This UK wrestler battles Bully Ray at Ring of Honor’s biggest battle: Final Battle
Ring of Honor’s biggest pay-per-view of the year “Final Battle” is Friday live from ROH’s Baltimore home the UMBC Event Center.
Mark Haskins vs. Bully Ray in a street fight.
Born in Faringdon, Oxfordshire, England, the 32-year-old Haskins debuted in 2006 for FWA Academy, based in London. He has worked for Dragon Gate, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Progress, Smash, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and Defiant, before joining Ring of Honor in 2018.
In an email interview with Haskins, he answered a few questions.
JV: What does it mean to you to be a part of Ring of Honor’s biggest event of the year Final Battle?
MH: It’s awesome. I used to watch ROH when I was an aspiring pro wrestler and here I am, years later, now wrestling for one of the top wrestling companies in the world on one of their biggest pay-per-views of the year in a showcase match. It’s my first PPV singles match, it’s great, and I’m super excited for it.
JV: What will it be like in this event against an accomplished opponent like Bully Ray?
MH: Well, Bully’s only wrestled for every major wrestling company that there’s been over the past 20 years or so, and been successful in each of them, so I guess I’ve got my work cut out for me. That being said, I came to ROH to make a name for myself and a boatload of cash, and going in there with someone like a Bully Ray gives me the opportunity to prove that I’m on that level. I’m also really looking forward to kicking the crap out of him. It’ll be fun.
JV: When you’re backstage getting ready for a match, how do you mentally prepare for battle? Music, quiet time, talking to others, exercising, eating, calling/texting family, etc.
MH: Headphones go in; tunes go on. I do a lot of mobility work, dynamic stretching, activation drills and band resistance work. A lot of the time we’ve spent hours traveling, so I like to get moving as much as possible.
JV: What is the state of pro wrestling in the UK and how has it evolved, become bigger with more opportunities abroad?
MH: It’s changed so much since I started out. Guys can make full-time incomes. There’s a huge following of superdedicated fans that travel to shows to support local talent. It wasn’t like that 10-15 years ago, but a lot of hard work has paid off, be it from promoters, wrestlers, helpers at shows, etc. It’s an awesome experience wrestling in front of 5,000 fans at Wembley SSE arena, or 10,000 fans at the Scottish Hydro. I’m excited to see where it goes over the next 10 years.
More ROH Final Battle
The main event is Ring of Honor World Champion RUSH defending his title against PCO.
Click: RUSHvsPCO
The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) defend their ROH tag team titles vs. Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham.
ROH TV Champ Shane Taylor vs. Dragon Lee.
ROH Tag Team Champs The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) vs. Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham.
Matt Taven vs. Vincent.
Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll and Flip Gordon) vs. Bandido and Flamita.
Angelina Love vs. Maria Manic.
Rhett Titus vs. Kenny King.
Dalton Castle and Joe Hendry vs. Silas Young and Josh Woods,
Door open at 6:30 p.m. for seating, merchandise and meet-and-greets.
Pre-show at 7:30 p.m. Main show at 8 p.m.
To see the card, attend, order the PPV and/or other info, click: InformationOnRingOfHonorFinalBattle
Two days later, Sunday, Dec. 15, ROH will have an international TV taping at the 2300 Arena (aka ECW Arena) in Philadelphia.
Click: InformationOnROHTVTapingsPhilly
Giving back
Ring of Honor stars Dak Draper, Mandy Leon, Amy Rose and Quinn McKay visited the Boys and Girls Club of Metropolitan Baltimore—Brooklyn O’Malley Club on Wednesday, Dec. 4.
Ring of Honor will be hosting 15 kids from that Boys and Girls Club at “Final Battle, which occurs Friday live from the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore.
In November, Ring of Honor World Television Champion Shane Taylor, plus Matt Taven, Mandy Leon, Bandido, Brian Johnson, Jay Lethal and Dalton Castle visited kids at Children’s Hospital of San Antonio.
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