Mike Bennett is up for the challenge that Pure Rules wrestling presents.
Mike Bennett recently spoke with WrestleZone about potentially entering the Pure Rules division in Ring Of Honor and the new dynamic it presents to him. Bennett, who returned to the company in November and has working in the tag team ranks, says the Pure division appeals to him because it’s unfamiliar territory for him and he’s looking to try himself against the best wrestlers in the world.
“The appeal is that it’s uncomfortable, and I’m at a point in my career where I want to try things that are uncomfortable and get better. Jonathan Gresham is one of the best wrestlers in the world, so having the opportunity at some point, hopefully fingers crossed, to get in the ring with him would be awesome. Why? Because it brings me outside of my comfort zone.”
Bennett continued, talking about how the style has presented some great matches over the years, and how it made him fall back in love with wrestling. Agreeing how the perception used to be that you had to work a “sports entertainment style”, Bennett said he is up for the challenge that this would present.
“I think people wouldn’t expect me—or at least the fans that watched me in 2015 in that company wouldn’t expect me to do it. It’s a style of wrestling that I’ve been falling in love with over the past two or three years. When I got to WWE and I spent my career — like you said, [it used to be] ‘you’ve got to wrestle this way’ and be a sports entertainer— and then my career took me in a completely different direction. I worked for New Japan, I worked for Ring Of Honor and I learned this different style of wrestling,” Bennett said, “and then I got to WWE and I was like, ‘I miss that style’.
“I missed the Pure style, I missed the hard-hitting, the Kobashi matches, Misawa matches, Nigel McGuiness and Bryan Danielson matches. I missed that, and that’s what essentially made me fall back in love with wrestling, was going, ‘you can have those matches.’ You’re not in WWE, you can have those matches and it got me excited, and it’s actually what brought me into falling in love, staying up all night and watching these Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuiness matches from 2006 and just going crazy over them. It’s really just brought this love for wrestling back that I thought was missing and that I needed. I think the reason that I’ve fallen in love with it is because it’s different and a different style that I want to adapt, and it’s a challenge for me. After 20 years of doing this,” Bennett explained, “finding a challenge in wrestling is really something that excites me and it’s something that I want to do.”
Bennett closed by addressing the other challenge potential competing in the Pure and tag team division presents, saying he and Matt Taven are well aware of what each other’s goals and compared themselves to the Avengers. He said they have individual goals but when it comes time for the team to come together, they’ll join forces again.
Bennett will finally get his chance at Pure Rules action and Jonathan Gresham, as Ring Of Honor confirmed he’ll challenge for the title at Best In The World on July 11.
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