ROH's Best in the World features Dalton Castle, Cody, Marty Scurll, Tenille Dashwood
Who else tells how fantastic he is, mentions that of a wildebeest and notes how he's sitting on his couch covered in cats?
Listening to him is entertaining in itself but to see him in full wrestling regalia, Ring of Honor champ Dalton Castle is one unusual cat. Flamboyant is an understatement. He is Gorgeous George and Exotic Adrian Street turned up a notch or two, and like those mentioned, he can also wrestle with the amateur background credentials to prove it.
Castle -- a former Greco-Roman wrestling standout from Rochester, N.Y., who represented Team USA -- was an integral part of a Ring of Honor media conference call on Tuesday to discuss his title defense at the upcoming ROH Best in The World pay-per-view, his injuries and more.
"This is a test to see if I have the fortitude and the attitude that I say I have deep inside me," the 32-year-old Castle said. "I've been saying I'm a world champion. I've been saying I'm the best in the world, and then the championship is kind of physical proof to that. There's no reason to keep any secrets. I am right now in no way 100-percent. I've been dealing with injuries [hand, back]. I've been missing tours. I've been missing training days in the gym. I'm in a lot of pain, but I am in no way less of a champion.
"So the test to go out there and to perform the best that I can and still walk out of there Ring of Honor champion. I feel like that's the statement that I'm gonna make. No matter what obstacles get put in my way, no matter what physical condition I'm in, I still will find a way to win."
With Castle and The Boys leading the way, ROH returns home to Charm City for the first time in more than a year to present the Best In The World PPV on Friday, June 29 at the brand new UMBC Event Center in Baltimore.
"I'm excited for Ring of Honor to be returning to Baltimore," Castle said. "It's been a while since we've been there. It is our home, and this is going to be our biggest show we've put on in the Baltimore area; so, number one, I'm excited for that."
Castle will defend his title in the main event in a three-way with The Villain Marty Scurll and American Nightmare Cody.
"Even more excited to be the headlining match and defending my world championship, not against one but two members of Bullet Club," Castle said. "You said they're extreme talents, great talents in the ring with me. I agree. I've got two very popular wrestlers, Cody and Marty, getting in the ring with me. They are entertaining in their own right and also very, very similar in that they are going for the same goal, which is my world championship.
"So am I excited to be in there with them? You're darn right I am."
Best in the World is a fitting name for this event considering the line-up of talent. That grouping includes an eight-woman tag match, featuring wrestlers from Ring of Honor's Women of Honor and Japan's Stardom.
Kelly Klein, Hazuki, Kagetsu, and Hana Kimura against Sumie Sakai, Jenny Rose, Mayu Iwatani, and Tenille Dashwood (WWE and NXT alum Emma), who also participated in the conference call.
"What I am to do is bring some of what I've already done to Ring of Honor and Women of Honor," said Dashwood, 29, from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. "Ring of Honor is putting a lot behind the women this year. So it's really good timing and exciting for me to be a part of it, and I want to continue to grow that and the awareness of the skill that the women have there. Push those boundaries and maybe do some things like intergender matches and women main eventing shows."
A graduate of the Storm Wrestling Academy, headed by ECW and WCW alum Lance Storm in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Dashwood began training to be a wrestler in her native land as a teenager, before traveling overseas.
"I actually started training with Lance Storm, when I was 19-years-old," she said. "A friend of mine back in Australia had previously done his class and recommended him to me. From there, things kind of took off. So, I would say it's probably one of the best decisions I've made in my career, as far as training with Lance, and I still to this day am very good friends with him, and he's still there to help to answer questions to give advice and just to hang out with as a friend.
"That was one of the most valuable things I could have done in my career, and I still recommend people go train with him, when they ask how to make it to that next step. That's exactly what I had to do is make that sacrifice and realized I had to leave Australia to make it to this level that I wanted to get to, and to do that I needed professional training by one of the best, and that is Lance Storm."
ROH Best in The World
Ring of Honor's Best In The World pay-per-view is 9 p.m. ET Friday, June 29 live from the new UMBC Event Center at the University of Maryland in Baltimore.
ROH World Championship Match: DALTON CASTLE (champ) vs. CODY vs. MARTY SCURLL.
ROH World Tag Team Championship Match: THE BRISCOES (champs Jay and Mark Briscoe) vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS (Matt and Nick Jackson).
ROH World Six-Man Championship Match: THE KINGDOM (champs) vs. LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON.
ROH World Television Championship Match: PUNISHMENT MARTINEZ (champ) vs. ADAM PAGE in a Baltimore Street Fight.
BULLY RAY vs. FLIP GORDON.
Women of Honor: SUMIE SAKAI, JENNY ROSE, MAYU IWATANI, and TENILLE DASHWOOD vs. KELLY KLEIN, HAZUKI, KAGETSU, and HANA KIMURA.
JAY LETHAL vs. KUSHIDA.
KENNY KING vs. AUSTIN ARIES.
Meet-n-Greets: 7 p.m.
Pre-Show Match: 8:45 p.m.
The show is available via pay-per-view cable and satellite providers, HonorClub VIP, HonorClub, FITE TV and PlayStation Network.
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This story was originally published June 28, 2018 at 6:05 PM.