Courtesy of Impact Wrestling
The year was 2016, and the setting was a laundry room at Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas.
Vegas possesses a mystique and an aura, but neither of those were present off the strip at Sam’s Town Live. The hotel rooms had a smoky scent, the buffet line was bustling with senior citizens, and the only excitement in the casino for this young reporter was sharing a word of broken English with Tomohiro Ishii at the slots. I had not made the trip to Vegas for anything except pro wrestling. There was a supercard at Ring of Honor’s 14th Anniversary Show—with the added bonus of plenty of backstage interviews with stars from ROH and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.