DANNY PICARD: You were supposed to be in the World Title match at “War of the Worlds” in Lowell on Wednesday night. It was a homecoming of sorts for you. Your family and friends were in attendance. You were supposed to be facing the Ring of Honor World Champion Dalton Castle. You go into the event, and that match never happens. Instead, you won the six-man Tag Team titles. So tell me what happened?
MATT TAVEN: It was just a crazy kind of whirlwind. And I’ve been hyping up this match for so long. I’ve been with the company for five years. I’ve only had two World Title matches in those five years. Both of those matches ended with interference. And I’ve really been preaching about this “Kingdom Conspiracy” thing. But in my mind, I feel that it’s completely true. You just look at how many wins that I have under my belt, the accomplishments that I have in Ring of Honor alone, I’ve held every single title in that company. This Kingdom Conspiracy was finally going to come to a head in Lowell, where I would finally get my World Title shot that I deserved for so long, in front of my friends and family, in front of the hometown crowd, and I show up that day, and Dalton Castle can’t wrestle because of a back injury. And it just kind of takes the wind out of your sails. I’m Jonesed up, my 89-year-old grandfather is sitting front row, and then boom, that gets dropped on me. And it’s like, “What am I going to do now?” Sometimes you’ve got to make chicken salad out of chicken crap.
DP: So Dalton Castle gets injured. You can’t have that match. And you found out when?
MT: I literally found out when I got to the arena. I’m not sure when Ring of Honor really found out, but I’m walking in, pulling my bags in, thinking that I’m mentally prepared for a World Title match. And then I start to get dressed and wait to find out when I’m going to be on, and then someone tells me it’s not happening. Just like that, boom. And it’s not like you can say, “Well it has to happen.” Because injuries happen, I’ve been on the shelf with injuries before and I know what that’s like. To be honest, I fought through a lot of injuries and wrestled through them anyway. To me, it’s just more proof that there is a conspiracy against me in Ring of Honor. I’ve wrestled with broken ribs. I came back early from knee surgery to be in the six-man Tag tournament, and I honestly think I came back too early. But, ya know, Dalton pinches a nerve and they let him sit out this entire [War of the Worlds] tour.
DP: So it is a real injury he’s dealing with. This isn’t a storyline. This wasn’t planned that they were going to yank him from this title match at the last minute and then give you the six-man Tag Team titles. This was a real-life injury.
MT: Ya, this is a real injury. Because if it was just all part of the show, I probably wouldn’t have my 89-year-old grandfather — who’s not in the best health and not the most mobile guy — I wouldn’t have dragged him out of the house and made him stay up all night to come watch me. It’s one of those things where you kind of just have to roll with the punches. Wrestling is physical, and it takes so much out of you. You get used to almost being an injured person and walking around protecting these injuries that you have. But every once in a while they catch up with people, and unfortunately, it caught up with Dalton the day before my World Title match.
DP: Is the WWE your end game?
MT: I grew up as a six-year-old Ultimate Warrior, tying the shoelaces around my biceps, running around the house like a crazy guy and a WWE fanatic. So, I’d be lying to you to say that I don’t want to go to the WWE or anything like that because it was my dream as a kid. But as you get older, obviously those things shift and change. And now I’m looking at it as like, man, I could be part of the revolution. I could be part of the big change. Ring of Honor is on the up and it’s been on the up since I’ve been there. I’ve been kind of like a foundation piece to this company that has the snowball rolling downhill and picking up steam and could be a major competitor for WWE. And that’s a good option too.
Listen to the entire conversation at dannypicard.com. Also available on iTunes, Tunein, Google Play, iHeartRadio, and Spotify. Subscribe to his YouTube channel at youtube.com/dannypicard.
