Ring of Honor wrestler and leader of The Kingdom Matt Taven has an epic challenge in front of him at ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard on Saturday, April 6 at Madison Square Garden. He’ll be taking on World Champion Jay Lethal and Marty Scurll in a ladder match for the title.
Taven is confident in his ability and truly believes he is the champion to the point where he made his own title, which Jay Lethal destroyed with an axe. The two faced each other at the ROH 17th Anniversary show for the championship, which ended in a time limit draw. This is where Marty Scurll entered the picture, inserting himself into the main event.
Lethal and Taven’s match was a classic, but the leader of the Kingdom knows he can beat the Ring of Honor World Championship in the ladder match. “For what he did in the 60 minute match against me, he sometimes will go for go for it all and risk it all,” Taven told GameSpot. “You saw him try to drop that elbow while I was lying on the ladder, and I was able to get a get out of the way and let Jay Lethal crash and burn. And I think Jay Lethal might get caught up in the moment and try to go for something spectacular and set a goal for the win.”
As for Scurll’s involvement with the match, Taven isn’t worried, even though The Kingdom lost the Six-Man Tag Team Championship to Scurll and Villain Enterprises at a recent Ring of Honor show. “For Marty, he’s a little bit intimidated from the ladder,” Taven continued. “You know, I can’t remember a time when he was in this situation or had that kind of mean streak in his body. But I think that the fact that you’re going to put a foreign object in that ring and let every competitor be able to use it is going to be Marty’s detriment. I don’t think he can be prepared for what I’m going to do to him with a ladder my hands.”
Moving beyond Supercard, if Taven successfully beats his opponents, he plans on making some changes as a leader in the locker room. “First I replace that awful [Ring of Honor World Championship] belt and you know bring back some prestige to that title. I was walking around with the beautiful, glorious, spectacular title that Jay Lethal was just so jealous of that he had to bash it to pieces.
“[His original title] is with me. And what I do with it is my own business. But I was in no way going to try to duct tape it back together, make it look make-shift in any sort of way. That title was, you know, a prize for the to be admired. And when it gets redone, it’ll give it its glory, but also continue the tradition of being the most prestigious title in wrestling. The original one is done, and I have it, but that’s all I’m going to say about it. And you know, it lives in a very soft spot in my heart.”
When Taven discusses bringing prestige back, he wants to be a celebrated champion, as he’s accomplished more than most who have held the World Championship. “I’ve done nothing but put myself in the record book in ways that other people can’t top you know,” Taven explained. There’s not many people say that they are–there’s only one other person that can say they held titles in CMLL [Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre], New Japan, and Ring of Honor. I’ll be one of two to hold all the Ring of Honor title and when I held that TV Title, I held it for the longest reign of anyone in history, and that’s what I want to do with the world title.
“Now there’s some prestigious names on that list and you know that they want to say that Jay Lethal has the most days as World Champion. I think that’s crap because I’ve been the real World Champion for the last nine months and you can scrap that nine months right off his record. But, you know, to me Samoa Joe had the longest reign for Ring of Honor World Champion, and I would like to surpass that.”
You can see if Taven will defeat Lethal and Scurll at ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard on Saturday, April 6 from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The event airs live at 7:30 PM ET / 4:30 PM PT on pay-per-view and streaming free for all HonorClub members. HonorClub content can be streamed via the ROH and FITE apps and at ROHHonorClub.com.