MikeCampbell Posted October 26, 2008 Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 http://rohwrestling.com/news/article.aspx?id=1999 Ring of Honor is announcing that Gabe Sapolsky will be leaving the company effective immediately. Everybody at ROH would like to thank him for his contributions and wish him well in all future endeavors. Going forward Ring of Honor will be focusing on the stories and the talent in the ring. The company will have no further comments on this issue or a replacement for Mr. Sapolsky. We would like to thank all of the fans and media who have supported us over the years and look forward to bringing you more great wrestling excitement in the future. I was scouring the web looking for the ECWA Super 8 results (my best friend worked the show), saw this posted on DOI, and figured it was the usual DOI bullshit, until they posted the link to the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DietSoda Posted October 26, 2008 Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 Thank god. ROH was stale as hell for a long time now. Do you think they'd try to get Heyman? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted October 26, 2008 Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 I don't think it's a "thank god" thing, even though Gabe was far from perfect. Anytime a small company loses the guy who has always been its creative center, there's a danger. I'm not saying they're screwed; just that they seem to be on unsteady ground, between this and the terrible economy. I wonder if it had anything to do with the news about TV negotiations in the latest Observer. It always sounded like Gabe was more conservative on that and PPV whereas Cary Silkin wanted to push more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cox Posted October 26, 2008 Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 That probably has something to do with it. I mean, Meltzer would always talk about how Gabe saw what happened to ECW when they tried to get too big, but that was when ROH was still able to make a profit on DVD and live event sales. Dave has talked about how DVD sales have leveled off, and live attendance seems to be down (Edison did around 250 last night, Danbury didn't do well either on Friday, plus the canceled Florida shows) so I have to wonder if Cary was insistent on pushing forward to avoid losing money. Plus, like I said...business hasn't been strong of late and somebody has to take the blame. Either way, expect Gabe's entire E-Mail to Meltzer explaining the deal to get published word for word this week in the WON, with Meltzer talking him up as the Booker of the Year getting fired 11/12's through another sure Booker of the Year award (even though business has been in the shitter). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovert Posted October 26, 2008 Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 Someone's Kiwi boyfriend is getting a promotion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boondocks Kernoodle Posted October 26, 2008 Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 Someone's Kiwi boyfriendIs there any truth to this rumor or is it DVDVR sleaze thread tomfoolery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indikator Posted October 26, 2008 Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 Luke Williams is an accomplished booker, who could succeed. But I wouldn't bet my money on it, it should be quite hard for an old school booker to adapt to the current ROH product. This caught my attention: "You have to wonder if Gabe is carving his arms somewhere like he used to do in the ECW days after being told he was fired." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted October 27, 2008 Report Share Posted October 27, 2008 It could be worse, Dave Prazak could be booking and all the cards would basically be shimmer cards with a couple mens matches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravJ1979 Posted October 27, 2008 Report Share Posted October 27, 2008 Someone's Kiwi boyfriendIs there any truth to this rumor or is it DVDVR sleaze thread tomfoolery? I don't get it. Could someone explain? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeCampbell Posted October 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2008 He's referring to Cary Silken and Bushwacker Luke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cox Posted October 27, 2008 Report Share Posted October 27, 2008 And as it turns out, it's going to be Adam Pearce anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boondocks Kernoodle Posted October 27, 2008 Report Share Posted October 27, 2008 That explains why Pearce jobbed the NWA title in Mexico this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeCampbell Posted October 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2008 Pretty funny for Pearce. He goes from being wished well in future endeavors due to cost cutting, to being the new booker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cox Posted October 28, 2008 Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 Bix oughta get a kick out of this one...from Alvarez's write-up on the Gabe situation: They are not getting rid of highspots, although the days of Sapolsky's match line-ups reading, for example, "nine minutes of spots" are a thing of the past. Suddenly, so much of what was wrong about ROH makes total sense. Keep not believing in road agents, Gabe... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHawk Posted October 28, 2008 Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 My main concern about Pearce as booker is if he's going to book himself as a wrestler. Most of the time the booker booking himself = bad idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cox Posted October 28, 2008 Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 More from Alvarez: There was a full-crew meeting at the last Boston show where Gabe called everyone together and said they needed to mix up the shows because they were all the same. He said he wanted, for example, less chop exchanges and less superkicks. This turned into a discussion amongst the crew, and it eventually came back down on Gabe with the wrestlers saying that one of the reasons the shows all felt the same was because they were all booked the same. Gabe reportedly got defensive, and then concluded that it didn't matter because "tomorrow is Philadelphia". There was a feeling that in 2008 Philadelphia didn't mean anything more than any other major town and was a sign that Gabe was stuck in a mentality from years earlier and had thus become ineffectual as a booker. ... I've been told, my guess would be that most ROH fans will have little to worry about and in the end it should theoretically be a better product, particularly if they are in the beginning stages, as rumored, of trying to