QT Marshall hopes to make some new memories at Final Battle.
Marshall will compete against Jay Lethal at ROH Final Battle on Friday night. The match is billed as Lethal’s return to ROH. Lethal has not competed in ROH since May, but Final Battle also marks his first ROH pay-per-view since ROH Death Before Dishonor 2022.
Marshall also has plenty of history in Ring Of Honor and at the Hammerstein Ballroom, the site of Friday’s Final Battle event. He learned of his ROH debut match, a tag team loss with Sam Shaw to The Briscoes, while he was at Hammerstein Ballroom. Marshall was excited about the prospect of working that year’s Final Battle pay-per-view, but his mood soon soured.
He recently spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard about his return to ROH, sharing how things didn’t exactly go his way back in 2012. This time, Marshall hopes to find some closure in a sense, but also wants to go out and steal the show with Lethal.
QT Marshall wasn’t too happy with his first run in ROH
“I was relegated to being a manager for R.D. Evans [at Final Battle 2012]. I did wrestle before the show, a 29-second match with Grizzly Redwood. It wasn’t what I perceived was going to happen if you had asked me [earlier that year],” QT Marshall explained. “So, by that point in Ring of Honor, I kind of disliked everything about the company. My first run in Ring of Honor was not great. And it wasn’t great for me because of some of the things on my end. But also some of the things that I perceived on my end.
“But now, getting to come back, and with the Ring of Honor leadership being under Tony Khan and the way people are treated now, it is full circle. And it hopefully will bring me a little bit of closure,” he added. “But at the same time, I want to go out there, and steal the show, and have a fun time in that atmosphere, and get to feel that energy again.”
Marshall recalled being present when Jay Briscoe won his first ROH World Championship at Supercard Of Honor VII the following year. Just like Final Battle months prior, Marshall found himself working Evans again, this time in a tag team match. He felt some of the excitement again, but noted that his “head was in a different place.” Now, he’s grown personally and professionally and looks forward to sharing the ring with Jay Lethal, who he called one of the greatest first-generation wrestlers in Ring of Honor history.
QT Marshall isn’t surprised Jay Lethal is the focal point in their match
Like his match against Big Boom AJ at Full Gear, Marshall isn’t surprised that Jay Lethal is getting more attention. He admits he’s not seeking “his flowers” from fans and doesn’t take fans expressing their feelings personally. However, Marshall prides himself in being a great antagonist wrestler and said it would be nice to see fewer people “upset” when he’s announced for a prominent match like this.
“It comes with the territory. But, I joke I don’t want anything, the flowers, I don’t want the CageMatch ratings. I want the fans to have a great time. And as much as part of it is my schtick, some of it is real. At the end of the day, here’s what I would like; it’s not about just getting the flowers and all that, it’s just the negativity. We don’t need the negativity of when my name gets announced for a wrestling match, for people to just be up in smoke about it,” Marshall explained.
“Maybe it is not your favorite flavor of ice cream. But what I’ve learned is — and what I think I am good at — is being able to look at an audience and kind of figure out what they want and what they don’t want,” he continued. And my job as the antagonist in some of these stories is to not give them what they want. That is my job. And Jay’s job tomorrow is going to be, ‘Give them what they want.’ So, yeah. Again, flowers [or] no flowers, doesn’t even matter to me.”
Marshall just wants to continue earning his opportunities, which he’s been working towards for the past 20 years. He knows there will always be criticism from fans. However, he hopes they see he’s a consummate professional, doing his best for the promotion and himself.
“With all due respect to everybody, we’ve never really told those stories either, [about] QTV and how it came about. We never told the whole story about why that came about. Same with The Factory, same with all of these things. And a lot of that reasoning is because, if I tell the real story, it takes away from the fun part of what we do for a living,” Marshall explained. “And if you feel that you are critical, smarter… Really the smart fan, then you should be able to read between the lines and see what’s going on. And if you can’t, then you are not as smart as you think. And that’s kind of the way I look at it.”
QT Marshall clarifies his ‘I don’t want the flowers’ tweet
Marshall received plenty of praise for his match with Big Boom AJ at November’s AEW Full Gear. Many people, including some of his peers, said Marshall deserved “his flowers” on social media after the match. While Marshall appreciates the sentiment, he said fans could keep their flowers, stars, or match ratings.
Some took his original post on Twitter out of context, but his point still stands. Marshall gauges the success of his work by a live crowd’s reaction, something he feels has always been a great Litmus test in pro wrestling.
“Yeah. Like I said, the more I saw those things, the more I saw those tweets, it’s like, at the end of the day, I don’t need somebody to tell me that. As much as I appreciate it, I don’t need that. Because the live audience will tell you everything that you need to know,” he stated. “When I was a kid, the live audience reaction was usually the thing that made me react the same way, like feeding off that energy.
“And like I said, the people that had texted me that night after the match with AJ, those are people that I value their opinion and respect their opinion very much,” Marshall said. “I kind of felt that we had a good night. But you are only as good as the next thing you do right? Luckily, I am fortunate enough to now go to Final Battle and try to get another opportunity to have people throw more flowers at me.”
Or Reese’s peanut butter cups.
“That’s it. I would die for a Reese’s cup right now. Saturday, or Friday night after the match is over, we can celebrate a little bit.” Marshall said with a laugh. “[Don’t throw] streamers, just Reese’s.”
Watch QT Marshall face off with Jay Lethal at ROH Final Battle on Friday night. You can watch our full interview with QT Marshall below:
