Ring of Honor Wrestling

[Migs]

I guess I have to at least check out the Final Battle main event now. That and the Marty news... man, every time I think I'm all the way out on ROH they pull me right back onto the edge.

[C.S.]

 

[sek69]

Marty apparently is working on a deal that will allow him to work ROH, NJPW, and NWA.  Bandido signed a new deal as well. I hope they got some fat stacks for staying in what's quickly becoming the wrestling version of the Phantom Zone.

[Migs]

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

Marty apparently is working on a deal that will allow him to work ROH, NJPW, and NWA.  Bandido signed a new deal as well. I hope they got some fat stacks for staying in what's quickly becoming the wrestling version of the Phantom Zone.

Dave said Marty was offered WWE main roster money. Considering the number of ROH dates, those are some fat stacks.

[SirEdger]

Is it specified if according to that deal, Marty can only work those 3 promotions?

[Migs]

19 hours ago, SirEdger said:

Is it specified if according to that deal, Marty can only work those 3 promotions?

It doesn't sound like anything's been signed yet. But I'd assume he'd still be free to work in other countries, too.

[Blehschmidt]

Big rumor is that the new contract makes him head booker, he only has to work 40 dates, makes a shitload of money, and can work for NJPW and NWA as well.

If true, good for him for getting all he could from the dumpster fire.

[Ricky Jackson]

Scurll got main roster money AND the book. Hopefully he can turn ROH around. Will be interesting to see this all play out. Plus he can work New Japan, NWA and maybe AEW. He's one of the biggest winners in the wrestling talent-signing spree of the last year or so

[C.S.]

If this is true, I really question Scurll re-signing with a dying brand for a co-booker role where he'll potentially be undermined and overturned every step of the way. Co-ANYTHING usually doesn't work in positions such as this one.

 

[SirEdger]

The way I understand it (and @rovert could probably confirm this) is that Scurll actually IS the head booker, with Delirious being seemingly relegated as his assistant. Seems like it was how it was working when Delirious took over from Jim Cornette. The free show in February is apparently Marty's idea.

[sek69]

Does Bully Ray still have any influence or is he just Executive VP of Threatening Fans at Ringside?

[C.S.]

1 hour ago, SirEdger said:

The way I understand it (and @rovert could probably confirm this) is that Scurll actually IS the head booker, with Delirious being seemingly relegated as his assistant. Seems like it was how it was working when Delirious took over from Jim Cornette. The free show in February is apparently Marty's idea.

I wonder how Delirious feels about that.

40 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Does Bully Ray still have any influence or is he just Executive VP of Threatening Fans at Ringside?

If that guy has any kind of executive position or influence, what a terrible idea...

I don't care how "creative" he is - he has shown himself to be a massive liability in every other way.

It boggles my mind why anyone is still interested in this guy in 2020. 

[SomethingSavage]

2 hours ago, sek69 said:

Does Bully Ray still have any influence or is he just Executive VP of Threatening Fans at Ringside?

 Okay, I popped for that.

1 hour ago, C.S. said:

I wonder how Delirious feels about that.

If that guy has any kind of executive position or influence, what a terrible idea...

I don't care how "creative" he is - he has shown himself to be a massive liability in every other way.

It boggles my mind why anyone is still interested in this guy in 2020. 

Delirious should feel his way right out the door. Dude's run as booker has been almost entirely a dud. The few bright spots under his watch (heel Matt Hardy, the New Japan/Bullet Club tie-ins) all kind of occurred AROUND his plans. It's hardly like he spear-headed any of it.

What's his big claim to fame? What was his best idea?

I mean, I'm not about to argue that Bully Ray has had any gangbuster great ideas anywhere either, but at least the dude is generally regarded as a creative guy by some people in the business. I don't know that anyone touts Delirious as remarkable at anything.

[sek69]

From what I've read, Marty wants to rebuild ties with New Japan and the NWA (which is why Nick Aldis has shown back up in ROH) and try to establish ties with AEW. 

[Migs]

The reporting has been all over the place here, with Meltz now saying Marty is just on the booking committee, with Delirious still head booker. Maybe that's just in name, I dunno.

Also, I think building a relationship with AEW would be an incredible long shot - as Dave pointed out, it's hard to tell what on earth ROH would offer in that relationship, other than Marty.

