Leon St. Giovanni (aka LSG) recently spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard ahead of his return to Ring Of Honor TV this week. The “Ace Of Space” takes on Jay Lethal in a Pure Rules match, his first match in the company since February.
“Right. It’s good to be home. It’s good to be back home. You know, I spent the last five years with Ring of Honor and I was just dying to get back. I didn’t know what the future was gonna hold for me there because I stopped doing the tag team [with Shaheem Ali as Coast 2 Coast] thing back in December and then it had a few matches with them before the pandemic really took over the world and I wasn’t sure what was gonna happen. So when I got the call for the bubble, I was pretty pumped because I had already been doing wrestling events since July. I’ve been pretty active during the quarantine actually, so I felt like I was very prepared and I was just excited, especially because now it’s gonna be like a new chapter, a fresh start for me.”
LSG says he’s not shutting the door completely on tag team wrestling, but right now he says his focus is to break out on his own. LSG has worked for WrestlePro and Synergy Pro Wrestling since events started running again, and he’s also been in some unique situations like WrestlePro’s Dream Sixteen tournament as well as a dog collar match against Shawn Donavan in September. When asked how he’s approaching a Pure Rules match when it’s such a dramatic difference compared to his more recent work, LSG says
“It was a very stark contrast. In September I had that dog collar match in Alaska and it’s a completely different mindset where we’re beating the hell out of each other and punching each other in the face and using a chain to our advantage. Then you fast forward a month and I’m in the bubble and you can’t throw a closed fist—if you throw two you’re disqualified—so it’s a mind game, it’s very strategic and I pride myself on being a really good technical wrestler.”
“I think this is an opportunity for Ring Of Honor fans to see a different side of me because in the past, they’ve only seen one side of me, the guy that can fly around and jump out of the ring and do flips and things like that. I want to show them what I’ve been capable of this whole time. I think now that the spotlight’s just on me as a singles competitor, they’re gonna be get to see a different side and the Pure Rules division is like a perfect place for me to show that off.”
One thing you can say about the Pure Rules style is not only was the tournament a diverse set of rosters, but the division itself forces athletes into conforming to that style working within those confines. When speaking with WrestleZone earlier this year, PJ Black and Matt Sydal shared similar thoughts in that Pure Rules allows them to prove they’re capable of working any style and not just the one they’ve been stereotyped into. LSG says he feels like he’s going to excel here and enjoys surprising people with different sides of his skill set.
“When they announced the tournament, I felt like there was hope for me to do it one day. I thought if they’re looking outside of the box, the typical guys you look at are [Jonathan] Gresham, Jay Lethal, ‘Hot Sauce’ Tracy Williams. It was just cool to just shock or surprise people. I think people are really going to enjoy the match with Lethal and I really enjoy getting those reactions from people because like I said, I’ve spent the last four or five years wrestling a certain style and they’re gonna see a different side of me, a more mature side, smarter side and more aggressive side.”
Leon St. Giovanni’s match with Jay Lethal airs tonight on FITE.
Related: Ring Of Honor Returns To PPV Next Month With Final Battle
Our interviews with ROH Pure competitors Matt Sydal, Kenny King, Josh Woods, Tracy Williams and PJ Black can be viewed below:
Read More: Return To Excellence – The History And Future Of The Ring Of Honor Pure Championship
