Dalton Castle Reveals He Almost Quit ROH In 2021

A former ROH World Champion, one of the most popular stars in Ring of Honor history, and master of The Boys, Dalton Castle’s place in ROH is assured - back injury be damned - but Castle himself came close to quitting the legendary indie promotion in 2021.

ROH was one of many wrestling companies battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and went into self-imposed hiatus at the end of 2021 heading into 2022, and as revealed on AEW Unrestricted, Castle nearly packed his bags and walked away long before the hiatus was announced:

"It was a wild night, emotionally. Right before that, I don't know how many people know the real story of Ring of Honor, we closed the doors like three months before Tony [Khan] bought it. Nine to ten months before that, I had gone through this weird crossroads where I was going to leave Ring of Honor. A last second decision, I just realised just how incredibly lucky I was to be part of ROH and how happy I was there and how I figured out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I decided, 'No, I'm not leaving. I'm going to stay right here.' That was January 2021 when I made that realisation," Castle said.

Castle continued, "It was the best eight months of my life. There was this weird clarity, I was the happiest I've ever been, I feel like my work improved because I finally figured out what to focus on. I feel like I had some of the best eight months of wrestling in my life. I was weird because there wasn't an audience, we were still doing closed arena shows. Come October, we had this meeting, 'All that happiness you found. It's over. We're closing the doors. Everyone is fired. Get out!' I was still in a good mood because I had that moment of clarity and I knew what I loved and what was important, but I didn't have a job anymore, so it was this weird balance between emotions. March, Tony bought Ring of Honor, and instead of this shock and confusion, it was optimism. I realised, 'Finally, someone who loves pro wrestling is in charge of this. I think we're going to be okay.' I kept thinking positively about it and then I got invited to be part of the first show. It was amazing. I have so much gratitude towards Tony and everyone who has helped out to revive and keep Ring of Honor alive. It's a wild time and I'm happy about it."

Since Tony Khan relaunched Ring of Honor, Castle and his Boys have reigned as ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions on one occasion, defeating The Righteous for the straps at Death Before Dishonor 2022, and dropping them to The Embassy at Final Battle 2022.

H/T: Fightful