Breaking: ROH releases entire roster

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">ROH released everyone from contracts, more to come.</p>&mdash; Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) <a href="https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/1453448050467213321?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/mbEbsmZjBH">pic.twitter.com/mbEbsmZjBH</a></p>&mdash; ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) <a href="https://twitter.com/ringofhonor/status/1453442439696601090?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Sepholio]

Damn that's horrible. Fuck their management.

[slik]

They didn't release anyone during the pandemic and continued to pay people as long as they could, that's a good thing.

[Evil Vito]

So they released their whole roster, but will continue to run shows (presumably on open deals) and then take a hiatus. Strange.

[Evil Vito]

They could've fired everyone but Danhausen and just let him be a one man show.

[slik]

I don't know who'll be left when they re-brand in 2022...I assume WWE, AEW, Impact and New Japan will gobble up anyone of interest

[Destor]

Damn that's horrible. Fuck their management.yeah their industry was made illegal. fucking shit management

[drave]

yeah their industry was made illegal. fucking shit management




Wait... what??

[Bad News Gertner]

"Ring of Honor Wrestling (ROH) made a huge announcement today, stating that the company will be undergoing a hiatus following Final Battle 2021 in December with plans to “reimagine” the company and find a “new mission and strategy.” However, it also appears all wrestlers currently under contract with the promotion have now been released, per F4WOnline.com’s Dave Meltzer. More details are still forthcoming, but Meltzer reported that ROH has released “everyone from contracts.”

To potentially shed more light on what this means for the wrestlers, PWInsider in a later update reported that multiple talents were on a Zoom call today, where they were informed if their contracts were expiring at the end of the year, they will not be renewed. Following that time, they will be free to work elsewhere.


For wrestlers who are under contract that go past January 1, 2022, PWInsider noted that they will remain under contract for a “certain period of time.” The window is expected to run through around March or April 2022.

Beyond that, ROH is still reportedly planning to continue taping their weekly show later this weekend in Baltimore. Final Battle 2021 is also said to be still moving forward as planned, with the event likely serving as a major end-point for the promotion before the cited reimagining takes place.

PWInsider notes that ROH does still have a venue scheduled for WrestleMania Weekend next year in Dallas, Texas, which would likely be for a planned April return with Supercard of Honor. Additionally, PWInsider reports that ROH plans to continue its weekly TV show during the hiatus by using archival footage and more"

[xrodmuc316]

Man Impact outliving another one!

[erickman]

i am still 3 weeks behind watching there shows. time for the briscos take on ftr. love an velvet will go back to impact knockout tag div. jay needs to go back to impact too

[erickman]

Man Impact outliving another one!

i don't remember which came 1st tna or roh i think they came around the same time.

[Sepholio]

They didn't release anyone during the pandemic and continued to pay people as long as they could, that's a good thing.

I'm sorry, when did the pandemic end exactly? Wasn't our hospital system basically stressed to the absolute limit like, oh, a month ago?

I'm glad you know what I was going for though. Kinda funny to shit on WWE for releasing a couple dozen people and then act like ROH is just super rosy when they can the entire roster.

[Sepholio]

yeah their industry was made illegal. fucking shit management

When was wrestling made illegal? I totally missed that one.

They couldn't have live audiences. No one could. They did the same thing as everyone else and just did TV tapings with no audience. There is no difference between them in this regard.

[Sepholio]

90k new cases of corona in the US yesterday. 1700+ deaths.

"Pandemic is over guys!!!" - Slik

[slik]

I'm sorry, when did the pandemic end exactly? Wasn't our hospital system basically stressed to the absolute limit like, oh, a month ago?

I'm glad you know what I was going for though. Kinda funny to shit on WWE for releasing a couple dozen people and then act like ROH is just super rosy when they can the entire roster.

WWE has record profits and doesn't have to release anyone
ROH held on as long as they could without making profits

big difference there, not sure why you are mad at ROH for doing what Sinclair told them to do, it's not like it was their choice.

[Destor]

When was wrestling made illegal? I totally missed that one.

They couldn't have live audiences. No one could. They did the same thing as everyone else and just did TV tapings with no audience. There is no difference between them in this regard.tv costs RoH money. the gate is how they pay for it. jesus.

[Sepholio]

What did Sinclair tell them to do exactly? I haven't seen them mentioned anywhere in these announcements. Did they tell them they can't have live audiences at their shows or something since everyone else went back to have crowds?

