Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
I wanted to pass along an interview I did with PJ Black for CBS before Ring of Honor’s 17th Anniversary PPV.
We talked about how the departures of Cody, The Young Bucks, Adam Page and SoCal Uncensored have created an opportunity for him in ROH. He feels that the void combined with his experience have him well positioned to be a top talent.
We also touch on his expectation that he’ll be in ROH much longer than the one-year contract he signed recently.
He also talked about why he opted to sign with ROH despite having an offer on the table from WWE. It came down to a number of reasons, including financial and creative concerns, which we detail.
PJ is an avid skydiver, so I inquired about whether his ROH contract forbids unnecessary risk outside of the ring, much like other pro athlete contracts. He said it didn’t. Then he told me about an epic pitch he made to parachute into WrestleMania. Vince passed, but a WWE Hall of Famer later offered to pay his bail if he did it on behalf of another promotion.
Here are a few quotes:
With all the departures to AEW, do you see more of an opportunity for yourself at ROH, given the fact that there’s now this huge void at the top of the roster?
Yes, obviously. But even if those guys were there, it would have been exactly the same for me. I think it’s a fantastic time in wrestling right now, because that happened, because a lot of people had to step up their game. A lot of people are trying to get signed by AEW. WWE upped a lot of the guys’ contracts because they don’t want to lose them because there’s a lot of money being thrown around. Even ROH, they signed me, they signed Rush, they signed PCO, they signed Bandido, which I think is fantastic. WWE’s been trying to sign him for the longest time. So was AEW, and ROH snatched him up. So that means a lot.
We’ve seen guys from NXT going up to the main roster that start hot but eventually fall off into oblivion. Would that be a concern of yours returning there?
That’s exactly what I was eluding to. They’d be like ‘oh, you’ll be on the main roster in six months or seven months, or whatever it is, and even if you’re not, you’ll still get your pay increase or whatever it is.’ I know for a fact because I speak to guys on a daily basis. All my friends are still in the WWE and in NXT, and I speak to these guys all the time, and I know for a fact none of the stuff that they were promised happened. Obviously, there are exceptions here and there, small exceptions, but those guys are just happy to be around and still be making money and being on TV. While most of them are not happy with where they are, that’s what they wanted to do. That’s still their dream job.
Now let me ask you a fun question about your ROH contract. Does your deal forbid skydiving? You’re such a big skydiver, and you post a bunch of your jumps on YouTube. Is there any clause in there that says that you can’t take any unnecessary risk away from the ring that could cause injury?
You know, there isn’t. They haven’t even asked me about any of that stuff. So that’s a good question. I wonder if they even know I do the stuff on the weekends that I’m not booked.
Have you thought about this: you do a stadium show, and for your entrance, you actually parachute into the stadium?
Oh, I’ve pitched that multiple times to Vince [McMahon] and he was like yeah, once you get better at this, we’ll do it. Mainly I was always open. Yeah, we’ve had multiple discussions on that. Even when I did the Global Force thing, Jeff Jarrett was like yeah, why don’t you just jump into, well I made a joke. I was like why don’t I jump into Mania with a Global Force parachute. I’m gonna get to go to jail, you might have to bail me out. I was just joking and he goes, that’s a great idea, let’s do it.
You can check out the full interview here: https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2019/03/14/pj-black-justin-gabriel-ring-of-honor-wwe-interview/
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
