Matt Taven hopes to one day team up with his former ROH Tag Team Champion partner Mike Bennett.
Taven and Bennett, Mike Kanellis in WWE, once held the ROH tag titles as part of The Kingdom stable, but it's been five years since the two of them shared the ring together. During a conversation with Andrew Thompson of Post Wrestling, Taven said he and Bennett had been in contact and the idea of them teaming up once again has been brought up on a regular basis.
“It’s one of those things I feel like has been talked about every month since five years ago, and mostly talked about via text message between me and Mike. Contracts come up and things get talked about and you’re like, ‘Oh, we could do this, we could do that’ and it’s always in the back of our minds of getting the band back together and I think there’s so much more that goes into it. Not just as a team but Mike was one of the first guys in wrestling in general, in my wrestling life that I kinda really latched onto and became friends with. Me and Mike are the same age but I started wrestling when I was 23 and Mike started wrestling when he was 15, so he had an eight-year advantage on me and so I kind of always looked up to him and needed him for advice and to show me the way. At the same time, we’re peas in a pod because we’re the same age so, I have this weird friendship but to another level because he was definitely my big brother growing up in the wrestling world for the first couple of years so, whenever anyone says, ‘Would you wanna get back together with Mike Bennett?’ It’s like of course I’d wanna hang out with my best friend all the time and go around the world so, it’s one of those things where… the stars need to align obviously, but we’re hoping one day they do. Unfortunately, the pandemic has not helped any of these things but, with the amount of protocols that you have to go through at Ring of Honor, it’s kinda a tough time to [be] bringing talent back in and it’s so many," Taven said.
Taven said the possibility of teaming up with Bennett once again is always there, but there are a few hurdles before that becomes a reality. In the end, Taven wants the timing to be right for a reunion.
"Of course [it could conflict with Mike Bennett’s other dates] and obviously me and Bennett could do something internationally because I’m under an exclusive contract here in the States but, you can’t go anywhere internationally in the middle of a pandemic. To me, it will always be something I think both of us think about and I think we’re always kinda waiting on the time to be right. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like it will happen immediately like I would like it to but hopefully one day, we can make sure that our last match together isn’t the one where I blow out my ACL," Taven said.
The full interview can be seen in the video at the top of the page as well as the written article at this link.