[Big Pete]

I would say Delirious best asset is his capacity to keep an open mind.

Before he went solo, ROH had Cornette trying to book it like a mainstream promotion. While it's difficult to fault Jim's lofty ambitions, he just didn't receive the support from iPPV or Sinclair to make the shift worthwhile, so ultimately fans were left with a third rate WWE. Delirious handled the transition better and instead of trying to force the issue, he went back and booked the talent Cornette passed on since they didn't fit the aesthetic he was going for.

Most notably bringing the Young Bucks back and capitilising on the reputation they had built for themselves on the west coast and putting them in a featured position.

Even then, I don't think a guy like Dalton Castle would see the light of day under Cornette's ROH and he was one of the better acts to come out of the promotion in recent years.

Again, I feel Delirious made a wise decision to appease the independant crowd and it paid off handsomely when he was able to get ROH affiliated with NJPW. However, the promotion felt aimless and there were so many acts that came and went that never received the stardom they deserved.

Hopefully Scurll brings some fresh ideas and overhauls their television. The lead up to Final Battle was some of the worst promotion I've seen for a major PPV.

[SirEdger]

1 hour ago, Migs said:

The reporting has been all over the place here, with Meltz now saying Marty is just on the booking committee, with Delirious still head booker. Maybe that's just in name, I dunno.

Also, I think building a relationship with AEW would be an incredible long shot - as Dave pointed out, it's hard to tell what on earth ROH would offer in that relationship, other than Marty.

I don't know...is AEW working with ROH more a long shot than AEW working with New Japan? I don't know if realistically, as a promotion, you'd pass on the possibility to work with guys like Jay Lethal, the Briscoes, Jonathan Gresham among others just to prove a point. We can agree that ROH would need AEW way more than AEW would need ROH but there still are a ton of fun matchups that could be accomplished by a working relationship between both promotions. I wouldn't necessarily expect a bleeding of programs across both shows but every once in a while, a Jay Lethal popping up on AEW TV could be fun. Or Villain Enterprises.

[Migs]

1 hour ago, SirEdger said:

I don't know...is AEW working with ROH more a long shot than AEW working with New Japan? I don't know if realistically, as a promotion, you'd pass on the possibility to work with guys like Jay Lethal, the Briscoes, Jonathan Gresham among others just to prove a point. We can agree that ROH would need AEW way more than AEW would need ROH but there still are a ton of fun matchups that could be accomplished by a working relationship between both promotions. I wouldn't necessarily expect a bleeding of programs across both shows but every once in a while, a Jay Lethal popping up on AEW TV could be fun. Or Villain Enterprises.

The problem is that so many of the top guys came from there that I don't think there's a lot of dream matchups to be done, outside of Marty/PCO. There's a lot of money to be made jointly on Okada-Omega V, less so on Jay Lethal vs. Pentagon.

[SirEdger]

I'll give you that. But what about Jericho? And Moxley? Even the rising stars like Darby Allin and MJF could benefit from that as well.

[sek69]

I guess Marty must have the magic touch, since they are getting a ton of New Japan guys to appear on Supercard of Honor this year. Between that and having Rush create an Ingobernales faction in ROH, they're already more interesting in 2020 than they were all of last year. 

[Zoo Enthusiast]

Anything that keeps Marty out of AEW for as long as possible has to been seen as a win for everyone.

[Mad Dog]

It seems like they might have mercy killed the women's division finally.

[rovert]

3 hours ago, Mad Dog said:

It seems like they might have mercy killed the women's division finally.

Nah they are doing a WOH tryout soon (largely a cash grab). Martina is debuting soon and Maria Manic will likely win her feud with Bully Ray. They just turned Sumie heel and Nicole Savoy has been used a lot most recently. 

It is believed Jonathan Gresham has taken over the booking of the women. It bounced around a lot but I think the last two people who were handling it were Bully Ray and Todd Sinclair. 

[sek69]

It really goes under the radar (even when they were the hot promotion) how many cash grab "tryouts" seem to surround ROH and ROH-adjacent folks.

[Mad Dog]

Yeah, Josh Alexander wrote about that scam sometime around 2014. Makes you wonder how much more stable a company they could be if they weren't pay to play on more unknown talents.