Ian Riccaboni on Breaking Into ROH, the Monster Factory and Daniels’ Title Win

Fred: We’re chatting with Ring of Honor Wrestling commentator Ian Riccaboni, a former baseball journalist, a former baseball standout at New York University and now one of the voices of Ring of Honor. Ian, how’s everything going?

Ian Riccaboni: Couldn’t be better. I just signed my very first contract with Ring of Honor, and I’m excited that they’ve extended a commitment that reciprocates the one I’ve extended to them. We have six amazing events coming up in the next three weeks or so, including some of the stars of New Japan, so professionally I’m at a 10. It’s been such a thrill to become one of the television voices of Ring of Honor.

Fred: You have a unique backstory. You went to NYU, where you played baseball and were pretty damn good at it, and you covered the Phillies for a number of years.

Ian Riccaboni: For Phillies Nation, and we won USA Today’s top blog two of the years I was there. That’s top blog across all of baseball, so I’m very proud of that.

Fred: You go from that to writing a book about the greatest Phillies of all time to Ring of Honor. Growing up, what came first for little Ian, pro wrestling or baseball?

Ian Riccaboni: My brother Bill really fostered my love for baseball. He’s a diehard Phillies fan. We loved Lenny Dykstra, Darren Daulton and Dave Hollins, and that era of the Phillies was something he and I watched and shared together. But he also got a kick out of how much I liked pro wrestling. The first event I remember seeing was WrestleMania VI. Back then, pay-per-views were $24.99 or $34.99, which was so expensive that everybody would pile into one house, so we went to a pay-per-view party at a friend of my mom’s. I’d been a fan, with magazines and some of the LJN action figures, but that’s my first concrete memory. I got the videotape, then saw WrestleMania VII, and by the time it was over, I was all in. My brother thought it was hilarious. He’d paint my face and dress me up like Ax and Smash of Demolition, and my sister would tie a blanket around my neck, give me a Burger King crown and dress me up like the Macho King. I spent my summers playing Wiffle ball with my brother. I can’t think of my childhood without thinking of baseball and wrestling.

It’s interesting how it all came together. I came out of NYU wanting to be a broadcaster. I’d done some MTV stuff that was pretty bad, and I hope no one ever finds it. A friend of mine started a public access show in Allentown, and from there I started writing for the Phillies blog Phillies Nation. We had a vlog, and through connections at the public access station in Allentown, we got our show on public access, and it got picked up by Comcast SportsNet. Then I interviewed the Blue Meanie at the Monster Factory, and I asked a dumb question: How would a friend of mine who’s interested get involved? Danny Cage said, “Tell your friend to come in gym shorts, learn how to set up and tear down the ring, help out at the events, and then start coming around in a suit.” I followed his directions to a T. Kevin Kelly came in to scout wrestling talent, and sure enough, I wore my suit that day. He said, “Hey, guy in the suit, stand up and sell me some tickets for tonight’s event.” I got on the mic, hit my time cue, then hit another time cue, and from there I was invited to start coming around. If it wasn’t for Danny Cage, the Blue Meanie, Kevin Kelly and “Brutal” Bob Evans, I wouldn’t be involved with Ring of Honor.

It took a bit. The public access show was seven years ago already, which I can’t believe. I had such a weird start, where I accidentally got cast in some things for MTV and all kinds of weird things happened. I tried to say yes to everything, because I never knew what kind of experience I’d get. It was a long and winding path, but I’m so happy to be in Ring of Honor.

Fred: Whether you’re a wrestler or not, if you’re new, you have to check your ego at the door and pay your dues. Besides setting up the ring, what growing pains did you go through to rise up the ranks and get noticed by Ring of Honor?

