Trevor Murdoch is a national treasure.

That’s not just a pun regarding his former status as the NWA’s National Heavyweight Champion, but in this writer’s opinion, a statement to the incredible work that he’s done over the course of his 25-year career and, of course, through his time with the National Wrestling Alliance.

Since the return of the NWA just a shade over a month ago, Murdoch has been front and center, taking on the role as the proverbial thorn in the side of Nick Aldis and Strictly Business. While, as mentioned, Murdoch has been beloved by both fans and people inside the business alike since the onset of his career, but for many in the FITE and television audience, this is their first taste of the Fredericktown, Missouri, native in a main event role.

Murdoch’s ascent was something I had to ask about during my recent conversation with the Real World’s Champion Nick Aldis, launching this Tuesday on Love Wrestling.

“Even now you look at it, and a guy like Trevor Murdoch, who’s always been a great wrestler, is moving up onto the Nick Aldis level, which is a pretty good level to be on,” I asked Aldis. “What have you maybe seen in him over the last little bit that’s allowed him to take this step?”

“Well, I’m glad you mentioned Trevor,” began the NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion. “One of the things that’s almost really become a calling card of the brand is we’ve taken the guys that didn’t get the chance to really showcase themselves to their fullest potential. Because of the somewhat cold-hearted nature of wrestling, sometimes, it can be kind of like you’re written off. That’s it. If you don’t happen to have the right connections, or you don’t happen to appeal to the right type of fans, it’s like your skillset can be greatly underutilized.

That was Trevor Murdoch.”

“I’ve known Trevor since I went to Harley’s camp in 2007, and at the time, he was on the road with WWE at that time,” Aldis continued. “In my mind, I was like, ‘wow, it’s so cool that this guy’s a WWE star, and he’s taking his two days at home off the road to come and help us. That’s so cool.’ To get it to come sort of full circle – we didn’t give him anything. He took it. All we did was say, ‘I think you might be a good fit.

It was literally just one of the ‘hey, what about Trevor Murdoch?’ And Billy went, ‘oh, yeah, that’s a good shout! Let’s try him!’ He walked out on that first episode of Powerrr, or I think it was the first episode, and you could just feel the people in the building go ‘oh, yeah,’ because now the shoe fits.

“

“He just resonates in that environment,” I agreed.

The Real World’s Champion agreed before continuing. “Finally, Cinderella found the right slipper. You know what I mean? It’s like they go ‘oh, man, we kind of forgot about this guy, but yes! He’s great. He’s believable. He’s a good worker, and he fits so well in this. It was this sort of double whammy, right, this one-two punch where people went ‘Oh, yeah, this guy’s legit.’ And then, they also went, ‘oh, I’m starting to get a feeling of what this show is going to be about, and what this brand is going to be about.’ So it was this kind of one-two [punch]. As much as I represent the NWA in many different ways – a lot of people have been very kind and made some very lofty comparisons, and I won’t share those. But, I try to honor the sort of standard set by guys like [Ric] Flair and Nick Bockwinkel and Harley [Race]. As much as I sort of appeal with that particular taste, Trevor appeals [to] the type of tastes of people who like Dick the Bruiser, or Dusty Rhodes.”

“That’s really what we’re about,” Aldis stated to close out the question. “We just want really good pro wrestlers here. Good, solid, believable pro wrestlers, and Trevor, he’s upper echelon now and I’m sure he’s going to prove it as we move forward.”

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any of the above quotes.

Since September 2014, Mike Bennett and Matt Taven have been linked at the hip, both personally and professionally. Whenever both have been under contract with Ring of Honor, Bennett and Taven have been inseparable. Their chemistry inside the ring is undeniable, and as Bennett described to me in our recent conversation for Love Wrestling, that bond extends to far more than just the confines of the squared circle.

“What is it that you love about working with Taven,” I inquired.

“You look at Ring of Honor, and objectively, there’s a lot of great professional wrestlers there. There could even probably be the temptation for you to, I guess, try something new at the buffet!

What keeps you going back to working with Matt Taven?”

“It’s one of those things where it just feels right,” commented Bennett. “I mean, like I said, he’s my best friend in the entire world. And I feel like with this run, and we’ve been asked this before, ‘is this like, ‘oh, it’s Kingdom or nothing?” and to me, it’s like, the Kingdom’s always there. The Kingdom was there when I left. The Kingdom’s still there, [and] we’ll team.”

“But,” he continued, “Matt’s gone on and done incredible things since I’ve left. He’s become the world champion. He led the group by himself. He’s done amazing things without me. So to me, I don’t want to pigeonhole him, and I know he doesn’t want to pigeonhole me. So there’s this idea that we’ll always be The Kingdom, we’re always going to be gunning for tag team gold. But at the end of the day, too, if there’s opportunities for me to go do something with the TV title, or him to go do something with the World title or me to go do something with the Pure title, we’re not going to get in each other’s way.

In fact, we’ll be in each other’s corner cheering each other on because that’s how we view it. That’s how we look at it. It’s kind of like we’re this group, we’re this team, that we have each other’s back. And, if the opportunity presents itself for tag team gold, let’s go get it. But Matt, if you have an opportunity to go be world champ, again, you go take that opportunity, and I’ll be the first person to cheer you on. So that’s kind of like where we’re at right now. And, I think that’s probably where we’ll always be for the rest of our careers. We’ll go our separate ways, but we’re always there. The Kingdom’s always there.”

Hearing the joy he spoke about Taven and The Kingdom with, I had to ask Bennett about his best friend’s winning of the ROH title in New York City just under two years ago.

“How cool was it to see him win the Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Championship at Madison Square Garden?” I asked excitedly.

Bennett responded with equal enthusiasm.

“Oh, it was the best!” he enthused. “In this industry, it’s very rare to – you have so many acquaintances in this industry, and you have very few friends. I happen to not only have a friend, but I’ve made my best friend in this industry. And not only that, but you also don’t – other people’s successes tend not to – like for me, when Matt won, I was just as excited as if I had won, maybe more. That’s how close we are. He’s family. When your brother goes and gets a promotion or does something really good, you’re just happy. You’re not jealous, you’re not envious, you’re just genuinely happy for your brother, your sister, your mom, or your dad or whatever, and that’s how I am with Taven.”

“He won and my excitement was just – I was genuinely just happy for him. I was like ‘that was well deserved.’”

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any of the above quotations used.