Kelly Klein talks ROH Best in the World, The Allure, Women of Honor, winning gold in MSG

Current WOH World champion Kelly Klein has plenty to say about the evolution of women’s wrestling in Ring of Honor, facing The Allure at ROH Best in the World, and much more.

It’s virtually impossible to talk about the ROH Women of Honor division, and for Kelly Klein to not be brought up in the conversation.

Klein has been one of the cornerstones of the division since its inception four years ago. In that time, she has faced (and beaten) all of the opposition and has held the WOH World Championship twice. Her second reign actually kicked off at G1 Supercard in Madison Square Garden when she beat Mayu Iwatani for the belt.

Lately, she’s had her hands full with the trio of Angelina Love, Velvet Sky and Mandy Leon. The faction now known as The Allure have been wreaking havoc in Women of Honor since G1 Supercard in early April and have since set their sets on Klein due to her status as the face of the division.

At ROH Best in the World, Kelly Klein will get her chance to rid ROH of The Allure once and for all when she and former foe Jenny Rose team up to take on Love and Leon in tag action.

From there, she aims to continue proving herself as a fighting WOH World champion, and make ROH even more of a hot spot for women’s wrestling.

Daily DDT spoke with Kelly Klein ahead of Best in the World next Friday, June 28, to preview her tag team match on the show as well as the evolution of WOH, becoming a two-time WOH World champion, her recent rivalry with The Allure, what more she hopes to accomplish in ROH, and much more.

Daily DDT: This tag team match coming up at Best in the World with you and Jenny Rose taking on Angelina Love and Mandy Leon of The Allure is shaping up to be one of the most personal of your time in ROH thus far. With Best in the World being one of ROH’s tent pole pay-per-views, how much will this match mean to you?

Kelly Klein: This match is just an opportunity for us to reestablish and show what Women of Honor means and what we’re been working for years to build. I’m happy to stand up for Women of Honor and what we’ve been trying to build and grow for four years. This is the opportunity to do it.

DDT: The Allure seem to have set their sights on you because of how you represent what women’s wrestling has become and not what it once was. How important do you think being different from everyone else is, especially for women in wrestling?

Klein: Yeah, women’s wrestling is being taken more seriously not only by the fans but by athletes and I think that’s part of what has created such a surge even in the people who want to pursue wrestling. Years ago, the opportunities that women had and the height of success was still very limited and scoped. I’m not one to take away any of the options or to say that this way is wrong or that this way is right. I think that there’s room for everything. Having those opportunities now attract a larger pool of really talented athletes, and that just creates more competition which just everyone helps everyone excel and get better. That competition is always a good thing.

I think that’s where with The Allure, they seem to have this one vision of what wrestling can be and they don’t think that there’s room for everyone, and I think that’s part of why there’s the target on me because I am the one that represents Women of Honor and am the face of the division and getting the attention and they want the attention on them. That’s kind of where we’re different. I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be able to coexist, but they want to stomp everything else out that isn’t exactly what their vision of what women’s wrestling should be and that’s not okay with me.

DDT: You’ve been a part of Ring of Honor’s women’s division since the beginning. How satisfying has it been for you to see women’s wrestling come so far not only in ROH but in wrestling in general?

Klein: Yeah, when I started wrestling and even for a lot of my wrestling career early on, Ring of Honor wasn’t really on my radar because it isn’t somewhere that I saw having a lot of opportunities for a female wrestler. The fact that we’ve gotten to a point now where we have a division and we’re being featured on TV episodes and pay-per-views is major progress. There are a lot of women who have put in a lot of time and a lot of effort to make that happen and help build and establish that. I think that those women deserve some kind of recognition or appreciation or respect for what they’ve done.

DDT: What do you feel makes ROH the place to be for women’s wrestling compared to everywhere else?

Klein: The thing is that there’s not room in Women of Honor for all of the amazing women that are wrestling right now. There’s not room in any one division to contain all of the talent that is out there. I love that there are all of these opportunities and all of these places that can be home to provide opportunities for all of the women that have been working hard and pursuing wrestling.

For me, Ring of Honor and Women of Honor gave me an opportunity and really trusted me with a lot to help be the groundwork and lay the foundation of Women of Honor. I love that and I love having a place where we can welcome more and more talent and grow to where we have room to even build our women’s roster beyond what we’ve done so far.

DDT: There were vignettes that aired leading up to the 17th Anniversary Show showing a new side to Kelly Klein. Did you feel it was the right time in your career to start endearing yourself to the audience?

Klein: I don’t know about “endearing” myself, I just spoke from the heart. I said what I felt and if people could relate to that and appreciate that then that’s great. I’m really happy they could understand and appreciate where I was coming from.