WWE bad for releasing a small % of their people during a pandemic because they are turning a profit.
ROH good for releasing 100% of their people during a pandemic because they can't turn a profit because reasons. Why isn't MLW shutting down? NWA? All the tiny ass indy promos running shows in gyms? Because they have better management and handle their finances better than ROH did apparently.

I'm not actually mad at ROH over this, but this kind of inconsistency and cherry picking is exactly why we get 14 straight pages of Noid rants every day.

Edit: So I see Sinclair owns ROH. So I will actually stand by my original post of fuck their managment.

[slik]

What did Sinclair tell them to do exactly? I haven't seen them mentioned anywhere in these announcements.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We're told that Joe Koff told talent he had multiple meetings trying to fight for ROH, but ultimately Sinclair made the call. Talent was told there was some type of TV show that will be in place after Final Battle but weren't told what that would be.</p>&mdash; Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) <a href="https://twitter.com/SeanRossSapp/status/1453476062294315008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Sepholio]

tv costs RoH money. the gate is how they pay for it. jesus.

Sinclair owns ROH.

Sinclair is currently turning profits. They made a 1.61 billion dollar profit last quarter.

Edit: The article I read mislabeled their revenue as profit. Did more research. Seems they might be operating at a loss so far this year despite having much higher revenue and beating all the estimates so far. From what I gather this is a result of them buying up other networks again and getting ready to launch some kind of service to do with their acquisition of fox sports regional networks a couple years ago. However, they were made a fortune 500 company for the first time back in June, so obviously they aren't hurting.

[erickman]

yeah if sinclair drops them they are done

[Sepholio]

I actually hate Sinclair management for other reasons tbf. They cancelled Outsiders when it was the highest rated show on any of their networks. Track record of shitty decisions by the management over there.

[slik]

I dislike Sinclair for their psychotic political stuff they've made local news stations they bought spew out.

[slik]

I can't tell you how NWA and MLW are hanging in there, I'm glad they are still able to give out paychecks to people but I don't know how long it will last, MLW in particular. Their big return has been a dud so far.

[erickman]

I actually hate Sinclair management for other reasons tbf. They cancelled Outsiders when it was the highest rated show on any of their networks. Track record of shitty decisions by the management over there.

so may be better if roh dies and most of the talent go to impact.

[slik]

A bidding war between WWE/AEW for ROH's tape history could be interesting, especially if AEW is ever going to have a streaming library of some sort. It'd be a good thing for either company to nab if ROH goes under.

[Sepholio]

I dislike Sinclair for their psychotic political stuff they've made local news stations they bought spew out.

Oh yeah I forgot about that. F them for that too.

[Sepholio]

I honestly don't see ROH coming back unless they somehow get out from under Sinclair. I don't see how ROH could possibly do that barring some other company/rich person swooping in offering to buy it from Sinclair, and that seems super unlikely at this point.

[Bad News Gertner]

I knew they were doomed when AEW became a thing and NXT became "indyriffic" and started doing ROH better than ROH. They lost what made them stand out.

[erickman]

i want to see quinn mckay have a story with rosemary

[Vastardikai]

A bidding war between WWE/AEW for ROH's tape history could be interesting, especially if AEW is ever going to have a streaming library of some sort. It'd be a good thing for either company to nab if ROH goes under.

I think Vince might nab that right out from under them. Tony would be more interested in signing Danhausen (who wouldn't be?), the Briscoes (who wouldn't be?), and maybe Jay Lethal (they need a new guy on Dark.). Vince would get to make specials for AJ, Joe, Cesaro, KO, Zayn, Ciampa, Gargano, etc.

[weather vane]

Wild.

[Vastardikai]

i want to see quinn mckay have dirty sex with Vastardikai

:naughty::naughty:

I'm so lonely. God, I'm lonely. :'(

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Is Danhausen a comedy wrestler?

[Vastardikai]

Is Danhausen a comedy wrestler?

More or less. He'd fit right in with AEW.

I showed people at work a picture of him, and told them he was the illegitimate child of Elivira and PeeWee Herman. They believed me.

[Bad News Gertner]

The WWE would never let him do that gimmick

[#1-norm-fan]

Even Cornette loves Danhausen. Though to be fair he refuses to actually watch him wrestle.

[Evil Vito]

Danhausen going on Conan was one of the most surreal moments of the pandemic

[rez]

Any bets on who ends up in njpw, wwe, aew, impact, or nwa?