Ian Riccaboni: Ring of Honor has always been a really nice environment with a great locker room, and somebody gave me the in, like Kevin did. I got to know folks like the Briscoes and Christopher Daniels, and Dalton Castle and I broke in at the same time, so we were very friendly with one another. The Monster Factory is a school, but Danny treats it like a business, where you’re learning people skills and life skills. It was a “we’re only as good as our worst person” mindset, and we were never satisfied until the person earliest in development was brought up to a higher level. Thankfully, I haven’t had to do anything beyond the standard: set up the ring, tear down the ring, set up and tear down the barricades and the chairs. I did that for Ring of Honor for a while, too. In 2014, I was tapped to call the Future of Honor shows, which are now on YouTube every Friday, and I wanted to show I was a team player willing to work for my spot. Call time would be 2 o’clock, but I’d be there at 8 a.m. to set up the chairs. I once drove about 16 hours to Kalamazoo, Michigan, for one match. That’s because I wanted it, not because anything was promised. There was never any hazing, but we’re only as good as the least experienced person on the team, whether that’s an announcer, referee or wrestler. Danny Cage drilled that mindset into us early, and I tried to take it with me to Ring of Honor.

Fred: Young and aspiring wrestlers ask me all the time where there’s a good school. Not everyone can afford to go to Calgary to train with Lance Storm, and I tell people the Ring of Honor Dojo and the Monster Factory are right here. As a product of both, what are the biggest benefits?

Ian Riccaboni: The level of experience. My favorite part about Danny Cage is that he’ll be the first to tell you his wrestling career amounted to about 50 matches. He wishes it was a little different, but injuries, family and real life get in the way. He had the passion and drive to immerse himself, become the mentee of the recently deceased Larry Sharpe and purchase the Monster Factory from him. He can be bullheaded sometimes, but he always knows that if he doesn’t know something, someone else does, and he’ll be the first to admit it. Within my first year in wrestling, he brought in guys who had been there and done that: the Headbangers, Cliff Compton, “Brutal” Bob Evans, Kevin Kelly, Gerald Brisco, Les Thatcher, Rip Rogers and Dr. Tom Prichard. He arranged for Jay Lethal to come in, and the list goes on. He does these amazing super camps now. He always looks out for his team, he’s selfless, and he leaves the ego at the door.

The same can be said about the guys at the ROH Dojo. Delirious is the head trainer, with Cheeseburger and Will Ferrara, and a lot of the guys you see on TV and the guys breaking in right now trained there. Why wouldn’t you want to go to the Monster Factory, which has guys on just about every major wrestling television show, or Ring of Honor, where you’re literally one step away from being on Ring of Honor television? If you want to be a nurse at a specific hospital with its own qualifications, why wouldn’t you go to the school that teaches those exact specifications? Those are the two premier training grounds in the world, and you’ll notice the crossover. Shaheem Ali, LSG, Cheeseburger and Will Ferrara go back and forth and share the knowledge. Punishment Martinez is one of the big up-and-coming competitors in Ring of Honor and also an amazing trainer. Other schools have great track records and great trainers, too, but in my experience, those are the two places to be.

Fred: What’s the biggest misconception about being a commentator?

Ian Riccaboni: That you show up maybe a half hour before things start rolling, do your job and go home. It’s amazing how fun it is to be around everybody at the Monster Factory and Ring of Honor. I became a dad recently, so I don’t want to just show up, do my job and go home, because there are other dads. The Young Bucks are dads, Silas Young is a dad, Shane Taylor’s a dad, and Bobby Fish has given me invaluable fatherly advice, which may not be something you expected to hear in this interview. There’s a lot of preparation. You want to know everybody’s backgrounds and moves, and jog your memory on what happened at the last pay-per-view or TV show, so you know where you’re at and where you’re going. There are a lot of conversations, too. I try to talk to the wrestlers a lot, because if they have a direction in mind, I may be able to help communicate their vision through the microphone.

Fred: I’m not asking you to pick favorites, but are there a couple of guys and girls who’ve made leaps and bounds over the last year?

Ian Riccaboni: Deonna Purrazzo. I’m glad you mentioned girls. She’s from New Jersey, and she’s the total package. In 2015, her goal was 100 matches, and she did it. She’s wrestled in 40 states, and she’s very young and very determined, with unlimited potential. Every time I see her, she gets better. She just competed in Stardom, the premier women’s organization in the world, and she’s bringing everything she learned back to Women of Honor, which looks at Stardom as the company it aspires to be. Kelly Klein sticks out, too. On the guys’ side, it’s really tough to pick. Marty Scurll, the World Television Champion, has a record that speaks for itself, and Jay White was undefeated for nine months. A guy who really jumps off the page to me is Jonathan Gresham, who we just signed. We have the deepest tag team division in the world by far. The Motor City Machine Guns are one of the greatest tag teams of all time, but don’t forget about Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia and TK O’Ryan. TK had a clean break of his leg on pay-per-view, but he’s very resilient. He was also a catcher at the College of the Holy Cross, and he was a lot better than I was. He played Division I and did very well. I think those three young men will go very far in Ring of Honor, and Matt Taven has a world title shot coming up.

