The active duty member of the National Guard is living out his dream.
Current Ring Of Honor standout, Flip Gordon, is looking to stake his claim to being one the best professional wrestlers in the world. Recently, Flip had the opportunity to wrestle in Japan on NJPW's 'Honor Rising' shows. That had been something on the bucket list of Flip Gordon's for many years, and he finally got to check it off. While sitting in the airport waiting to catch his flight to Japan, Chuck Carroll of CBS Houston spoke with the master of the springboard corkscrew stunner, to grab his thoughts on a number of topics.
On April 8th of 2017, Flip Gordon had his first match in ROH against Matt Sydal. After the match and Flip's amazing performance, the crowd erupted in "Please sign Flip" chants. Those chants remained with with the up and coming talent and he will never forget the fans who played a role in making him the star that he is today.
"Yeah, it was surreal, because obviously it was my first match at the Ring of Honor. I?m going against a guy with so many accolades, he?s done so much and he?s done so much for guys like me on the smaller side. To be in there with somebody like Matt Sydal as my very first match... It was really cool to hear ?Please sign Flip,? because that was huge, because that was a goal of mine; to get signed under two years. For the fan-base, their first time seeing me in a Ring of Honor ring, to chant ?Please come back? was a huge deal for me."
After only one full year on the "mainstream wrestling scene", "Air Flip" has made quite the name for himself and with his recent trip to Japan, that was yet another platform that he has showcased his elite athleticism on.
"It?s been super surreal. I was just thinking last night as I was packing for Japan. I was like, ?Man, I?m heading to Japan.? I?ve been lucky enough to perform in six different countries already. I?m literally living my dream that I dreamed about since I was a little kid. I?m not there yet, I?m not finished. I?m still just scraping at the bottom. What I?ve done already is nothing compared to what I can do and what I will do. I want to learn as much as I can from as many people as I can. Whether that?s people in New Japan, CMLL or Ring of Honor. Those three companies are the top companies in the world right now right behind WWE. They?re giving them a run for their money." Flip added, "New Japan is making highlights globally. Ring of Honor is growing month after month. NXT is running the same towns as us because they see us as the competition. That means we?re doing something right."
As most wrestlers who started their love of pro-wrestling at a young age, their ultimate goal was to make it to the WWE one day and that was no different for Flip Gordon. He would speak on his mindset while in the beginning stages of his wrestling career, and what led him to that world outside of the WWE "machine".
"When I started training, my goal, my mindset was, ?I?m going to train as hard as I can, get a WWE tryout and go there.? But along the way, I fell in love with professional wrestling so much, that I want to grow so much as a performer that I don?t want to go there, at least not right now. I don?t know what the future holds, but I?m having so much fun and I?m learning so much, so why would I leave?"
Flip Gordon would also go into detail about being enlisted in the army while being a pro-wrestler and the difficulties that come with that. He would state that although he has not renewed his contract with Ring Of Honor, he does not plan on going anywhere. To read more about Flip Gordon, click here.