Mike Bennett Talks Starting Out And Time In Impact, WWE, Ring of Honor

Mike Bennett has cemented his legacy in the professional wrestling business. This Sunday, July 11, he looks to continue to cement his legacy in Ring of Honor when he challenges Jonathan Gresham for the Ring of Honor Pure Championship. Here is a little preview.

The Beginning of “The Miracle” Mike Bennett

Mike Bennett was a fan of professional growing up. “It didn’t really click for me until I saw Mick Foley win the World Title for the first time,” said Bennett. “I told my dad on the car ride home from that show that I was going to be a professional wrestler. Watching Mick win the championship, someone who was never thought to be World Champion, was awesome.”

“I started training with “Brutal” Bob Evans, and never looked back,” Bennett said. “Bob Evans is just one of my best friends in the world. He’s just one of the good ones. Also, Steve Bradley was someone I connected to and looked up to as well,” Bennett said when asked about his mentors. “Unfortunately, he died due to a drug overdose. He was one of the guys who nobody knew why he wasn’t a big star. I mimicked some of my moves off of him as well.”

“I remember when I took my first bump in a ring,” said Bennett. “I remember thinking to myself, that’s it? I can do this. I just loved it so much. It was in a flea market out in Massachusetts somewhere. I must have really loved it because looking back at it now, I probably would have walked in and walked right out.”

Mike Bennett Signs With Ring Of Honor, Part 1

Before signing with Ring of Honor, Mike Bennett had been wrestling for a good 10 or 11 years. “I remember signing my first contract vividly,” said Bennett. “I remember having a dark match with Adam Cole and after the match when we got to the back, Cornette pulled us aside and congratulated us and told us that we just got each other both signed. It was so cool, this is a huge company and is such a big deal. I was just so proud of what I accomplished.”

Bennett’s first Ring of Honor appearance was in Philly. Everyone knows how those crowds can be. “I was supposed to do a 10-minute promo and I just remember being so nervous and worried about how the crowd was going to react. I was terrified but luckily it went off very well,” said Bennett.

While Bennett was in Ring of Honor the first time, he had incredible matches with Jay Lethal. “I think the world of him and he is the franchise of Ring of Honor,” said Bennett. Also, a very famous team was formed. The Kingdom. “The Kingdom is like my baby. It is my most prized possession in professional wrestling.”

Thy Kingdom Come

“Originally, this group was designed to build around Adam Cole,” said Bennett. “Cole was going for the World Title and he needed henchmen, that’s where I and Matt Hardy come in. Once Hardy moved to Impact, Delirious, who was the booker, came up to us and asked what we thought about Matt Taven being added to the group. We loved it, it was a perfect fit.”

Mike Bennett, Maria, Adam Cole, and Matt Taven were all very close in real life too which is what made the Kingdom work as well as it did. “We were fortunate enough to wrestle the Bucks and the Briscoes too. The caliber of teams Taven and I were able to go up against was just incredible,” said Bennett.

“We wrestled such amazing tag teams,” Bennett said. “At the time we were still fairly new and we learned a lot from getting in the ring with these guys. The Bucks, who are probably the best tag team in the world today, I’d love to debate that with anyone, elevated us to the next level.”

“The Miracle” Mike Bennett Comes To Impact

“Impact happened because our Ring of Honor contracts were coming to an end, and I wanted to get my feet wet as a singles star.” Ring of Honor only saw Bennett as a tag team specialist at the time. “Impact wanted to push me as one of their top guys and helped to elevate me to that next level so that people did realize I am more than a tag team guy.”

So, where did “The Miracle” come from? “David Lagana reached out to me and asked me about The Miracle and I loved it. It was his idea, but what he didn’t know is that used to be my nickname when I first started,” said Bennett. “I loved it and it’s probably my favorite nickname I have ever had. It holds a special place to me.”

Mike Bennett Signs With WWE

“It’s hard to explain,” Bennett said. “I have a lot of good and bad memories here. I love the locker room, some of my best friends in the world still work there. I met amazing people, I got to wrestle at Wrestlemania, I got to do so many cool things. I am thankful for that.”

“However, on the other side, I was miserable. I couldn’t do anything I wanted to do,” said Bennett. “Most of the time they just kept me in the back eating catering. I would just think to myself, I am in the prime of my career, why am I just sitting here? It’s great to make a paycheck, but if I can’t maximize my time, what am I really doing here?”

“That was the biggest reason,” said Bennett. “I think they run their business incredibly stupid. I think they have incredible talents who they don’t use. Don’t keep people under contracts and not use them. I hate how they run their business. It’s very old-school and very cut-throat backstage. That’s a terrible way to run any business.”

“It’s 50/50 though because I did meet some of my best friends there and met some amazing people,” said Bennett. “When you have guys like Aleister Black and Buddy Murphy and you choose to not use them, like what?” However, Mike Bennett has something much bigger than professional wrestling on his mind.

Mike Bennett Opens Up About His Addiction

Mike Bennett isn’t just a role model in the ring, but he is also a massive role model out of the ring to people all over. “To me, helping people who struggle with addiction is the most important thing I can do with my life,” said Bennett. “At the end of the day, wrestling is wrestling. At some point, my career will end. My sobriety, and helping other people with their sobriety, telling other people it’s okay to talk about stuff, and normalizing talking about their mental health issues is much more important.”

Mike Bennett is very passionate about helping people struggling the same way he did because “that could have an effect on a person’s life and could change their life and change the world.” “When I first started talking about my addiction, I received tweets from random people saying they had conversations with loved ones and now they are going to rehab next week.”

“I get emotional about it because to have that impact on someone I don’t even know, just blows my mind,” said Bennett. “It’s important to tell people that even people like me, people you think that have everything in front of them, it can happen to me, so it’s okay to talk about it. We need to normalize talking about it. If that’s my legacy I will be a very happy man. You can give me all the world titles in the world, but if you tell me that I had an impact on your life with this, that’s far more important.”

We here at DailyDDT would like to congratulate Mike Bennett on four years of sobriety on July 12th.

Mike Bennett Returns To Ring Of Honor, The Sequel

“Taven and I have always joked that we have been planning this return for five years,” said Bennett. “Although it was in front of no crowd, that emotion was still very real. After everything I have ever been through and wondering if I want to even wrestle again, it was awesome. Going back to Ring of Honor, somewhere I am appreciated, not tolerated, it was great to be back.”

“Matt (Taven) was there when I was at my lowest, so reuniting with him was super cool and I’m stoked to have it on video,” said Bennett. “I would love to get in the ring with Vincent as well. I want to have a stipulation match with him, like a fight or a street fight, that would be awesome.”

But, before we can get there, this Sunday, Bennett has the chance to cement his legacy more as he looks to win the Pure championship from Jonathan Gresham. “There’s a lot of emotions about this match,” said Bennett.

“I fell out of love with professional wrestling. However, the one style that brought me back in, was focusing on wrestling more as a sport, like the Pure Division. I want to be the Ring of Honor guy now. Gresham is reinventing that style so getting in the ring with him is going to be incredible. Not only will it be fun, but the championship that I want is on the line. This is also my official return in front of the best fans in the world. Win, lose, or draw it’s going to be very emotional.”

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