Vaous News – ROH’s Cheeseburger Speaks Out, Roa & Tonga Update, More

— Sports Illustrated recently interviewed Tanga Roa and Tama Tonga, who are the Guerrillas of Destiny in NJPW. Roa previously worked in WWE as Camacho. Below are some highlights from the interview with Roa:

On his father Haku teaming with Andre the Giant to face Demolition at WrestleMania 6: “I remember the match with my dad and Andre the Giant against Demolition at WrestleMania VI. We sat really high, away from everybody, and got to watch the match. They lost, but I remember they rolled out in those little rings during their entrance. Andre filled up the entire ring–I don’t know how my dad and Bobby [Heenan] even got in there. We were so young then that we couldn’t really appreciate it like we do now. When your father is a professional wrestler, we don’t want to fill his shoes, but we want to represent him and the rest of our family to the best of our ability. We may look like him, and we emulate some of his moves and movements, but the drive we had–especially among the two of us as brothers–always drove us.”

On going from WWE to NJPW: “I am bigger than most of the talents in Japan, but in WWE, I’m the same size as the other wrestlers, so I didn’t look as big and I didn’t work ‘big.’ Now I need to work like a giant, and that’s the only transition I’ve had to adapt to in Japan. They want me to move like a giant in Japan, while I could move a lot faster in WWE. I’m proudest to be working with my brother. That was our goal from the very beginning in the summer of 2004. I was still in college playing ball, and he was in the Air Force, and I call him in the middle of the night and told him we were going to become professional wrestlers. And he said, ‘You promise?’ and I said yes. We’re here together, working for a great company in New Japan and we have this opportunity to work alongside Ring of Honor, and that’s what I’m proud of. I have nothing to prove to WWE. I appreciated the time I had over there and I learned from it. I learned from it, make your weaknesses your strengths, and our goal is to keep kicking ass. I take great pride when I step in the ring with him knowing where we’ve been, what we’ve done, and what we are now trying to accomplish.”

— Cheeseburger appeared on the latest Kevin Gill show for a new interview. The audio and some highlights are below:

On Brutal Bob Evans: “Bob has helped me a ton. He’s another guy who’s been like a trainer and mentor to me.”

On wrestling in Japan: “Going to Japan was always my dream for so long. That was one of my biggest goals in wrestling. I’m such a fan of the people there, the culture, the food… The fans are so nice. I didn’t think anybody would know who I was but then fans were coming to me like, please sign this! I was like, this is awesome.”

On getting his start in ROH: “I’m luckier than most people as I was bought up in a very good system. I never experience that terrible, s–tty indy phase cause I was born and raised in the Ring of Honor system.”

On how he discovered wrestling: “My dad was a fan so I would just watch it with him here and there. Eventually I was watching it all the time.”

On discovering Japanese wrestling: “The first match I remember seeing was Liger versus Muta. That hooked me immediately, and then I started looking up stuff from New Japan, All Japan, and I can talk about FMW forever.”

On his first ROH match: “My first Ring of Honor match was in Chicago, and it was me and Roddy versus Red Dragon for the Tag belts, and it was accidently announced as a tag title match.”

On working with Delirious: “He’s great. He’s always there when I need him for advice and he’s there to help me in any way possible. He’s been a big mentor to me, a big friend. I wouldn’t have anything that I have right now without him helping me out. I owe all of my success to him.”

On Chris Jericho saying he was his favorite wrestler: “He had seen my name around before and one he day he caught my match on a ring of Honor show and tweeted out that his favorite wrestler was Cheeseburger.”

On his feelings regarding fans: “I feel like I have an obligation to the fans. It’s not too much for me to take a few seconds to sign something for them or take a picture.”