Vinny Marseglia Talks ROH State Of The Art, Being ‘The Horror King’, And More
Credit: @pattyimages/Hard Body Photography
Vinny Marseglia was kind enough to take some time to talk to me today about his wrestling career, ROH, The Kingdom, and some upcoming ROH events.
This weekend, Ring of Honor will have two “State of The Art” shows this weekend, with a show on Friday, June 15, in San Antonio, Texas and another event on Saturday, June 16, in Dallas. In San Antonio, Vinny Marseglia and Matt Taven, two members of the ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions “The Kingdom”, will take on The Boys.
The Kingdom will take on Team CMLL in Dallas with the Six-Man Tag Team Championship on the line, in what should be an incredibly exciting match.
These two shows will be streamed live and for free for HonorClub members.
Marseglia was kind enough to sit down with us and discuss his match this weekend, his journey in Ring of Honor, his favorite wrestlers growing up, and The Kingdom’s feuds with the Bullet Club and SoCal Uncensored.
This interview provides insight into one of ROH’s more interesting characters. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as we did.
The Interview: Vinny’s Wrestling Fandom and Early Career
Josiah MacDonald: I’m here with Ring of Honor’s own Horror King, Vinny Marseglia. Thanks for taking time out of your day to do this interview.
Vinny Marseglia: No problem!
JMD: Before the Kingdom, and before ROH, were you a big wrestling fan growing up?
VM: Yes, I was! I was since pretty much as young as I can remember. We would go to the Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island, right outside of Warwick where I live. They used to host all the WWF events, and myself, my father, and cousins would all go there any time there’s an event there and take up an entire row.
Growing up, I was big Ultimate Warrior fan. I loved the Rockers, and I also loved the Undertaker. From a very young age, I always loved wrestling growing up. In my teenage years, from junior High, until high school, I loved The Hardy Boys. They’re still great. I was always a huge wrestling fan.
JMD: That’s awesome! It sounds like we come from a similar era of being fans.
VM: Yeah! Even growing up, I would wrestle in the backyard and put on little wrestling shows. Most people have done that, I think. You hit highschool, and as a freshman, I remember having people over to my house right after school. My parents would still be at work, and I tried to get the wrestling in before they got home. My dad would come home and freak out because he didn’t want anyone to get hurt.
It came to the point of where I wanted to get involved, but I didn’t know how. In high school, I met a girl, and she knew I was into wrestling, and she said, “Hey, are you interested in becoming a wrestler?” I said, “Yeah!” and she said, “My boyfriend is a wrestler, and there’s a wrestling school nearby.” I didn’t know this existed at the time, but I thought it was awesome. I went to the school, and there was the wrestling ring in front of me. I got in it for the first time and it was a bit different than I expected, but I still wanted to do it. Then I started training a bit, setting up rings, tearing down rings, the whole nine yards.
Credit: RING OF HONOR/Zeke Dane
Then I worked some local promotions in Massachusetts. I could do all the moves, but I didn’t know what I was doing. Spike Dudley and Ryan Waters, who runs the Lockup Wrestling Academy, saw me and said I have a lot more potential than what you’re doing. This is the same place that Matt Taven and TK O’Ryan came from. They said to me, “We’d love to help you get better and help you go where you want to go and give you the proper tools”. I went to training with Spike, and broke me down and built me back up from scratch.
When you hear of Spike Dudley, you often think of a stunt guy who’s tossed around, but Spike is such a knowledgeable pro at the psychology of pro wrestling, and I was blown away by everything he taught us. Spike was my original trainer, and he had an assistant trainer named Ryan Waters, who runs the Lockup Academy in Fall River, Massachusetts now.