The following was issued to us:
Ring of Honor Star PJ Black Dishes to VOC Nation’s In the Room Podcast
Ring of Honor star PJ Black, formerly known in WWE as Justin Gabriel, joined VOC Nation’s In the Room broadcast to talk about his decision to sign with ROH, being there for the genesis of NXT, and his relationship with the McMahon family. Here are some highlights:
On his relationship with WWE: “Right before I signed with ROH a year ago…I walked in (to the Staples Center at Survivor Series in LA) and I ran into Hunter and Vince and I actually talked with them for a little while. There were some talks of me coming back but obviously the ROH thing came along and I took that. Hunter is an awesome dude and Vince is a crazy genius too. Me and Hunter had some misunderstandings in the past, but I mean that’s just business. I feel like you bump heads with your friends and your family all the time so that’s just normal. It’s not that I had like full time heat or anything.”
On being part of the beginning of NXT, and whether more could have been done with the Nexus angle: “Maybe we could have pushed a little bit harder for things that we wanted to get done and wanted to happen; at the time we were still walking a little bit on eggshells and not really sure what we could get away with. Toward the end, we were pretty sure that we could get stuff done…It made it a little bit easier that a big group of us went up (to the main roster at the same time); it does feel good to be part of that history.”
On politics at ROH vs WWE: “If you want to get something done there are so many hoops that you have to jump through in a big company like WWE. They have all the agents and the writers and then it has to get cleared by Vince, so it takes a while…with ROH there is only 1 or 2 people and I can speak directly to them. All of my ideas are always appreciated and at least looked at. It’s a much easier process (than it is in WWE).”
On why he chose ROH over other offers: “Creative freedom was very high on my list. I have all these ideas for this new character that I’m going to do. In the middle of the year you’re going to see a completely different (character), and I’ve been working on that for a while. (ROH) likes the idea; it’s a little bit over the top, but they’re going to let me run with it and see what happens. That’s big…I’m not saying that in WWE you don’t get that, but a lot of times (ideas) will just get squashed.”
In the Room airs live on VOC Nation every Tuesday night at 9PM ET with Pro Wrestling Illustrated contributor Brady Hicks and crew, legendary guests, and listener calls.
Featuring guests from wrestling personalities such as Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Joey Styles, Matt Hardy, and Mick Foley, to entertainers like Lou Ferrigno, The Insane Clown Posse, Roberta Flack, and Kristy Swanson, VOC Nation has given listeners insightful programming for nearly over 10 years.
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