Dalton Castle is known for his time in Ring of Honor but at one point in the mid-2010s, he received an opportunity to try out for WWE when FCW, Florida Championship Wrestling, was still the main developmental territory.
Unfortunately for Castle, he doesn't have too many positive memories of his WWE tryout back when he was still developing the Dalton Castle act that we see today.
“It was probably 2013 or 2014, I started getting a lot more bookings and traveling on the road. I wasn’t doing the act that you see today, I was still Dalton Castle, I was still a peacock, but I wasn’t coming out in the jumpsuit with The Boys. I had tassels and a lot of color, but I didn’t really have a lot of direction in what I was doing. But because I was still functional in the ring and was still charismatic, I got the opportunity to try out with WWE,” he recalled while speaking to Amy Nemmity of Wrestle Joy. “Being young, I was on the radio at the time, and I hated my job, and I got called down. At the time, I was like, ‘This is it, this is everything I’ve been working for’. I go down to WWE, I go to one of those 3-day tryouts at FCW. I felt like I was crushing it. I felt so good! Day 3 was promo day, they said come as you want, come comfortable, come as you are. I wore flip-flops, and went up, and I did my promo. Like, there’s no doubt in my mind that I didn’t crush it, because I’m really good! Even then I was really good, I obviously got invited down.”
Unfortunately for the former Ring of Honor World Champion, those he tried out in front of were not very kind. He does, however, recall Dusty Rhodes being the only one who didn't say anything mean.
“They just dressed me down the second I stopped talking. They didn’t say one positive thing about the way I talked. They just shit on me for wearing flip-flops. Seven men that I looked up to, that I grew up watching and respecting, they were just running me down. I think the only person who didn’t say something mean and was just kind of nice, was Dusty Rhodes. That was something, that’s kind of nice.”
Castle would go on to Ring of Honor, a company that he says changed his life, and even though the regime has changed, Castle can still be found wrestling in Ring of Honor from time to time under the Tony Khan regime.
Fans can get an update on Dalton's contract status at this link.
Castle would eventually win the Ring of Honor World Championship from Dusty Rhodes' son, Cody, but he wishes he could have done more with his reign.
