Former Ring of Honor Tag Team champion Rhett Titus' time as Kenny King's partner was an enjoyable and successful one, but their reign as champions was a short one.
In 2012, Titus and King, wrestling as All-Night Express, won the ROH Tag Team titles, but King left RIng of Honor for TNA about two weeks later and Titus was subsequently stripped of his championship. In an interview with Fightful that aired on a recent of Fightful’s “The List & Ya Boy” podcast, Titus mentioned that there were no hard feelings between the two as Titus understood that King was offered a better deal at the time to wrestle for Total Nonstop Action
“We always talked throughout, more than anything Kenny King and Rhett Titus are friends. I can’t blame Kenny King for taking a better deal for Kenny King at the time. I still had six months left on my deal and his was up. You do what you got to do and I do what I got to do. I can’t be mad at a guy for trying to make more money than that," Titus said.
Although Titus was okay with King doing what he believed was best for his career, Titus admitted that the aftermath was a bit of a struggle due to his career being stopped in its tracks. Titus has spent time with a number of wrestlers as his tag partner to no avail until he found a new tag partner in Will Ferrera. Known as The Dawgs, Titus believes he found a partner with whom he has great chemistry with.
"It definitely sucked because for years, the goal was to get those tag titles. It was a journey going from working tickets for the front door, being ringside security, pretty much any job for Ring of Honor over the years. Coming from all that to make it to the top of the card and winning a championship was like, ‘Wow, I finally feel like I’ve done something here.’ Then, less than two weeks later, you lose it all. It’s heartbreaking at that point. I spent all these years working with this partner and got this goal and now this goal got swept underneath us. It was back to square one. I had a few tag partners since he was gone, but it just wasn’t the same chemistry I had with Kenny. I wrestled with BJ Whitmer and BJ is a good wrestler, but it’s not the same mesh like that. Now I’m [The Dawgs] and I think we have great chemistry,” Titus said.
King made a surprise return to ROH on September 18, 2015, at All Star Extravaganza VII, reuniting with Titus and reforming All-Night Express and they defeated the Briscoe Brothers. Titus said word got to him that King was returning weeks prior to the event and revealed to Fightful that the duo wasn't originally scheduled to take part in All Star Extravaganza against the Briscoes.
Titus said the San Antonio crowd that night was great and it was a new experience for ROH fans who had never seen Titus and King wrestle as a tag team.
“It was about a month, maybe like three weeks or so. We weren’t supposed to come back on All Stars. We were supposed to come back on TV and then a few weeks before King was like, ‘Screw that. We’re just going to come out trails blazing: ANX vs. The Briscoes at All Star Extravaganza.’ Once [The Briscoes] issued the open challenge, then it was set in stone and we were good to go," Titus said.
The segment of the full interview can be seen in the episode of "The List & Ya Boy" can be seen in the video above. "The List & Ya Boy" is hosted by Fightful owner Jimmy Van and managing editor Sean Ross Sapp every Wednesday at 3 p.m. EST and features interviews from various stars in the wrestling industry including Shawn Daivari, Deonna Purrazzo, Diamond Dallas Page and more.
