While I’ve been a fan of Matt Taven for damn near a decade, my first experience watching him wrestle live didn’t come until May 5th, 2019, when the then-Ring of Honor Heavyweight Champion made his way to Alberta for a pair of appearances for Real Canadian Wrestling.
As usually happens when I get the opportunity to chat with someone who’s recently been to Alberta, we began our conversation rehashing memories of their time in the province. I was particularly excited to do so in Taven’s case, as his match in Edmonton against then-Alberta Champion Dylon Stone stands out as one of the best matches I’ve had the chance to watch live, whether independent or otherwise.
“You wrestled Dylon Stone in a title-for-title match [where] you [defended] your Ring of Honor Heavyweight Championship at the time,” I stated to start our chat. “Just give me a little bit on it [and] give me your thoughts on Dylon Stone, because it’s always nice to hear from someone who doesn’t wrestle him a ton or wrestle in Alberta a ton [and] when they get to speak highly of our professional wrestlers – at least I would hope!”
Taven’s eyes lit up at the mention of the match.
“Man, I can’t tell you how excited I was during the match with Dylon, because especially when you’ve never met another wrestler before, you don’t really know what you’re getting into,” Taven commented. “We had some good kind of interactions with one another. But, until you’re in the ring, it could be completely different than you thought it was going to be.”
“I almost think that probably halfway during that match, I just have a big smile on my face. I’m like, ‘oh, this kid’s really good. This is gonna be great.’ It’s one of those things where it grounds you again, you know what I mean? And not to say I’ve done anything, but when you don’t get a chance to really wrestle in certain places a lot, you’re not really aware of what the talent could be there.”
Before continuing the conversation, the former ROH Champion finished with some kind words for the man known to Albertans as Mr. Saturday Night.
“When you see someone so good, who, frankly, to me, I hope more people – I hope he gets out more. I hope more people know who he is, because to me it’s like there’s this hidden gem there and to think of how many hidden gems are all over the place. It just goes to show you how good the wrestling talent is across the board these days.”
Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any of the above quotations used.
