A Brief Chat with ROH World Champion Dalton Castle

This past weekend, ROH World Champion Dalton Castle made an appearance at Heroes Hideout in Rensellear, NY for their Customer Appreciation Day. I got the chance to chat briefly with the Party Peacock himself.

I was able to chat with Castle preview and you can read it below.

ROH World Champion Dalton Castle: Hello, there!

TJR’s Tommy Dinardi: Hello! Been a fan of you since the radio days locally.

DC: “The radio days”… Ah, the dark days!

TD: I mean, it gave us the Sisterhood of the Traveling Tights…

DC: (excited) YEAH!!

TD: I would catch them as soon they would go up…

DC: I think it would lend itself to podcast form. Do I have a listener in you if I bring it back?

TD: You would definitely have a listener! I was going back and listening to some of the old ones and I was amazed when you had Paul Heyman and CM Punk on the radio there, I think it was before one of the RAWs locally. Just so many of the guys and big names you talked to: even back then, knew you were gonna be a big thing.

DC: Cool man. Yeah, that Punk & Heyman thing was one of the coolest moments. You know, I’ve talked to guys from Metallica, all these big bands, I’ve been in the dressing rooms… It’s almost a funny joke, but just being in the room with those guys: It was like “Paul Heyman, WHAT?!?”

TD: Thanks so much again. So happy that you won the title, though I’m still mad you didn’t win Top Prospect, but you know…

DC: Pshhh, what? What the hell does that matter?? Look! Look what I’ve got. (points to ROH World Championship) Top WHAT? Top WHO? Top Prospect be losing in 10 seconds on NXT.

Here’s a quick clip of Dalton getting ready to meet the fans.

Tommy’s Thoughts: SHOTS FIRED!! Seriously though, what an entertaining guy. Since his first appearances on ROH, and with his local roots from “the dark days of radio” that gave us the Sisterhood of the Traveling Tights, Dalton Castle has been one of wrestling’s homegrown standouts from Ring of Honor in recent years. It’s increasingly rare for a wrestling persona to feel like an extension of their natural character, but Dalton is a refreshing throwback to the era of “Living the Gimmick”. Could not have been more thrilled about his mini-promo to end the conversation. Very interesting to get his take on NXT’s use of established talent like his former ROH rival Donovan Dijak after rumors of WWE having previously had their eyes on Castle, especially with the recent reports of more incoming talent to Florida including former ROH World Tag Team Champions War Machine.

Also: DAMN if that new belt isn’t heavy.

The event was also treated as a big deal locally, with the local Sinclair Broadcasting Network news affiliate covering the packed homecoming for the Party Peacock. Nice to see him getting extra exposure, even if it is a corporate sibling of ROH. Not even storm cleanup from the previous night could stop the standing room only crowd from showing up.

Any wrestling fans in the northeast looking for meet-and-greets should definitely check out Heroes Hideout on Facebook, including upcoming appearances by Ron Simmons, Teddy Long, Emma, Tessa Blanchard & James Ellsworth.

Thanks again to Dalton Castle for his time.