Caprice Coleman On In-Ring Return: I'll Remind Everyone I Can Still Go

Caprice Coleman wants to remind everyone that he can still go, and his match with Beer City Bruiser this weekend on ROH Wrestling is the perfect opportunity to do so.

Though Caprice Coleman remains active on the independent scene, the 25-year veteran rarely competes in ROH these days. Instead, in recent years, he has been part of the commentary team alongside Ian Riccaboni. Coleman has been happy to sit on the sidelines and call the action, but after several weeks of harassment from Bruiser, Coleman has had enough. As a result, he’s set for his first singles match in ROH since Gateway To Honor 2020.

In an interview with WrestleZone, Caprice Coleman previewed this bout by comparing his role on commentary to a king’s seat on the throne. He described how directly scouting the ROH roster has given him an advantage, both against Bruiser and anyone else who tries to test him.

“I kinda look at it as Beer City Bruiser is facing me,” said Coleman. “Because when I look at myself at Ring of Honor, everybody sees me as a commentator, and that’s fine. But if you look at the indie circuit, I’m very active. And he may see me as a commentator, but I see myself as a king sitting on the throne, literally paid to scout my competition. And I’ve been doing it for four years, so I have the up and ups, the ins and out on every competitor in Ring of Honor, the roster in and out. If I was to face them, I know their strengths and I know their weaknesses.”

Caprice Coleman also focused on the personal nature of this match; he’s been friends with Bruiser for a long time, and he’s the one who encouraged the big man to be more aggressive. But several months later, Coleman has learned the classic lesson, “Be careful what you wish for.” Bruiser took Coleman’s advice and ran with it, as he subsequently became a despicable heel who turned his back on his friends. For this reason, Coleman is compelled to teach the powerhouse an important lesson and show him that he made a mistake in throwing their friendship away.

“I think this will be a good chance and an opportunity for me to prove that I asked for Bruiser and his partner to be what they are, to be more aggressive, to be more fierce, to take the teddy bears aside and Brian Milonas to be more fierce, to be the people they could be,” said Coleman. “And [they] took that and they ran a whole ‘nother way with it, and forgot the person that gave them the advice in the first place to become that, and kinda turned their backs on us. And so this is my chance to prove that I’m no one to turn their back on, and I’ve been a friend with them for a long time, and I’m the wrong person to turn against.”

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While this weekend offers Coleman a chance to step back into the spotlight, he made it clear that he’s grateful that his work as a commentator has set him up for success once his in-ring days are done. He stated that he deeply enjoys his role as a broadcaster, but when he was faced with an opportunity to lace up his boots, he happily capitalized.

“I feel like I’m in a blessed situation, you know,” said Coleman. “I was given the opportunity to do commentary because I was very interested in it at one time, and they felt I was good at it. People moved around, and I was able to land the position there and I excelled at the position. I was grateful for the position and I was happy to be where I was. I love wrestling, but I was able to wrestle elsewhere if I wanted to. But I really loved commentary and I still love it now….And for me to have an opportunity to do something that I can do in telling the story of pro wrestling and doing it with passion and doing it with love and doing it from experience, and letting somebody else be able to feed their family, while I’m able to eat as well, I think it’s a great hand off.

“I know logistically, I can’t do this forever, but I still have a long ways to go. And so I chose to choose this and do it well. I try to do my best at it and I don’t take it for granted, I don’t think that I’m the only one that should be doing it and I’m this. I’m just blessed to have the opportunity to do so. And I took it. You know, a lot of people don’t get a transition out of pro wrestling. They go from the ring and they’re done. And so to have this transition in place to where I’m able to tell the story about professional wrestling, I took it, man, and I ran with it. And so when [Bruiser] continued to egg me on and ask me and egg me on and get at me, and do this, I had to remind him like, I’m doing this by choice….And so I’m showing Bruiser he picked the wrong one this time.”

When asked, Caprice Coleman didn’t name anyone he’d want to teach a lesson to, beyond this match with Bruiser. Instead, he discussed his mindset surrounding potential bouts with any number of ROH wrestlers; because he’s had the chance to scout them from the commentary table, he has the benefit of knowing how he’d approach these matches ahead of time. Though he stated that it’s time for the new generation to have their turn, he also teased that he’d be mor than willing to get physical if anyone follows Bruiser’s method of aggravating him into stepping away from the commentary desk.

“I look at Ring of Honor, and we have a great roster,” said Coleman. “And a lot of these guys, man, they’re doing their best at what they do. I’m not one that looks at people, ‘Oh I could beat that guy, I could beat that guy, and I could beat this guy.’ I look at them like, ‘Man, this guy’s phenomenal. If I had to wrestle them, I would approach it this way’, you know?

“I don’t look at people and say, ‘I should beat this guy and I could beat that guy, and I should be here and I should be there.’ I think everybody is where they are for a reason, and I applaud that. You know I’ve had my opportunity for years, and I let them have their turn. But any time any one of them wants to pull me from behind the desk, I’m more than happy to show them what I’m more than capable of still doing.”