set up a TV deal. According to one source, the network in question is Fuse TV, which is a very low-level MTV-style station (well, MTV when they used to play videos all the time). We are told that among the networks that ROH had shopped the show to, the feeling was that they couldn't see what all the hype was about, and while they didn't necessarily need to see WWE-level production or storylines they did want to see more variety, and one of the complaints was one that many fans had, that the wrestlers didn't look like superstars and many of them, with their short brown haircuts and similar gear, looked interchangeable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjh Posted October 28, 2008 Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 I don't know why a worse TV deal than Wrestling Society X had is something to get all excited about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted October 28, 2008 Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 Fuse is an odd little station; I never watch it, but skipping past it on the cable guide, it seems like they play random indy rap videos all day and then the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre every night. Weird. Which cable systems carry Fuse, and which don't? I know my Dish has it, but that ain't saying much since I also get the incredibly obscure channel that short-lived NWA show came on. At least ROH wouldn't have to worry about pulling decent ratings on a "network" like that, although I would wonder what the upside would be for the promotion. History has shown that usually whenever a wrestling company makes a deal with a network which isn't suited to its product, things don't go so well, with WSX indeed being a prime example. I wouldn't argue that simply being on the SciFi channel is the primary reason that ECW is by far the least-watched WWE primetime programming, but it might have an effect. More from Alvarez: He said he wanted, for example, less chop exchanges and less superkicks. This turned into a discussion amongst the crew, and it eventually came back down on Gabe with the wrestlers saying that one of the reasons the shows all felt the same was because they were all booked the same. Now this is the talent just being dumb. Yeah, Gabe often isn't a terribly innovative booker. But one of the most common complaints about the in ring workrate of ROH is that too many of the matches all look alike, and it's a complaint which has been loudly and repeatedly voiced by countless people for several years now. Even if Gabe was indeed stupid enough to literally write down shit like "nine minutes of spots" on the booking sheet, it's the fault of the workers if they're doing the exact same kind of spots as all the other matchups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest onlxn Posted October 28, 2008 Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 Now this is the talent just being dumb. Yeah, Gabe often isn't a terribly innovative booker. But one of the most common complaints about the in ring workrate of ROH is that too many of the matches all look alike, and it's a complaint which has been loudly and repeatedly voiced by countless people for several years now. Even if Gabe was indeed stupid enough to literally write down shit like "nine minutes of spots" on the booking sheet, it's the fault of the workers if they're doing the exact same kind of spots as all the other matchups. You're not totally off-base, but there's an incentive problem here. You're an ROH midcarder... you're told, "nine minutes of spots". You and the guy you're facing can A: try to work a limited nine-minute match that doesn't feel redundant with the rest of the card, which risks falling flat with the spot-hungry fans, and requires talking to every other guy on the show to see what they're doing, or B: say "fuck it", wedge all of your spots into nine minutes and hope you steal the show, thus helping your career. Every worker is incentivized to pick option B. If nobody's running the place, why should you be the one to slow down, potentially risking your job in the process? In the absence of direction, ROH workers are behaving rationally by throwing everything at the wall in every match. It's the booker's responsibility to tell them when they need to slow down. And judging from the shows and from anecdotes, Gabe did a pretty bad job of that lately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted October 29, 2008 Report Share Posted October 29, 2008 True, but you could at least try to watch the other matches before yours to make sure you're not doing the exact same moves or sequences, as does tend to happen sometimes. Obviously, this doesn't apply to everyone equally; Danielson doesn't have to watch all the flippy scramble matches, because they probably won't have anyone doing carny counters and proclaiming that they've got til 5. Also, according to this, Gabe knocked two specific things: chop exchanges and superkicks. Which sometimes do seem to happen in every damn match. Neither one is exactly a big crowd-popping highspot. If the backstage meeting did happen as reported here, I don't see the connection between every guy doing chops and superkicks, and Gabe not booking good angles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHawk Posted October 29, 2008 Report Share Posted October 29, 2008 True, but you could at least try to watch the other matches before yours to make sure you're not doing the exact same moves or sequences, as does tend to happen sometimes. Obviously, this doesn't apply to everyone equally; Danielson doesn't have to watch all the flippy scramble matches, because they probably won't have anyone doing carny counters and proclaiming that they've got til 5. It also helps to know how the main event is supposed to play. If the angle is "Takeshi Morishima injures Nigel McGuinness' arm and works it over for 20 minutes", the rest of the matches should avoid arm work as much as possible so the main event can have its own story. I am NOT saying the main event has to be the best match on the card, but being elevated to the top of the card doesn't mean anything if half the guys on the undercard are using the same story in their match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted October 29, 2008 Report Share Posted October 29, 2008 Fuse is on all Cablevision systems as they own the network. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted October 29, 2008 Report Share Posted October 29, 2008 Fuse is also carried by Comcast, although I don't think anyone who has it knows they do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekcop Posted October 30, 2008 Report Share Posted October 30, 2008 Hey, Chris Jericho is hosting a new show on Fuse now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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