DDT: How was it for you to win the WOH World Championship at Madison Square Garden at G1 Supercard?

Klein: That was great because that’s something I’ve always loved about working with Ring of Honor is that I get to perform in a lot of historic venues whether it’s in music or wrestling or sports. It’s always really great to perform there and see those places and be a part of that. To be a part of that event at Madison Square Garden is very historic and I achieved something that will be a part of Ring of Honor’s history, Women of Honor’s history, and wrestling history no matter what happens from where here on out. That’s something I can always look back on as something I’ve accomplished.

DDT: Talk a little bit about your history with Jenny Rose, your tag team partner at Best in the World. How different has it been for you to have someone by your side as opposed to flying solo, especially when that ally was once a rival of yours?

Klein: When I had that rivalry with Jenny Rose, we really had a lot in common and it was almost like a sibling rivalry where you may have more in common with each other than you realize and kind of clash. Through that, we have a lot of the same goals and see a lot of things in a similar way. Now, my goal is still the same: to protect and defend what Women of Honor stands for and what we’ve been building.

That’s not going to change whether someone’s by my side or I’m going at it alone. I have these goals and I’m going to pursue that and stand up for it. If there’s somebody that wants to be part of it and stand with me, then that’s awesome that I have someone that’s on the same page and is motivated by some of the same goals that I am.

DDT: You weren’t pinned or submitted for the first three years of your tenure in ROH. Do you think the WOH division will ever see that type of dominance again?

Klein: I kind of hope so! Because I want it to always get better and better and I want to see women’s wrestling keep growing and I want to see more really talented athletes and performers come through there. Yeah, I really do hope that it keeps growing and that we can see some other really incredible people come through there.

DDT: You’ve talked before about the influence Maria Kanellis had on you while she was with Ring of Honor. In addition to Maria and yourself, who else has been a big influence for WOH?

Klein: Everybody that’s come through and been a part of it has played their part, especially when we were really first starting. It took a lot of faith and we didn’t always know what was going to happen or how long it was going to take. It took a lot of women who had a lot of faith and those of us who stuck around and stayed the course believed in it and believe in it, and that’s what’s necessary. That’s what it takes for something like this to get an opportunity to grow the way it has.

DDT: Having already won the WOH World Championship twice including at Final Battle and in Madison Square Garden, what more are you looking to accomplish in your career in Ring of Honor?

Klein: I really would like to help make it a place that can welcome a lot of really talented women, whether they’re new to the wrestling fans and we can find them and give them a home or maybe it’s women who have been wrestling and have been traveling and need somewhere to call home and be able to practice and perfect their craft. I want to be a part of creating that and leaving a legacy where women can have good opportunities.

DDT: Are there any stipulation matches you’re looking forward to seeing the women have in Ring of Honor at some point?

Klein: Honestly, [The Allure are] pretty sneaky and the first thing that comes to my mind is something to prevent them from running away or jumping the guard rail and running in and everything. The obvious choice is a cage match to keep the outside interference at bay. If I could get one of them in a cage where they couldn’t get their friends hopping up and couldn’t run off, that may be the only way to see who’s who and what’s what.

DDT: From Deonna Purrazzo to Jenny Rose to Mayu Iwatani to now The Allure, who has been your favorite rival in Ring of Honor so far?

Klein: Oh my goodness, my favorite rival… I think I would have to go with Jenny Rose because she and I just kept pushing each other beyond our own limits and beyond each other’s limits to the point where we both competed in each of our very first Street Fight situations because neither of us were willing to give up and we were both willing to step out of our comfort zone to see who could go the limit. That’s one thing I really respect and appreciate about her in that she wasn’t afraid to go outside the box and go outside her comfort zone to face me and challenge me.

DDT: Is there anyone currently in WOH that you are most excited to eventually defend your title against?

Klein: There are so many and like I said, the women’s wrestling scene has really exploded as more opportunities and more roster spots at different companies have become available. Somebody that I was really hoping to face was Kay Lee Ray and I haven’t gotten the opportunity to do that yet, but she is someone that really caught my attention when I first saw her. Another nostalgia I guess would be the word, the first woman I remember seeing wrestle live that really made me want to do it and made me feel like I could do it was Madison Eagles.

If I ever got a chance to actually face her in a match, that would be amazing. I was in a Gauntlet match with her years ago, but we were not in the ring at the same time. That would have been awesome. That’d be somebody, whether she knows or not, was influential and significant to me in my career, so that’s someone I’d really like to work with.

See Kelly Klein and the rest of the Ring of Honor stars in action at ROH Best in the World on Friday, June 28, streaming live on pay-per-view, Fite TV, and HonorClub for VIP members.