Q&A with Ring of Honor World Champion Jay Briscoe

Ring of Honor World Champion Jay Briscoe sat down to talk with philly.com ahead of Ring of Honor's live event at the 2300 Arena Saturday, Jan. 24 in Philadelphia. For more information on the event, click HERE. Here's the transcript of philly.com's conversation with Briscoe:

Q: How is it going in the life of the Ring of Honor World Champion?

Jay Briscoe: It's going, man. [It's] just another day in paradise.

Q: What is it like being the man in Ring of Honor?

JB: It feels coo to watch the company grow like it has and to be able to be the champion is just an honor, you know. I'm just trying to keeping rolling with it everyday…get up, work hard and just keep going.

Q: You've been with the company since the beginning and have seen it go through peaks and valleys and growing pains? What do you think of the health of Ring of Honor today?

JB: We're rolling right now. We've had some bumps in the road, like you said, but it feels like we're firing on all cylinders, you know. From the office all the way down…the boys. It just seems like we're rolling right now, man. Things are going good.

Q: What do you think is the next step for Ring of Honor?

JB: I'm not sure, man. The higher-ups I guess will make that call. We got another pay-per-view coming up in March so I'm looking forward to that. The pay-per-views are going good so hopefully they just keep growing and getting bigger. I know we're getting new markets all the time. We just got Atlanta not too long ago. I guess Sinclair [Broadcast Group] is trying to reach out and get new markets and us just continuing to perform and get on pay-per-view and everything. We're just rolling with it, man. Whatever comes is a blessing, so we just take it and run with it.

Q: How do you deal with the pressure of being the champion? Do you think about how many tickets are being sold or how many pay-per-views are being bought?

JB: I don't even think about that kind of stuff, man. I just roll with it, man. I just get up and do what I do, do what I've been doing for a while now, man. I try not to even think about all of that other stuff. I just try to  do what I do and let the chips fall how they will.

Q: Why do the fans connect with you so much?

JB: I don't know. I got this crazy brother of mine [Mark Briscoe]. I think brother tag teams are always unique. We got chemistry. I think the people relate to just us being real with each other.

Q: You've been in a tag team with him essentially your entire life, but is it kind of weird knowing that you're not full-time in a tag team anymore?

JB: We still do the tag team thing. I mean, it's different doing more singles matches, but we're still "Dem Boys," man. We still go out there and we still do the tag team thing. It's a little different, a little bit weird being out there by myself for pay-per-views and stuff.

Q: How did you go about doing those classic YouTube promos?

JB: As far as the chicken farm goes, everybody is so interested just to hear how things work and what we do just raising chickens in general. Everybody was always so into it. We'd tell them stories, so we were like, "Man, maybe we can make something out of this." Not everybody lives on a chicken farm, so we can show people something a little different. We just got out there and rolled with it. We just did what we did pretty much everyday, but the only difference was we just had a camera out there with us and everybody seemed to like it.

Q: What was it like knowing that people were really digging those promos? What was your reaction to the fans' reaction?

JB: It was cool, man. It was an honor. I thought it was cool that people were into the chicken farm. There really isn't anything fancy about it. For us, we've been doing this for 20 years now. Growing chickens is the same thing everyday. It's not really exciting to us. I guess we've done it so much. It was crazy to see how much people dug it.

Q: How much do you think the fact that you really are chicken farmers from Delaware play into your popularity?

JB: I think the people respect that we're not trying to sell them on something crazy because sometimes you see some stuff on TV where it's just on some off-the-wall stuff in wrestling. We just try to keep it real, keep it simple and I think they respect the face that we're not trying to insult their intelligence by saying that we're some whatever. We just keep it real and I think the people respect that.

Q: I know you've been close to signing with the WWE in the past. How much do you think about what could have been had you signed with the WWE at that point?

JB: I try not to think about that too much. It is what it is. Right now, I'm just focused on Ring of Honor, especially now being the champ. I'm just focused on defending the title, man. As far as WWE goes, I'm never going to say never, but right now, at this moment, Ring of Honor is on a roll and I'm the champ, so I've got a job to do and I'm going to do it.

Q: I heard in a recent interview that you would like to have a match for New Japan Pro Wrestling? I know you've worked in Japan before, but never New Japan?

JB: We've been to Noah and Big Japan, but never been to New Japan and it just seems like with them coming over here and with us doing the joint shows with them last year, now we got some guys going over there, it seems like a real healthy relationship and New Japan is on a roll just like Ring of Honor is. Going to Japan was always cool because people just look at you like you're superstars, like monsters walking down there. Hopefully, something in the future can work out and we can head back over.

Q: What is it about the style in the ring in New Japan that's so appealing to a wrestler?

JB: It's just real. You just go at it. It's pretty much like Ring of Honor. They just go out there and beat the hell out of each other.

Q: What does being the Ring of Honor World Champion mean to you?

JB: It's an honor, man. It's awesome. They gave me the ball and I try to run with it as best I can. A lot of damn good wrestlers have held that title.

Q: What is like coming back to Philly?

JB: Ring of Honor started in Philly 13 years ago. Coming back to Philly is like home. I know we've got a lot of other places that we go now, but for me, Philly will always be home. That's where this thing started. The crazy Philly fans, you've got to love them.

Q: What was like working in the old ECW Arena back in the day

JB: We used to go to the ECW Arena before we started wrestling to watch ECW. Being able to perform there was crazy. That was the one place…to hell with Madison Square Garden. I'm trying to work at the Arena.