Caprice Coleman Goes In Depth On ROH Hiatus, Returning To The Ring & More

Caprice Coleman was recently a guest on the Wrestling Epicenter podcast, where he spoke about ROH's announcement that they will be taking a hiatus.

“We don’t know what’s next. But, we know something else is coming… Another version of Ring of Honor and so we just have to see what happens. Ring of Honor took care of us during the pandemic. So, my loyalty is with them. I don’t have any hard feelings. If you look back, they’ve always kept us in mind first looking at us as people and not numbers. So, I really hope what happens and something great comes out of it and Ring of Honor coming back stronger than ever before.”

Coleman spoke about the uncertainty going into the hiatus.

“Most of it has to do with the timing. You know? You’re getting laid off around the Holidays… Your last check is coming right before Christmas. But, the emotions have also been emotions of encouragement. We are encouraging each other. “It’s all right, this is only for a season!” Some people are pulling out like it is already over. They’re writing us off. I’m saying, don’t write us off! Some people just look for bad news. They’re just harping on what they think is going to happen and they say it is so. I’m here to say it is not so. I think something great is going to happen.”

Coleman is looking forward to Final Battle.

“I think most of us are looking at going through this phase and ending it with a bang that way the last memory people have is of everyone going for the gusto. The people here believe in Ring of Honor! I believe we have the best roster that we have ever had. And, if you look at professional wrestling right now, everybody that is somebody came through Ring of Honor. he Young Bucks, Cody, Christopher Daniels… The main roster of AEW is like 33% of ours! (laughs) That is because Ring of Honor has a way of turning out the talent. These people didn’t go from Ring of Honor to a training center. They went from Ring of Honor straight to TV. We are the foundation of wrestling.”

Coleman spoke about seeing ROH talent starting to make plans to try to get into other promotions.

“They aren’t doing anything wrong. Ring of Honor is taking a season off but people’s families aren’t taking a season off. (laughs) These athletes still have bills to pay. So, you might see athletes turn up other places. But, that does not mean Ring of Honor will not return or even that the athlete will not return to Ring of Honor. You never know what you’re going to see. But, I’m not discouraged by an athlete trying to find a way to feed his family.”

Coleman spoke about facing Beer City Bruiser:

“Nobody really retires from pro wrestling. I was offered a position with Ring of Honor when Colt Cabana left, as a color commentator. I love it. I fell in love with commentating. For me, I want to learn all aspects of professional wrestling. So, I’ve been allowed to work in production, I’ve been allowed to work in creative, I’ve been allowed to work in talent development… Commentary, talk show host, hosting. A little bit of everything! But, I never stopped wrestling. The only time I stopped performing was when I was under an exclusive contract with Ring of Honor and I took the job as a color commentator. So, when I signed to be exclusive to Ring of Honor and they put me to commentary, I was still under exclusive so I couldn’t wrestle anywhere else. So, I had to ask, “If you’re going to put me back in the ring every once in a while, can I do some indy shows and get the dust off?” They were like, “Yeah!” So, I’ve been back at it. I’m still undefeated in North Carolina since my return. And, it has been a great time. I don’t think Bruiser knows what he’s getting his hands into. He’s not facing the Caprice Coleman who has been sitting behind a desk for 4 years. He’s facing the Ageless One!”

Coleman was asked if it was jarring to take a bump for the first time in a while.

“No and I’ll tell you why. I also am one of the trainers at the Highspots Wrestling School. George South is the lead trainer and I’m the intermediate trainer. James Drake is the third trainer. So, I’ve been working with the future of wrestling and I knew I was in great shape to do this. So, when I was performing back in front of a crowd, the only difference was the interaction with the crowd.”

Coleman was asked about the difficulty of calling matches with no crowd amidst the pandemic.

“I’m not going to say it was easy. But, I think it made people listen to Ian Riccaboni and I. The people at home were forced to listen to us because we were the only thing that could be heard. So, we were there to make it exciting because we got excited. We were able to bring it down when we were supposed to bring it down. So, we were able to control and exude those emotions to the people as if there was a crowd there. I believe with us being able to do that, the Pure Division was a great success. It wasn’t hard. And, you could certainly hear us better. But, you do miss the live crowd because a lot of the excitement comes from the live crowd. So, you were having to control the excitement. But, it wasn’t hard to do because the excitement was coming from the ones in the ring. In a way, we had front row seats for every match and we were the fans and we got to respond ti it the way that we would if we were in the crowd. But, we were the crowd!”

Finally, Coleman responded to Corey Graves' claims that there can not be a true heel commentator a la Bobby Heenan in today's day and age due to cancel culture.

“He didn’t say anything wrong as far as Bobby Heenan goes. If you look at it, Jim Cornette was telling a lot of the same jokes he has told for decades. That is just the way Jim is. He would come in with jokes that were timely, they were witty, they were sharp, and they were quick. That is just the way Jim is. The only difference is, he didn’t change but the world changed. He told a joke one time that upset people. He told the exact same joke in the 80’s. People laughed it off (back then) but now you’re facing, you’re in a world where you have more access to stars than ever before. And, they can turn a star on and off. And so now, in actuality, the social world now is ran by the socially unaccepted world. I don’t want to get myself in trouble. But, a lot of people who have a lot to say now have a lot to say because they don’t have a lot else to do. In their eyes, sometimes it is like they are taking up for people who can’t take up for themselves sort of like standing up for someone against a bully. But, sometimes people get in trouble for something when they don’t mean any harm.”