10 Things WWE Fans Need To Know About Roderick Strong

With WWE’s brand split in full effect, the company has created a lot of new job openings for professional wrestlers. Raw, SmackDown and NXT all need talent to fill out their shows, and we've seen a few familiar faces returning to television lately.

Even more exciting, though, is brand new wrestlers that are being signed to the company. One of those names is expected to be former Ring of Honor standout Roderick Strong. After being one of the mainstays of the popular indy promotion for years, he was branded “Mr. ROH". It's a fitting moniker, as he could be used in any role on the card, and he'd be sure to deliver a good match with anyone on the roster.

His WWE debut feels like a long time coming, as rumours had been running for awhile that he would soon be signed. Having good friends in the company like Seth Rollins sure didn’t hurt his cause.

While Strong is only 33-years-old, he’s had well over a decade of experience in the business. Longtime indy fans may be familiar with his work, but without a long run on national TV, there’s still a lot to find out about him, so let's learn a bit more!

Here are 10 things you didn’t know about Roderick Strong...

10. He Was In TNA

If Strong goes to NXT, he will be reuniting with his told ROH tag partner, Austin Aries. The two were incredibly successful together in ROH, having one of the longest title reigns in the company’s history. But they also had a brief run together in TNA.

In 2005, the two were signed, and started off as opponents in their debut matc, with Strong coming up on the losing side of the contest. They started teaming shortly thereafter, but were unable to reach the same level of success as they would in ROH. Both men also participated in X-Division matches, back when the company was putting more emphasis on the division.

The two were entertaining in the ring, and seemed destined for bigger things but, sadly, neither of them lasted very long in the company due to a specific incident...

9. He Was Suspended By TNA

On February 12th, 2006, Strong and Aries were scheduled for a match at the Against All Odds pay-per-view. However, they were also booked for an ROH show earlier in the day. TNA management asked them to cancel their other booking, so they could make sure to be on time. Strong and Aries, though, wanted to keep their word and attempted to make both events.

After finishing up their ROH match, they had to fly out to catch the pay-per-view. They ended up arriving a few hours late, but still made it in time for their match, where they put over The Naturals. This was not good enough for TNA management, and the two were made an example of and suspended for a couple months.

By the time they got back, their push was gone and Strong was released not long after.

8. His Road To The Gold

Only one other person in ROH has ever had a longer run to their world title than Roderick Strong. He joined the company in September of 2003, and didn’t win the World Championship until September 11, 2011, taking him seven years to capture the gold. Only Jay Briscoe with a 12 year journey to the top eclipses him.

Also of note is that Strong won the ROH World Championship from Tyler Black (Seth Rollins) in the Architect’s final match with the company at Glory By Honor IX with Terry Funk as the special referee.

Perhaps Seth will finally get his revenge if Strong is called up to the main roster.

7. He’s Engaged To A Horsewoman

Ronda Rousey and three of her close, badass friends and training partners are known as The Four Horsewomen of MMA. They’re all big wrestling fans, and can all beat the hell out of just about anyone, so their connection to the legendary stable fits them pretty well.

Among the four is Marina Shafir (with the great nickname “The Supernova from Moldova”) who caught the eye of Roderick Strong after she met him at a PWG show, which the Horsewomen would often attend. The two soon began dating, and in December of 2015 they got engaged.

Shafir is a featherweight, trained in Judo and is 5-0 in her amateur career and 1-2 as a professional. A trivia note for her is that in all eight of her fights, not a single one of them went into the second round.

6. He Had A Rough Childhood

“There were some really rough times, such as living in motels for week-long periods until we found an apartment. And you’d try to make friends because as a kid you really want to have that emotional tie, but I didn’t“-Roderick Strong

In an interview with TNA’s website during his run with the company, Strong opened up about his troubled upbringing. He revealed that a few of his family members were addicted to drugs, and there were times when he'd have to go to bed hungry because they couldn't afford food.

He was also largely friendless in his childhood, probably due to the family moving “maybe eight times over the course of course of seven years”. While he played a lot of sports, he never had the support of anyone, and was never told he was good at anything until he tried wrestling.

