I could rub it in my dad’s face.”

“But also, much like when I wrestled Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, I love those high-profile matches where you know there’s gonna be a lot of eyes on you because there’s a lot of press and publicity and such surrounding the match. I always love rising to those occasions because it’s kind of a lot of pressure, you know? You know the competition is going to be watching, especially since Alberto came from somewhere else, some of the people over there are going to be

watching, it’s really exciting. It can be nerve wrecking, but I love those moments in wrestling.”

Jay Lethal on the internet wrestling community:

“That’s where we get to almost judge whether not what we’re doing is working. I think a lot of the internet wrestling community fans are bit smarter than the average wrestling fan, which is why they come together in this little internet community. I definitely think that it’s a positive that they are there, although they shouldn’t be taken too seriously sometimes.”

“The wrestling world is becoming smarter, and what I mean by that is, I remember a time where there were so many fans who only knew what the WWF was and that was it. Now that they are finding out about independent shows and all the other things like that they’re becoming smarter, not even because they want to be but because it’s happening

naturally. I do believe if we can please them, and its very easy to know if they’re being pleased, [laughs] they do not keep it to themselves.”

“Every wrestler is egotistical, we all are. We all want to be praised. So no matter what it is we do, no matter who the wrestler is, don’t let them fool you, we all search for comments about what we are doing. Some of us take those comments too personally, they take it to the heart and they let it get us down if we thought we did something good

but find out there was a massive amount of people or maybe a small amount of people who don’t think that it was good. That really gets some people down, I’ve seen it happen and it’s a shame. But overall I think it’s a good tool.”

The Addiction on the ROH Tag division:

Kazarian: “I mean when you look across the board, if you look at the teams and the caliber of the teams, the pedigree of the teams there’s no match. One of the reasons we decided to come back to Ring of Honor was the tag team division was so deep and so talented, and there were so many guys that we had yet to wrestle as the Addiction. Every night is something new, it’s something different, it’s balls to the wall, it’s all adrenaline and it’s the reason we came here, it’s awesome.”

Daniels: “We knew it was going to be a completely different atmosphere from where we had been in the past. My experience with Ring of Honor has always been one that’s challenged me physically. I’ve got guys that may not have the experience that I have but certainly athletically have got a lot going on. So it’s always a challenge for me to sort of keep up at that level with them and that’s something I look forward to every time I get in the ring with these guys and I’m sure Frankie feels the same way. To prove to myself that I’m still at that top level.”

The Kingdom on working in Japan:

Bennett: “It’s very similar to working here in Ring of Honor and not so much working in other independent promotions. There it’s very much a sport and it’s considered a sport, when you’re over there you’re an athlete. They take their wrestling very seriously. Every guy over there is trained, 20, 30, 40, 50- they’re trained in jiu jitsu and martial arts and everything, it’s the real deal over there it’s no joke. So going over there you really have to try to mix your style with their style. I mean, we’re not really strong style, Japanese

style wrestlers, but we can adapt to what they do and kind of bring our goofy and fun and joking around style with them and it’s something the fans have never seen. Then you add Maria to the mix. It’s really kind of fun to get in there with guys like Tanahashi and Okada and be like, here are the top guys in New Japan and we get to do our thing

with their best. It was really kind of cool.”

Maria on an ROH Women’s Division:

Maria: “I would love to see a women’s division back in Ring of Honor. We’ve had some fantastic women that have gone through the Ring of Honor system so I think that there’s an opportunity there and if I can help bring that back I will do whatever I can in my power.”

The Title of Love:

Bennett: “If I get stopped by TSA one more time for having that in my bag and have to explain…”

Maria: “It’s awesome, AWESOME! ‘Cause he carries it and here’s this pink fluffy belt and this big man…”

Bennett: “And they usually see it through the screen and like ‘Oh he’s a champion of something.’ And then they pull it out and they’re like…”

Maria: “Ahh, not what I expected.”

Bennett: “What are you the champion of? And I’m like, ‘uh, love sir.’ And then they just kind of fold it back up and they’re like ‘okay weirdo, carry it on.'”