I feel Impact might take a few back. Briscoes could become trainers or go back to Japan.

[rez]

Maria and Mike can't catch a break!

[weather vane]

I’d like to see the Briscos in AEW. PCO and Danhausen could be fun in the right way. Flip Gordon would make sense.

[Jordan]

Maria and Mike can't catch a break!

Mike especially really has no value that I can see. Sucks but it's true. He's been buried to death.

[Jordan]

Any bets on who ends up in njpw, wwe, aew, impact, or nwa?

I feel Impact might take a few back. Briscoes could become trainers or go back to Japan.

Briscoes and Bandido already working for GCW.

I imagine a possible bidding war for Rush. Bandido should be AEW bound but they have guys to play that role. NJPW would be great for him.

I think we will see Briscoes in AEW probably.

Gresham can do anything so I hope it's a great NIPW deal or even AEW. AEW does need a really great black guy tbh and this dude can do it all.

Flip to AEW makes a lot of sense too.

[Jordan]

Can't imagine WWE picking up any of the talents except maybe Rush or possibly Bandido.

[XL]

Especially if the “no indie guys rule” is actually a thing.

I’d like to see the Briscoes in WWE to work The Usos but I don’t think they’d touch them.

[Ruien]

I'm sorry, when did the pandemic end exactly? Wasn't our hospital system basically stressed to the absolute limit like, oh, a month ago?

I'm glad you know what I was going for though. Kinda funny to shit on WWE for releasing a couple dozen people and then act like ROH is just super rosy when they can the entire roster.

Dude, they went broke trying to help everyone.

[erickman]

Briscoes and Bandido already working for GCW.

I imagine a possible bidding war for Rush. Bandido should be AEW bound but they have guys to play that role. NJPW would be great for him.

I think we will see Briscoes in AEW probably.

Gresham can do anything so I hope it's a great NIPW deal or even AEW. AEW does need a really great black guy tbh and this dude can do it all.

Flip to AEW makes a lot of sense too.

i think gresham will work with his girlfriend grace at impact.

[erickman]

Any bets on who ends up in njpw, wwe, aew, impact, or nwa?

I feel Impact might take a few back. Briscoes could become trainers or go back to Japan.

the briscos have a few money matches with ftr before they go to training.

[Sepholio]

Dude, they went broke trying to help everyone.

Once again. They aren't broke. ROH is not an independent company. They are owned by Sinclair Broadcasting Corp, the company that owns the channel they run on and a bunch of others. Sinclair is nowhere near broke, they are a fortune 500 company as of June.

[Mr. Nerfect]

We’re starting to see the downside of AEW being in the marketplace. It’s very easy for people to say “It gives people more money and a place to work!” like it’s unequivocally good, but it means others need to keep up their audience and be able to retain talent that know there are multi-million dollar deals with any of the big companies.

Creatively, I don’t know what ROH can do to stay in the game. There will probably be competing offers to purchase it and its tape library. Tony Khan will want a library behind him for streaming deals. It also gives him access to some of his talent’s early work for promotional reasons. Creatively, TK could keep ROH open and use it for an invasion angle or something of the like. He can use it as another place for less experienced talent to work and headline shows with CM Punk, Bryan Danielson and the like.

WWE will probably want the tape library for content’s sake. They don’t really have anyone from ROH they’re pushing anymore — which is weird, because it felt like just yesterday that half the roster had been there. Anyway, Vince can always put an hour of WWE programming in ROH’s place. The return of Jakked!

[Mr. Nerfect]

WWE sacrificed its boutique product to streamline its television content. There’s a place for “artesian” WWE. Probably headed up by Triple H using talent Raw and SmackDown aren’t utilising. Syndication works well for that on a micro level, whereas streaming works well on a global level. It would seriously not surprise me to see WWE announce new content that revolves around targeting the hardcore and lapsed fan. Cover all bases.

[ron the dial]

artisan, mr. education.

[ron the dial]

*artisian, i also see?

i am dumb, too.

[ron the dial]

listen all i know is that artesian has to do with water and i don't think wwe is pivoting into the hydration game.

[#1-norm-fan]

During his career Triple H spit a lot of bottled water back into the wild. He may have a point.

[Bad News Gertner]

You've got to wonder with ratings tanking, will AEW be doing the same?

[#1-norm-fan]

What? Do a water-spitting gimmick? I’ve called for this even before the Saturday night ratings flop!

