What’s the story?
Ring of Honor and Shane Taylor have taken to Twitter to announce Taylor’s official signing to the company.
The news is of little surprise, as Taylor and tag team partner Keith Lee became one of the most impressive duos in all of ROH, during their run with the company in the latter half of 2016, impressing in some exciting brawls with War Machine (Hanson & Raymond Rowe) in particular. There is no word yet on whether Lee intends on signing a full-time contract with ROH as of yet.
In case you didn’t know
Shane Taylor is a 6’1”, 350lb wrestling phenomenon hailing from the fertile fields of Cleveland, Ohio, and has been wrestling for almost a decade.
The man they call ‘Notorious’ has only truly burst into the critical line of vision in the last year or so, as he and Lee (occasionally known as The Pretty Big Killers) turned up in Ring of Honor after a number of dark matches to battle against fellow big man tag team, War Machine.
Taylor has also wrestled frequently in the NWA, Pro Wrestling Rampage and Pro Wrestling eXpress, winning championships in a number of promotions.
The heart of the matter
ROH has a reputation for great tag team wrestling, with teams like The Briscoes, The Kings of Wrestling, The American Wolves and ReDRagon putting on absolute classic matches over the years. That same division in a somewhat transitionary phase right now, however.
The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) spent most of 2016 as champions, only to be usurped by The Young Bucks, who look likely to move into a feud with The Broken Hardyz in 2017. New blood is needed in the division, with The Briscoes focusing more on singles action and War Machine expected to spend more time in Japan in 2017.
Taylor and Lee are the perfect team to inject new vitality into ROH’s tag scene.
What next?
All eyes now turn to Keith Lee, to see if he will follow his fellow Pretty Boy Killer in signing a full-time contract with Ring of Honor. As impressive as Taylor is, Lee is widely regarded as one of the hottest prospects in all of pro-wrestling today.
He has been compared to Willie Mack, another Super Heavyweight capable of performing a junior Heavyweight style with the charisma to boot. If anything, Lee is a more focused and intense version of The Mack. If he chooses to sign full time with ROH, the company will have pulled off a major coup.
Sportskeeda’s take
Seeing talented performers rewarded with full-time work is always a pleasure to see, and that is no different with Shane Taylor, and 2017 just became a little more exciting for ROH. If Keith Lee also chooses to move, ROH fans could be in for a very special new year.
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