Jay Lethal & Jim Ross Talk WWE Borrowing Bullet Club Gimmick, Roderick Strong Leaving ROH & More; Would Lethal Ever Go to WWE?

Ring of Honor World Champion Jay Lethal was the most recent guest on the Ross Report with WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross. The two discussed everything from Lethal beginning his wrestling training at 16-years-old, his place as “the man” within Ring of Honor, the partnership between ROH and New Japan, Adam Cole, the Bullet Club, the Young Bucks and a whole lot more. 

Check out the entire episode of Lethal’s interview on the Ross Report at PodcastOne.com. 

Lethal also had high praise for Roderick Strong, who recently left Ring of Honor after a long career with the promotion: 

“[Roderick Strong] to be honest, the best way I can describe him is one of the most finely tuned athletes that I’ve ever been in the ring with. It’s almost like he’s unreal; he’s a machine. That guy can go.” …. “We’re sad to lose him, but of course we’re happy to see him go on to bigger heights and new adventures.” 

On his recent summer tour of the UK and getting to be a real WORLD champion through Ring of Honor:  

“I love it in the UK. I believe that given the chance, I could definitely live there.” … “The fans were great. They all treated me like royalty, for lack of a better word. I can’t wait to go back. I was just in the UK a few weeks ago. There was a new promotion that started, and I got to wrestle Noam Dar, who is in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic that’s being filmed right now. They’ve got a lot of great talents in the UK, and I can’t wait to go back.” … “The coolest thing about that is for most of those dates, not only do I have the Ring of Honor world title with me, but some of those are real, sanctioned Ring of Honor world title matches.” 

On Adam Cole, who is faces at the upcoming 8/19 ROH Death Before Dishonor PPV: 

“Our styles really mesh well together. This is going to be one hell of a pay-per-view, because I’m coming for revenge. Adam Cole had the Bullet Club beat me down and shave my head. Now this babyface is out for revenge.” 

Lethal and Jim Ross on the Bullet Club and WWE stealing the idea with Styles, Gallows and Anderson: 

Lethal: “It’s the cool thing right now – it’s the new nWo. When NWO started it was the new cool thing, you could add or subtract a member as you please, and nobody would really shake a leg at it because it was so cool and popular at the time. I think each promotion out there right now, all the top ones anyway, have some form of Bullet Club or The Club in them. Ring of Honor, New Japan, WWE…” 

JR: “As a former booker and a creative guy, I have no shame. If  you’re doing something on your show that works, I may want to lift it and borrow it, and make it work for me too. That’s wrestling.” 

On being “the man” in Ring of Honor and if he has to step up his game to hold onto that spot: 

“There’s a reason that I’ve made it to this particular spot that I’m in on the card and in the company. I must be doing something right. When I can sit and watch the whole show go by, and they’re doing everything under the sun, because everybody wants to have ‘the match’, and everybody is stepping up their game – I’d like to thing that at the end of the day there isn’t too much I have to change, because I’m in that spot for a reason. To me it’s all about staying comfortable, and staying calm, and relaxing and trusting in my ability. But I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t hard to do. As the main event guy, you don’t want to go out there and have a stinker…” 

“It can get to you – that pressure can get to you. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it in other promotions that I’ve worked for. I’ve seen one guy from the main event yell at some guy that wasn’t in the main event for doing so much, because now it makes their job harder. But if I gotta complain to you about making my job harder, than I don’t think I know how to do my job.” 

Would Lethal Go to WWE?: 

“Most of the wrestlers from my generation, our love for professional wrestling started from watching the WWF. So me personally, it would be very cool, even if it was just for a minute, to get to work for the company that started my love for professional wrestling. Yes, I would definitely work for them, given the right time, given the right circumstance.”