With Covid it’s even MORE of a great heel entrance.

[Mr. Nerfect]

*artisian, i also see?

i am dumb, too.

Phone correction. I don’t claim to be a genius, #fan projects that onto me to try and smash it down. I do the same to him.

[erickman]

it looks like sinclair will still run there shows but not give them any money, i am waiting for cornett to go off i watching for his you tubes.

[#1-norm-fan]

Phone correction. I don’t claim to be a genius, #fan projects that onto me to try and smash it down. I do the same to him.

Fucking Australian education system. :roll:

[DAMN iNATOR]

Sinclair owns ROH.

Sinclair is currently turning profits. They made a 1.61 billion dollar profit last quarter.

Edit: The article I read mislabeled their revenue as profit. Did more research. Seems they might be operating at a loss so far this year despite having much higher revenue and beating all the estimates so far. From what I gather this is a result of them buying up other networks again and getting ready to launch some kind of service to do with their acquisition of fox sports regional networks a couple years ago. However, they were made a fortune 500 company for the first time back in June, so obviously they aren't hurting.

Wait, are you telling me they're the bastards behind all the FOX Sports regional/big city networks having their names changed to Bally Sports whatever?

When I think of Bally, I want to think in terms of when they were a part of Midway as Bally-Midway Mfg., who of course famously released the arcade game Pac-Man. I know they've done some shit since involving selling fitness stuff and whatnot but I could care less. Anyway, thanks everyone for indulging my quite off-topic rant.

[erickman]

Wait, are you telling me they're the bastards behind all the FOX Sports regional/big city networks having their names changed to Bally Sports whatever?

When I think of Bally, I want to think in terms of when they were a part of Midway as Bally-Midway Mfg., who of course famously released the arcade game Pac-Man. I know they've done some shit since involving selling fitness stuff and whatnot but I could care less. Anyway, thanks everyone for indulging my quite off-topic rant.

yeah i was thinking pinball that is where bally 1st made there money, when it changed from fox sports to bally.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Fucking Australian education system. :roll:

I had no faith in it until I realised how bad it could be.

[Jordan]

I predict ROH is dead, they won't return as an active promotion but may sell of their archives to someone probably WWE.

[erickman]

i wonder if aew and wwe will bid each other up on the tapes.

[Jordan]

If AEW wants their own network or channel on HBO or whatever, buying out the ROH library and also adding PWG could be a decent chance a making some money.

[erickman]

i heard cornett on youtube last night, he was talking of tony buying it just for the local tv rights with sinclair for 2 years.

[Mr. Nerfect]

i wonder if aew and wwe will bid each other up on the tapes.

It would make sense for every major player to come to the table. The tape library is valuable to Tony Khan, which means it is valuable to the WWE to block that.

[Vastardikai]

It would make sense for every major player to come to the table. The tape library is valuable to Tony Khan, which means it is valuable to the WWE to block that.

Not only that. You can have an Ultimate Seth Rollins special featuring his matches as Tyler Black. Or a thing on "Tag Team Specialists," and discuss Cesaro teaming with Hero. If and when Danielson comes back, you have some of his best matches from ROH, including that banger with Kamala :shifty:. If they stick around, you can do the "Fight Forever" special with Owens and Zayn. There are reasons for WWE to have the tape library that means more than just not letting Khan have it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Not only that. You can have an Ultimate Seth Rollins special featuring his matches as Tyler Black. Or a thing on "Tag Team Specialists," and discuss Cesaro teaming with Hero. If and when Danielson comes back, you have some of his best matches from ROH, including that banger with Kamala :shifty:. If they stick around, you can do the "Fight Forever" special with Owens and Zayn. There are reasons for WWE to have the tape library that means more than just not letting Khan have it.

Oh, no doubt. I figured it would be way more valuable to them when they had more emphasis on guys like Bryan, Joe and even a guy like Punk if they were going to bring him back into the fold. A guy like Cesaro it serves a function with, but he’s not a big enough star in their sphere that it justifies it on its own, per se, as opposed to just being a convenient consequence.

I honestly forgot about Seth, haha. He’s a big enough star that it would make sense, but then again his WWE run has been so “WWE built” that I don’t know they’d even stress to really bring it up. Sad as that may be.

There is documentary potential there too (as in a ROH history thing), but how do you do that to full potential without Punk and Danielson?

