RYZIN Interview: AEW, Career Journey, Being The Elite, Matt Hardy, More

How have you enjoyed your experience on Being The Elite in recent weeks?

RYZIN: Talk about a massive opportunity in itself with the nuns and the whole angle. To be able to work with them and with Vickie Guerrero, no introduction needed. One of the best in the business, one of the biggest heels in the business and overall an amazing person. Nyla herself as well, just a beast. There's a reason why they call her The Native Beast. Just to be able to work with them and be on Being The Elite on a consistent basis, it's been getting funnier and funnier and more ridiculous as time has gone on. Trust me when I say that we have so much more left for you guys in that realm. It's been absolutely fantastic and any way I can contribute and continue to expand the brand of RYZIN and push my propaganda as the great reverend, I'm all for it. That has been a blessing in itself as well.

Lastly, what have been some of your favorite matches you've had in AEW so far as well as your career overall?

RYZIN: In AEW, I think one of my best matches was against Kazarian one-on-one. Him and I have great in-ring chemistry. He's one of the best to ever do it and I don't think he gets as much credit for being as good as he is. That was probably my favorite to date as far as matches I've had on Dark, but there have been plenty that I've been very, very happy with. I really thought my match with Ryan Nemeth could've been a lot more if he didn't have his guys around ringside causing distractions and a melee, so hopefully I can run that back with Ryan Nemeth in the future. As far as overall, I've had a lot of great matches.

You could use the Hardy matches, whether it's the Ladder match or the fact that I'm the only guy to compete in a Deletion match and win. I will always have that claim to fame. Nobody has ever been able to beat him in his own match. The Woken Deletion, which is the one I was in, is the only one that his opponent won and that's me. I've had a lot of great memories and matches all throughout my independent career. It's going to sound like I'm name-dropping on a consistent basis but my Ladder match with Kazarian in Canada, I teamed with my buddy Sinn in Canada as well with Bret Hart managing D.H. Smith, I teamed with The Honky Tonk Man once in a time, I got to wrestle Butch Reed. That guy taught me a ton of things.

Probably the best match I ever had on the independents was against Jerry Lynn, one-on-one. That was in 2012 before he headed to the end of his career. There's a ton I've done and those are just the ones that stand out. We all have bad matches, but I've been very fortunate. I'm a storyteller at heart and I think cinematically when it comes to professional wrestling and I think that translates well to my matches. I try to have all of my matches, regardless of who it's against, really stand out. Just recently as two weeks ago, I wrestled Gangrel in a Ladder match in ARW in Melbourne, Florida. I'm very lucky to be able to have these opportunities. Every piece of the puzzle ultimately makes me who I am.