Perhaps most shocking of all is that Strong's mom spent time in jail...for shooting his dad! Luckily it was non-fatal, but it’s still pretty impressive for Strong to be as well-adjusted as he is with such a tough upbringing.

5. He Was Trained By The Anvil

Strong was a guest on the Ross Report, and told the story of how he got into wrestling in the first place. Surprisingly, he was trained by none other than Natalya’s dad.

It all came about because Strong’s dad was friends with a guy whose wife worked at a clinic that Jim Neidhart went to (bit of a roundabout way to get into the business). The friend asked Strong’s dad if he wanted to learn how to wrestle from Neidhart, and despite being nearly 40 at the time, he agreed to do it.

Because the Strong family couldn’t afford a babysitter, his dad took him with, and he watched on as his father trained. Eventually Neidhart let Roderick in the ring a little, and he started training at the age of 12. Strong described the Hart Foundation member’s training as very intense with a lot of “Japanese style training” involving a lot of squats and push-ups.

He also wasn’t the only child who was learning the business at the time from The Anvil. A young Harry Smith was there too, wrestling with Strong years before either made a name for themselves.

4. His PWG Success

While most fans associate Roderick Strong with Ring of Honor, he’s done a lot of great work in Pro Wrestling Guerilla as well. In fact, he spent over 11 years in the company, and became their World Champion when he defeated Kyle O’Reilly on December 12, 2014. He went on to hold the belt for 449 days.

That run is currently the third longest in the history of the company. Only Kevin Steen with 469 days, and Adam Cole with 538 days have gone on longer.

Strong has also has held the company’s tag belts on three occasions with different partners. One run was with TNA wrestler Davey Richards, another was with Lucha Underground’s Jack Evans and another run with the belts came alongside Neville. That’s some pretty solid company to be in.

3. The Triple Crown

In ROH, becoming a Triple Crown Champion means that you’ve held the ROH Tag Titles, the Television Championship and the Heavyweight Title. In the 14- year history of the company, only two men have ever accomplished that feat: Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong.

Strong first captured gold, when along with Austin Aries, they defeated Sal Rinauro and Tony Mamaluke for the tag titles. The two young stars went on to hold the them for 273 days (the fifth longest reign in the company’s history). They remain one of the greatest teams the promotion has ever seen.

He then won his first singles title with the TV Championship on March 31, 2012, and captured it again three and a half years later. Both times he won the belt from Jay Lethal, who along with Strong, is the only other person to hold the title twice.

2. He Turned Down WWE Before

Also of note on Roderick’s appearance on The Ross Report is that this isn’t the first time he’s been offered a deal in WWE. He was actually in the same training camp as Kevin Owens, so he could potentially have been employed by the company for the past couple of years.

After that camp, he was offered a developmental deal, but he turned THEM down. While that’s a tantalising news item, unfortunately he didn’t elaborate on why he rejected the deal:

“I’ve spoken with them, and there are details that I can’t really get into as to why it didn’t work out”.

Well, whatever it was, things may have worked out for the best. Strong has improved in the ring the past few years, so he's more valuable to the company now. Though the way he upped his game could have ended in tragedy...

1. A Botched Styles Clash Changed His Life

After A.J. Styles left TNA, he became the most sought after indy wrestler in the world. ROH quickly picked him up for a few dates, and The Phenomenal One's very first match back made the news, but for the wrong reasons.

Styles and Strong were delivering a great match in front of a hot crowd, when the final move left people fearing for Strong’s well being. As Styles held his opponent upside down for the Styles Clash, Strong tucked his head, which is the body’s natural reaction to being in that position.

However, it’s a bad way to take the move. Strong's neck was spiked into the mat, and he was incredibly lucky that he didn’t break it. Still, it caused him to miss some ring time.

During this time off, Strong says that he “took inventory of his life” and began to really study the psychology of a wrestling match. By the time he returned to the ring, he became a better worker and credits the unexpected time off to his improvement. This may also be why he is finally ready to accept that WWE deal.