Jay Lethal On Who He Thinks Is Responsible For TNA Release, Only Wrestler He Hates, Gap In His Teeth
On episode 290 of The Art Of Wrestling, Colt Cabana welcomed Ring Of Honor's Jay Lethal to the podcast. Among other things, Lethal talked about coming to terms with the gap in between his two front teeth, who he thinks is responsible for his TNA departure, and who he hates for taking liberties with him in the ring.
According to Lethal, he used to hate having a gap in between his two front teeth, but now he has accepted it as being part of who he is.
"I accepted it, maybe, two years ago [or] a year and a half ago. Yeah, you know what? It was when everyone else, because I got some good dental insurance and I was like, I said, 'it's time to fix this' because I always wanted to fix it. In all my pictures I wouldn't really smile with an open mouth. It was just something that kind of bothered me. And then, once I started the process, first, I had to fix my cavities. The dentist wouldn't just fix that, so I had three cavities that needed attending. And then, I started telling some of my friends, 'I'm finally going to get this gap removed,' like, [this thing I had been worrying about my whole life], which I never brought up, so no one ever thought it was an issue for me. They looked at me like I was crazy. And then, some of them would lie and be like, 'I didn't even notice you had a gap,' which is total bulls–t because they were just trying to make me feel better." Lethal continued, "I'm owning it now. [In] all my pictures, my mouth's wide open."
In 2011, Lethal parted ways with TNA; however, the former Black Machismo still has no idea who made the decision to let him go. When asked who he thinks made that call, Lethal said he believes it was Vince Russo, who was writing for TNA at the time.
"No, no, that's a good question because sometimes I think about it. To be honest, and it's a shocker, I think maybe [it was] Vince Russo even though he called me [to say it was not his decision] because the weird part to me was, and I don't think I've told anybody this, after my stint with Ric Flair, after I did the thing and we just finished, in my second or third match with him, Ric Flair created this group called Fortune. It was him and AJ Styles and a bunch of other people. Then, Tommy Dreamer came and created a rival group and he had asked Vince Russo, 'hey, Jay just finished this thing with Flair. Can you write him into our group?' And Vince told him 'no'. He didn't want it to happen. I didn't understand."
Lethal, who is commonly known as an affable and nice person, named ECW's Roadkill as one of the only people from the professional wrestling business who he hates.
"I trained at Mikey Whipwreck's school and Roadkill came in. [He's] probably one of the only guys I hate in the [professional] wrestling business. Yeah, so he quote, unquote beat me up. Punt to the ribs, splashed me with all his weight, told me, 'man, you talk too much', mounted me and tried to give me these punches, clubbing me as hard as he could, putting all his weight down on me like a fat piece of s–t. I hate him. I hate his guts. It's like, I don't understand. Like, if you want to fight, call me outside and say, 'okay, I'm mad at you and let's fight for real.'" Lethal added, "I would never, ever get mad at someone and take out that anger on them in the ring, especially in a situation where it's not even a fight. They're not defending themselves. They're allowing me to hurt them, which is the worst possible [situation]."
To check out the show, click here. If you use any of the quotes that appear in this article, please credit The Art Of Wrestling with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: The Art Of Wrestling