Fred: One guy who’s been with Ring of Honor since the beginning is Christopher Daniels, a cornerstone of Ring of Honor, of TNA and of the independents before that. At about 47, he’s the current Ring of Honor World Champion. Describe the feeling in the arena and the locker room when he finally became world champion after all these years.

Ian Riccaboni: Every time there’s a world title match, I prepare a call for each competitor and formulate in my mind how I might call the winner. Kevin Kelly passed that down to me as advice. I had something prepared for Adam Cole and something for Christopher Daniels, and then different words came out. It was a little rawer and a little realer, and I think that was the general sentiment with the fans. You saw a genuine attachment to a man they’ve known for 15 years, from the first main event in Ring of Honor to the main event of the 15th anniversary show, and it was something out of this world. It was only the second world title match I’d called, and I was a little overwhelmed. When CD got to the back with the World Championship, there were no words. Everybody locked eyes like a tractor beam and went in for hugs, because the only way to capture what everybody was feeling was to just grab him and squeeze him. For Christopher Daniels to finally get to the top of the mountain after a 23-year career and 15 years in Ring of Honor, I’m thankful to be a part of it. I can’t think of anything that could top that in my professional career.

Fred: There’s a lot going on in the world of Ring of Honor. Tell us about it.

Ian Riccaboni: We have six shows coming up, and they’re all going to be amazing. Friday we’re in Milwaukee, and the next night we go to Hopkins, Minnesota, in the suburbs of the Twin Cities, which is always big for Ring of Honor, with some really cool first-time matchups. The Addiction take on the Young Bucks in a non-title match, and we’ll see the rubber match between the Briscoes and the Motor City Machine Guns. Matt Taven takes on Adam Cole, and we know the history there. Punishment Martinez, a product of the Monster Factory, goes one-on-one against Jay White, which is probably the match I’m looking forward to most. The following week, we kick off the War of the Worlds tour, and tickets are just about sold out. We’ll be in Toronto with stars like Kushida and Tetsuya Naito, a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the current Intercontinental Champion. Then it’s Dearborn, Michigan, with Christopher Daniels vs. Matt Taven, and the pay-per-view live from the Manhattan Center’s Hammerstein Ballroom, where we believe the winner will defend the championship in the main event. Then the stars of Ring of Honor and New Japan battle once more on Sunday the 14th at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, my hometown, for a television taping.

If you’ve never seen Ring of Honor live, it’s an experience to behold. It’s not a cliché when we say fast-paced, hard-hitting, in-your-face action. It’s an immersive environment that’s welcoming to fans young and old, with the best wrestlers on the planet. We turned people away at the door at Supercard of Honor in Lakeland, Florida, and we had big advance ticket sales for these six events before we even announced a match. That’s all thanks to the fans who watch ROH each and every week. The wrestlers and I wouldn’t be here without you.

Fred: You’ve had a tremendous amount of success at a young age. What’s one piece of advice for folks who hope to have the kind of success you’ve had in baseball and pro wrestling?

Ian Riccaboni: When I was 18 or 19, I got into a scooter accident, lost my teeth and got all scraped up. I was with my parents in the middle of nowhere in Florida, and I started writing letters to people asking for advice. I asked Harry Kalas, the longtime Phillies broadcaster and Hall of Famer, and he said, “Always do your homework and be yourself.” That has always resonated with me, and I’d pass the same thing along to anybody aspiring to be a broadcaster. At the last Ring of Honor camp, a fella named Plunkett recited something back to me that I didn’t even realize I’d said: “Be yourself, work hard and be a nice guy.” Christopher Daniels and Dalton Castle are nice guys who work hard and treat the wrestlers, the fans and the media with respect, and they get it back. Being authentic really resonates with fans. So if I had any piece of advice, be nice and work hard, because then things start to break your way.