Jay Lethal Talks 'Death Before Dishonor' Title Defense, Pressures of Being World Champion Again

Back in 2015, Jay Lethal was on top of the wrestling world.

At Best in the World 2015 he defeated Jay Briscoe to become the Ring of Honor World Champion for the first time. Add in the fact that he was already in the midst of a record-breaking reign as ROH World Television Champion and the former Impact Wrestling midcarder was now seen as an untouchable main event star.

He went on to hold the world title for 427 days, defending it against some of ROH's finest stars at the time including AJ Styles, Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Michael Elgin and Roderick Strong before finally dropping it to Cole at Death Before Dishonor in late August 2016.

Nearly three years to the day Lethal won the championship for a second time in a four-way match during a taping of Ring of Honor Wrestling back in late June. Being a multi-time world champion is a rare feat in Ring of Honor, but now that Lethal has returned to the mountaintop he only has one goal in mind — surpassing what he's done before.

"I think the first time you win the championship, especially in professional wrestling, you've got to be performing at a higher level or high enough to get people to notice and go, 'Hey, this guy deserves to be the World Champion,'" Lethal said in a recent interview with Comicbook.com. "The second time is always much harder than that. The second time. it's more of the conversation of, 'What this guy did when he was the World Champion before was so good, let's try it again,' so it's almost a pat on the back to say the first time was so good, we had to go with it again."

Lethal said once you become ROH Champion, there's pressure "at every angle."

"With Ring of Honor always striving to have the best roster in the world, that means they have the greatest wrestlers in the world," Lethal said. "That means the champion must follow all of these matches that involve or have the greatest wrestlers in the world. It's a lot of pressure to follow. You got guys like The Young Bucks, I have to follow their matches as the World Champion, it's nerve wracking."

Lethal is set to defend his title against Will Ospreay, a British wrestler regarded as one of the most talented high-flyers on the planet at Death Before Dishonor XVI on Friday night in Las Vegas. The champ had nothing but kind things to say about his 25-year-old opponent.

"He has mastered his craft," Lethal said. "What he brings to the table has been mastered, 'The Aerial Assassin.' Me, I think more grounded. I have mastered my craft, so two people who have mastered their style of wrestling coming together. This should be nothing short of amazing.

ROH Death Before Dishonor airs LIVE from the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, September 28, 2018 at 9 p.m. EDT on traditional cable and satellite Pay-Per-View providers, and streaming free for HonorClub VIP, 50% off for HonorClub Standard members, and through FITE TV.