Kelly Klein excited to return to New York City for Ring of Honor's "Manhattan Mayhem" event

When Kelly Klein takes part in Ring of Honor’s “Manhattan Mayhem” event on Saturday, she knows it will be tough to top her last experience wrestling in New York City.

With tens of thousands of wrestling fans converging on the area as part of WrestleMania weekend this past April, Klein won ROH’s Women of Honor championship at a sold-out Madison Square Garden. It was the first non-WWE show held inside MSG in more than 50 years.

“It was really exciting, because it was something that, the year before that, didn’t really seem to be something that I would likely be involved in,” Klein, 33, said. “It meant a lot to me that I was entrusted with that position and that responsibility. I was able to have my mom and dad and my brother come out . . . It was one of those moments that kind of shows what all the years and years of work were for.”

Amid an explosion in the popularity of women’s pro wrestling — as evidenced by Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair performing in the main event of this year’s WrestleMania —Klein acknowledged that ROH’s women’s division still has a ways to go. But “The Gatekeeper,” as she’s known as, said she’s determined to do her part to help ROH’s Women of Honor flourish.

“There are times when I look and think, ‘I wish we were further ahead.’ But then I look back and remember, when we first started, we were not getting representation on every single show, let alone TV or pay-per-views. We were lucky to get a pre-show match on occasion. That’s just the way it was,” Klein said. “We really have come a long way and that’s encouraging, because that means we could do more and keep moving forward.”

Klein isn’t opposed to the evolution of women’s wrestling, including more inter-gender matches. By and large, major wrestling companies in the U.S. historically have stayed away from pitting men against women. But Klein, who worked with men regularly when training to become a wrestler, suggested some of the reasons behind the taboo are outdated.

 “I don’t see any reason why men and women shouldn’t be able to work together. There’s a lot of examples of two men working together where their size, or strengths, or agility, or whatever the different factors are, were drastically different. And then there are examples of men and women who are pretty evently matched,” said Klein, who also believes wrestling companies shouldn’t shy away from the shock value of inter-gender matches. “I think that people are definitely allowed to have an emotional reaction to it. In fact, I think that’s the desire . . . It’s going to be there, and that’s OK.”

Ring of Honor’s Manhattan Mayhem takes place Saturday night at The Manhattan Center’s Hammerstein Ballroom at 7 p.m. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, and the show will be streamed online through ROH’s Honor Club.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.