Ring of Honor’s Roderick Strong recently took some time to participate in an interview with Marc Madison of The News Hub. Strong talks his past training under Jim Niedhart, his time in TNA, his present with Ring of Honor and the recent deal struck between Ring of Honor and Destination America. He opens up about how he’s grown and developed in the ring, his previous accomplishments and why he’s remained so loyal to Ring of Honor. Check out highlights of the interview below:
His training under Jim ‘The Anvil’ Niedhart:
It came about because my dad and dad’s buddy’s wife worked at a doctor’s office and she was actually the front desk receptionist. Jim Niedhart would come in there because it was his local physician and one day my dad’s buddy called him and said hey, do you want to be a pro wrestler and my dad was sure. My dad had an athletic background so even though he was a little bit of an older man about 38-39 years old, he was why not it would be a good hobby and was always about trying to stay in the best shape as he possibly can. I didn’t know who the trainer was at the time. Being a big wrestling fan and being so young 12 at the time, my parents were separated so my dad said I’m going to bring you to this practice but you have to be well behaved. I started freaking out when I realized exactly who it was and that I would be going there 3 times a week. Eventually from going and watching Jim just saw how excited I got about going. He eventually let me get in the ring and play around. It was just something from watching it visually and studying it so much that it I was able to do at the moment and something I saw that it was something I could do. He saw a little something in me…
Working with Austin Aries and Alex Shelley:
It’s been noted that in Ring of Honor that it was Gabe Sapolsky’s idea of putting us together as a group and none of us really knowing each other, other than saying hello at different shows. We did that and it was as fantastic opportunity for me and the others. He thought we were ready for that but it says a lot about him (Gabe). We made history together as a team. The four of us together including Jack Evans helped to save Ring of Honor and it always holds such a special place in my heart.
In TNA, it was something where they saw how hot Generation Next was and they wanted to do something similar but I felt they wanted it as proactive and putting in themselves in people’s faces because we had some fantastic chemistry. I had fun doing it and the fact that every single one of them are great wrestlers. I can’t really complain being in the ring with those guys.
To check out the complete interview click here.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
