Former Ring of Honor Champion Kyle O’Reilly recently spoke with Sports Illustrated and did their 5 Questions feature in the SI Extra Mustard column. Here are some interesting answers:
SI.com: You won the Ring of Honor world title on December 2 at Final Battle in an incredibly compelling main event with Adam Cole. Without any title defenses—or much fanfare—you dropped the title at Wrestle Kingdom 11 on January 4 back to Cole. What did you think of those two matches with Cole? Is the world title win any less special because of the quick run with the belt?
O’Reilly: Any time you are sharing the ring with Adam Cole, it is guaranteed to be something special. He’s such an incredible talent and the paths of our careers have been intertwined since arriving in Ring of Honor. Final Battle at the Hammerstein and Wrestle Kingdom at the Tokyo Dome were no different, as they were both special moments in my career with a professional rival and a personal friend.
When you look at the lineage of who’s been ROH World Champion over the last 15 years, you find some of pro wrestling’s most significant names. To have held that title even for one day was a huge moment for my career and for the sake of wrestling history, I can be proud looking back knowing that I was once ROH World Champion.
SI.com: Why is Kyle O’Reilly no longer working for Ring of Honor? And is there ever a chance that we will see you in WWE or NXT?
O’Reilly: As a professional, I am always looking for new experiences and challenges. Ring of Honor was a place where I grew and found myself as a performer. However, in order to develop myself further as an artist, it was time to move on. After seven years with the company, their platform was no longer conducive to my artistic growth and my creativity.
For me to fully experience this industry I would certainly hope there’s a chance for me at WWE. I am open to all opportunities should they come my way and a chance to prove myself as a world-class athlete. There are many talented performers within that company I would be excited to work with and many proficient minds I would be grateful to learn from should the opportunity ever arise.
With the recent news about Bobby Fish also going the route of free agency, O’Reilly’s answer to if he and Fish will work together again is also worth reading:
Bobby is an extremely close friend, mentor, and a tremendous tag-team partner. We’ve set such a high standard for ourselves and for the quality of reDRagon’s matches that we’ve always pushed each other to be better all-around pro wrestlers. I don’t think anyone has seen the last reDRagon match and there is always the chance we will pop up again somewhere. I can almost guarantee it…
O’Reilly also commented on the NJPW strong style and what hsi goals were for 2017. Both of which were fun to read but not particularly poignant. You can read the full article HERE
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