Bobby Fish recently spoke with our frineds at PW Mania for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling and combat sports.
During the discussion, the former WWE NXT and AEW performer spoke about the possibility of a return to Ring Of Honor, his current working relationship with Tony Khan and whether or not he sees himself in the boxing ring again.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts.
On if he plans to have another boxing match or retire undefeated: "Originally, it was supposed to be a two-fight deal. However, if Global Titans does not run another event, that obviously won’t happen. It seems to be up in the air. I’d say probably leaning closer to the direction of no, which sucks. Because, even that one fight, man, it was awesome. What an experience, I really would like to fight again, whether it be boxing or to be honest, I’d rather do some kickboxing again, I’d really like to or even MMA. The itch to compete is still there, I don’t know, maybe it’ll never go away. But yeah, I don’t think for Global Titans there’ll be another fight, but maybe somewhere else."
On if he prefers wrestling or boxing: "I would say, it’s a toss-up. It’s a tough one. If I had my druthers, I would really like to do some kickboxing at the highest level that I could aspire to, I would really like to do some kickboxing. I’m a huge MMA fan, so that would require maybe a little bit more work on my part, but not work that I’m opposed to. Let’s call things what they are. Pro wrestling is its own animal and competition, which is what I’ve done my whole life. I started martial arts as an eight-year-old and competed in athletics, my whole life, contact sports was kind of my lane. So that itch to compete is still there. I think sometimes that gets satisfied in a way with 20-some odd years in pro wrestling, there’s certainly been some competitive times. But there’s something simple about competing, whether it be boxing or a football game. There’s a single-minded purpose in that moment, and you know, that like, “I’m going out and I’m trying to hurt this person, or they’re trying to hurt me or beat me” or whatever that is. There’s something pure about it that I think I still crave."
On if he sees a possible return to ROH now that they have a weekly TV show again: "Ring of Honor is definitely a place that will always hold some space in my heart and the things that I love about the industry. That’s the place where Kyle and I got to grow as a team. I’d say that was probably the most important part of my maturing process when it came to being a professional wrestler was the time that Kyle and I started doing reDRagon and that I think really formed who I would become as a performer. And that’s where I found my lane. I think Kyle had a similar experience. Ring of Honor, being that place and New Japan, in a way as well. Ring of Honor would always be someplace that would interest me. I love the fresh coat of paint that it seems to have been given. I love to see a guys like Samoa Joe back there doing the things that he’s doing. Claudio Castagnoli, doing the things that he’s doing. I’ve been a huge fan of Samoa Joe since longer than Samoa Joe would even remember. He was one of the first independent wrestlers, we’ll call it that, non-WWF guys, that I became aware of that really captivated me. I was cutting my teeth as an independent and getting reps for Pro Wrestling Noah. But here, I saw this big Samoan dude way more athletic than he’s supposed to be. He had legitimate martial arts skill. I knew that I had legitimate martial arts skill. And I was trying to figure out how it was to fit into my pro wrestling and it’s a process. I would tell anybody that would be coming up trying to do something similar to that it doesn’t just happen, and you want to kind of get your basis of your pro wrestling, it’s up to you to add your flavor to it. And the flavor I knew all along was that I wanted it to be martial arts. But I didn’t know how to integrate that. Joe was one of the first guys that I saw, who was finding that balance of integrating martial arts into his pro wrestling."
On his current working relationship with Tony Khan and if they are on good terms: "I mean, as far as I know, unless he’s told something different. I’ve always had what I would like to consider a good relationship with Tony. Tony is in that company. He’s dare I say spread thin. Like, he’s only one man. He’s got a lot of people pulling at him from different directions. So I will say for myself in that company, I tried for the most part to do my job and kind of flew under the radar. I would request time if it was needed. But I tried not to be a pain in the ass about it. I would hear murmurs about this person or that person being a pain in the ass. I don’t know, sometimes I think the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Maybe that is prevalent in the industry many times, but I’m just not comfortable being that guy. I tried to try to get the time when I could and if it wasn’t there, it just wasn’t there."
Check out the complete Bobby Fish interview by visiting PWMania.com.
