Prior to joining All Elite Wrestling, Austin Gunn had a brief stint in Ring of Honor under the old ownership of Sinclair Broadcasting. The son of Billy Gunn worked for the promotion from June to September of 2019.
Speaking on a recent edition of the “Under The Ring” podcast, the AEW wrestler commented on why he “hated” his time in the company and admitted to not being ready at that point.
Additionally, the “Ass Boys” member revealed what he learned from the experience.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On not enjoying his time there: “I’ll keep that long story short: I hated my time in ROH. Not because of my experiences, just because I wasn’t ready to be on my own, and I had to move to Baltimore to go to the developmental system. And once I got there, I was living in a hotel for six months, and my whole schedule flipped upside down. I wasn’t very independent by then, I wasn’t cooking my own meals. I was overeating, I wasn’t pushing myself to workout every day. I would lock myself in the hotel room. And even though I faced great opponents like Brian Johnson and Dante Caballero and in the main event, Dak Draper — man, it just, it didn’t feel like home to me. It didn’t feel like that’s where I needed to be, that’s where I was supposed to be.”
On what he learned from the experience: “I think it ended up being a great experience, because it showed me how fast things can get out of hand if I don’t hold myself accountable; if I don’t work very hard and push myself. I didn’t understand what it took to be in this business yet. Yeah, and then by the time I got out of there and then moved back to Orlando, I got myself in gear and ready. And then it took me two months to get ready for the debut with AEW, and I haven’t looked back. But I’m not bashing ROH, it just wasn’t for me at that right time. I was depressed and I wasn’t having a good time and it kind of spiraled out of control. I called my dad and said, ‘Hey man, this isn’t working out, I don’t think I’m ready to be here yet. I’m coming home right now regardless.’”