I think the main value could actually be in the syndication spot. The WWE has a conversion issue right now where they have whittled the ticket-buying audience down to hardcores. That works when they’re the only game in town and don’t mind their top faces being booed because they’re receiving professional wrestling pushes. But it makes them a colder ticket than an AEW in certain markets because AEW has that atmosphere that feels more congruent with that fan’s preferences.

SmackDown being on FOX hypothetically helps. But syndication would put them in front of a couple of hundred thousand people who watch and make casual judgments that could push them towards ticket-buying, further television or streaming services.

I think the WWE could use a more grassroots approach in that sense. So much of their marketing seems to be about a global presence. Using a Jinder Mahal makes sense when it comes to getting exposure in India. Even if it doesn’t translate to bigger domestic gates or ratings. As the world moves towards streaming, this makes more sense too — either in securing big deals with already established entities (a Netflix, for example), or helping establish them (a Peacock).

When it comes to the streaming front, I think Vince has kind of conceded that he might not necessarily be the only game in town. He’s thinking with his immediate wallet, and that means jumping into bed with NBC Universal. They seem to have projects on the go with Netflix (only tangentially related to wrestling) that might secure them multi-platform deals that seem to lock out other content providers. But there’s always going to be that Amazon Prime, or that Paramount+, or that ESPN+ that wants wrestling content. And they might pay out the ass for them and leave Vince in an inevitable situation where his stuff is just going to be watched by less people. You can see this in his TV deals in the UK and other parts of Europe.

I think it would benefit the WWE to have the largest non-exclusive library they can have, as well as also producing syndicated content and first-run streaming content, the latter of which could be aimed at the hardcore fan. On an OTT service it won’t need to have its ratings compared with AEW and the like either. This was always a big reason NXT did not go hard against AEW at the start (in my opinion). A streaming alternative could circumvent that appearance issue. But having a ROH would allow them that boutique product that can drown out an AEW without having its dick measured.

[Tom Guycott]

i want to see quinn mckay have a story with rosemary

i want to see quinn mckay have dirty sex with Vastardikai :naughty::naughty:

I'm so lonely. God, I'm lonely. :'(

I'm not into voyeurism, but I'd watch either of those for the chance to see her yummy, yummy abs. That whole "frumpy nerd girl announcer" shtick is hiding that banging body in ring gear, which makes it a treat to see. It's like that Stanhope joke about the bartender's tits at a strip club being the ones you desperately want to see just because you can't in spite of being surrounded by literally dozens of exposed jubblies.

[Vastardikai]

It appears that Danhausen broke his leg on Halloween. (a joke that writes itself, I hope he gets well bad timing to be getting ready for an AEW run).

[erickman]

It appears that Danhausen broke his leg on Halloween. (a joke that writes itself, I hope he gets well bad timing to be getting ready for an AEW run).

good thing it is his mouth not his wrestling that gets him over, he can manage for a bit till he can wressle again.

[#1-norm-fan]

Nonetheless, he is cursed.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don’t know how much money Bushiroad has, but they should realistically consider buying ROH as their main US product. Or taking that syndication spot and signing a few guys like Jay Lethal, The Briscoes, Bandido, etc.

From Tony Khan’s perspective, owning ROH could be a giant angle for him. Or provide fresh places for his guys to work instead of jamming them all into AEW. Shows with Punk and Danielson would obviously draw great interest at their level. But you can also send guys like Dante Martin to get more polish. Cody, Cole and Fish are three other guys that could just work really well there.

[erickman]

I don’t know how much money Bushiroad has, but they should realistically consider buying ROH as their main US product. Or taking that syndication spot and signing a few guys like Jay Lethal, The Briscoes, Bandido, etc.

From Tony Khan’s perspective, owning ROH could be a giant angle for him. Or provide fresh places for his guys to work instead of jamming them all into AEW. Shows with Punk and Danielson would obviously draw great interest at their level. But you can also send guys like Dante Martin to get more polish. Cody, Cole and Fish are three other guys that could just work really well there.

that's a good idea then they don't have to work with ether aew or impact. i just don't see them putting as much money as vince or tony

[Mr. Nerfect]

that's a good idea then they don't have to work with ether aew or impact. i just don't see them putting as much money as vince or tony

You’re right there. They would have to be the only ones wanting it, and I can’t see Vince or Tony whiffing on 19 years of content featuring some pretty recognizable names. I can see New Japan maybe scoring some of the talent from this though, unless, again, Tony opens up the chequebook and just picks up everyone for the sake of having them.