Former Ring of Honor wrestler Moses had quite the journey to becoming a professional wrestler.
Moses of Shane Taylor Promotions recently sat down with The Shining Wizards Wrestling Podcast to discuss a wide variety of subjects. During the interview, Moses spoke about how he went from being a school teacher to becoming a professional wrestler.
“So coming out of college – they sell you that pipe dream like you gotta get your degree, you’re going to come out and make a lot of money. Lies,” Moses said. “I was sitting at home, fresh out of college doing nothing. Playing video games. I would apply to a job once a day, playing video games, I’ll figure it out eventually. But I actually kept a really good relationship with my high school football coach. He asked me if I wanted to come coach JV (Junior Varsity) Football. I’m like, sure. Getting back to the community, coaching football at high school, and one day he was like, ‘you got a job yet?’ I was like, ‘nah, man, I’m just chillin.’ He was like, ‘do you want one?’ I was like, ‘yeah. Come on!’ He set up an interview for me with an administrator and I did well, and by the end of the interview she said the job is yours.
“I came on as a long term substitute, meaning you’re tied to that school. It could be in various roles or a single role, and mine was a single role teaching science. I taught biology, environmental science, and chemistry. I did that for about a year and a half, and then it started like, you got to do something. Are you going to fully pursue teaching? What are you going to do with this wrestling thing? Because I had been teetering, looking into it, but I hadn’t really committed. This long term sub thing is not gonna cut it, because $120 a day with no health insurance, no benefits, isn’t going to help you with wrestling. So, I left and I talked to some of my frat brothers, and they got me a job at the Navy Yard down in DC. Decent starting salary with benefits. That was the biggest thing for me. I needed health insurance. I was foreseeing the future with wrestling. You’re bound to get hurt, so you’re going to need coverage. So I started working there. Left there, went to another job, and literally a week after I started that second job, I started training with MCW.”
Last year, Ring of Honor decided that they were going on hiatus following Final Battle in December. Moses spoke in-depth about how he felt when he was told that it was going to happen.
“I can go back to the day they told us, the day of the Zoom call,” Moses began. “You could just see everybody’s face like, ‘is this for real?’ One, this is how you do it? And two, ok you’re nearly about to change lives. It’s not just the wrestlers who are affected; you’re talking about production crew. That’s a lot of people that’s told that their jobs will be over and that you’re not renewing any contracts. It was kind of sad… when you work so hard for something and you get there, and for something that’s outside your control, and something you didn’t do, and the reason why you no longer have that job, that’s kind of hard. However, as a 1099 contractor, you can be fired for less than that. They could be like, ‘hey, we want to bring someone else in and we need to get rid of somebody, so we’re going to let you go today.’ That’s just the nature of the business. I like to look at wrestling like Hollywood. You keep going to auditions and casting calls and hear no no no no no, but then you finally get a yes. Alright, cool. Let’s go with this. Those last days, I was glad we got it over with, because I hated that feeling that was there.”
Shane Taylor Promotions made a significant impact during their time in Ring of Honor, Moses said he didn’t expect the group to blow up on social media the way that it did.
“I didn’t think it would blow up on social media the way it did,” Moses said. “Just because, that’s been STP’s pose ever since Kaun and I joined STP. That was kind of our pose. We’ve just been doing what we always did. It’s just that other African American talent on the roster was here with us. But afterwards, it’s like, ‘this is cool. This is significant. I was a part of history.’ I love that. But, in the moment, I didn’t think anything of it. I just went out there and did what everybody else was doing.”
What do you make of Moses’ comments? Are you surprised that Shane Taylor Promotions hasn’t been picked up by a national wrestling promotion so far in 2022? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
