Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest: Caprice Coleman
Date: 11/12/2021
Your Host: James Walsh

This weekend, ROH presents Honor for All on Honor Club as well as their weekly TV. This is the biggest weekend before next month’s Final Battle pay per view. Joining us to talk about his calling of the action as well as his match with Beer City Bruiser is ROH’s Caprice Coleman. Coleman, a veteran of over 20 years, discusses everything you want to know about the status of ROH and explains why it is important fans tune in to this weekend’s events and, especially, Final Battle on December 11th.

ROH Honor for All as well as Final Battle can be ordered on ROH’s official streaming service Honor Club. Visit www.ROHWrestling.com for more details.

Check out www.WrestlingEpicenter.com for more great interviews like this!

CAPRICE COLEMAN:

On the ROH hiatus announcement:
“We don’t know what’s next. But, we know something else is coming… Another version of Ring of Honor and so we just have to see what happens. Ring of Honor took care of us during the pandemic. So, my loyalty is with them. I don’t have any hard feelings. If you look back, they’ve always kept us in mind first looking at us as people and not numbers. So, I really hope what happens and something great comes out of it and Ring of Honor coming back stronger than ever before.”

On the emotions of the uncertainty:
“Most of it has to do with the timing. You know? You’re getting laid off around the Holidays… Your last check is coming right before Christmas. But, the emotions have also been emotions of encouragement. We are encouraging each other. “It’s all right, this is only for a season!” Some people are pulling out like it is already over. They’re writing us off. I’m saying, don’t write us off! Some people just look for bad news. They’re just harping on what they think is going to happen and they say it is so. I’m here to say it is not so. I think something great is going to happen.”

On looking ahead to Final Battle:
“I think most of us are looking at going through this phase and ending it with a bang that way the last memory people have is of everyone going for the gusto. The people here believe in Ring of Honor! I believe we have the best roster that we have ever had. And, if you look at professional wrestling right now, everybody that is somebody came through Ring of Honor. he Young Bucks, Cody, Christopher Daniels… The main roster of AEW is like 33% of ours! (laughs) That is because Ring of Honor has a way of turning out the talent. These people didn’t go from Ring of Honor to a training center. They went from Ring of Honor straight to TV. We are the foundation of wrestling.”

On seeing talent outside of ROH start to talk about who they want their promotion to hire:
“They aren’t doing anything wrong. Ring of Honor is taking a season off but people’s families aren’t taking a season off. (laughs) These athletes still have bills to pay. So, you might see athletes turn up other places. But, that does not mean Ring of Honor will not return or even that the athlete will not return to Ring of Honor. You never know what you’re going to see. But, I’m not discouraged by an athlete trying to find a way to feed his family.”

On returning to the ring to face Beer City Bruiser:
“Nobody really retires from pro wrestling. I was offered a position with Ring of Honor when Colt Cabana left, as a color commentator. I love it. I fell in love with commentating. For me, I want to learn all aspects of professional wrestling. So, I’ve been allowed to work in production, I’ve been allowed to work in creative, I’ve been allowed to work in talent development… Commentary, talk show host, hosting. A little bit of everything! But, I never stopped wrestling. The only time I stopped performing was when I was under an exclusive contract with Ring of Honor and I took the job as a color commentator. So, when I signed to be exclusive to Ring of Honor and they put me to commentary, I was still under exclusive so I couldn’t wrestle anywhere else. So, I had to ask, “If you’re going to put me back in the ring every once in a while, can I do some indy shows and get the dust off?” They were like, “Yeah!” So, I’ve been back at it. I’m still undefeated in North Carolina since my return. And, it has been a great time. I don’t think Bruiser knows what he’s getting his hands into. He’s not facing the Caprice Coleman who has been sitting behind a desk for 4 years. He’s facing the Ageless One!”

On if there was any shock taking that first bump after not wrestling for a while:
“No and I’ll tell you why. I also am one of the trainers at the Highspots Wrestling School. George South is the lead trainer and I’m the intermediate trainer. James Drake is the third trainer. So, I’ve been working with the future of wrestling and I knew I was in great shape to do this. So, when I was performing back in front of a crowd, the only difference was the interaction with the crowd.”

On if it is difficult calling matches with no live crowd:
“I’m not going to say it was easy. But, I think it made people listen to Ian Riccaboni and I. The people at home were forced to listen to us because we were the only thing that could be heard. So, we were there to make it exciting because we got excited. We were able to bring it down when we were supposed to bring it down. So, we were able to control and exude those emotions to the people as if there was a crowd there. I believe with us being able to do that, the Pure Division was a great success. It wasn’t hard. And, you could certainly hear us better. But, you do miss the live crowd because a lot of the excitement comes from the live crowd. So, you were having to control the excitement. But, it wasn’t hard to do because the excitement was coming from the ones in the ring. In a way, we had front row seats for every match and we were the fans and we got to respond ti it the way that we would if we were in the crowd. But, we were the crowd!”

On Corey Graves recently saying that theere could never be a true heel announcer like Bobby Heenan because of cancel culture:
“He didn’t say anything wrong as far as Bobby Heenan goes. If you look at it, Jim Cornette was telling a lot of the same jokes he has told for decades. That is just the way Jim is. He would come in with jokes that were timely, they were witty, they were sharp, and they were quick. That is just the way Jim is. The only difference is, he didn’t change but the world changed. He told a joke one time that upset people. He told the exact same joke in the 80’s. People laughed it off (back then) but now you’re facing, you’re in a world where you have more access to stars than ever before. And, they can turn a star on and off. And so now, in actuality, the social world now is ran by the socially unaccepted world. I don’t want to get myself in trouble. But, a lot of people who have a lot to say now have a lot to say because they don’t have a lot else to do. In their eyes, sometimes it is like they are taking up for people who can’t take up for themselves sort of like standing up for someone against a bully. But, sometimes people get in trouble for something when they don’t mean any harm.”

On ROH Honor for All:
“On Honor Club, this weekend, we have Honor for All. It is kind of like a pay per view before the pay per view, before Final Battle!”

On Final Battle 2021:
“I would say that everyone should go out of their way to be there or to watch it. This Final Battle is going to be the most historic Final Battle ever!”