For ROH, it may be Jim Cornette or bust
Come the autumn, Jim Cornette may be the only thing ROH has going for it. Their roster is set to be decimated in the next few months. Not only has their World champion Tyler Black signed with WWE, but according to Dave Meltzer in the August 16th Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Jim Ross is encouraging his employers to raid even more of ROH's top talent:
Jim Ross has pushed WWE to scout ROH because with WWE planning on continuing the NXT show, they need a fresh supply of new faces and are more aggressive in signing than they’ve been in years. Plus, every season of NXT they seem to want that "Internet" star who they can beat to death.
Moreover, a significant proportion of the roster has already signed with the latest money mark trying to break into the professional wrestling business, Milton Wilpon:
First off, while names are being kept quiet, much of the roster has signed with the new Sean Davis Project.
So is it any wonder in this setting that they ditched Adam Pearce as booker, who has struggled to make new stars for ROH, in favour of their company trainer Delirious, who has had success as an indy promoter running shows with talent from ROH's training school, and Jim Cornette, who had a track record in OVW of taking raw talent and producing some of the best television in the wrestling world at the time?
Indeed, Dave Meltzer on the August 16th Wrestling Observer Radio show cited unhappiness that he didn't make any new stars as the main reason Pearce lost his job, along with business being bad and Pearce having arguments about how the business should be run with ROH business manager Syd Eick. Maybe when Pearce was talking about the oil and the water not mixing, it was a veiled reference to him and Eick not mixing, giving that Eick was conspicuous in his absence from the long list of people Pearce thanked.
Backing Cornette is a smart decision, because he's the one person who Cary Silkin can probably rely upon to stick with the promotion through thick and thin, given that he's burnt his bridges with both WWE and TNA, and probably doesn't want the headaches of working for a know nothing money mark again.
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I think ROH will be fine.
I don’t know if the contracts from the Sean Davis Project are exclusive. What I do know is that any promotion that involves Kevin “Mrs. Supreme” Kleinrock is bound to fail.
If ROH folds due to their talent being stolen I would simply just point to the WWE. I think theyr’e the only option for ROH wrestlers to permanently jump ship.
Personally, it will be sad day if this does happen. The pro wrestling industry needs a company like ROH. Great but underrated wrestlers like Cabana and Aries need that third stable promotion to work for. sigh
by FighterHayabusa on Aug 18, 2010 1:45 AM EDT reply actions
Yeah, I agree that the Sean Davis Project isn’t likely to have any legs and will be quickly out of business, unless the Wilpon family are willing to pour their money down a drain. Still, if the promotion does get off the ground, then ROH is guaranteed to have a lean period until it goes out of business, at least in terms of the talent available to it. Given Cornette’s experience, he’s the best person to steer ROH through these choppy waters, but it’s still going to be a struggle like it was for SMW.
by Keith Harris on Aug 18, 2010 10:54 AM EDT up reply actions
Honestly, ROH hasn’t done bad for being a promotion whose sole purpose was to sell DVDs. I don’t want to see the promotion fold but I also don’t think the talent level on the indies is quite the same as when the promotion first started up. Early ROH was a perfect storm for awesome.
I’m looking forward to what Delirious and Cornette will put together.
Word.
My co-writer and I always talk about how we don’t keep up with Indy wrestling much anymore since all the workers we cared about are either in the Big company (WWE) or Old company (TNA) now. There was nothing like seeing Bryan Danielson, KENTA, Samoa Joe, Low-Ki, Chris Daniels, Spanky, Shelly, Sabin and CM Punk battle it out on a monthly basis.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m still a huge Quankenbush mark and I think Davey and Aries can pull out the best in people. But for whatever reason, I’m just not as interested in the indy product these days.
by FighterHayabusa on Aug 18, 2010 1:52 PM EDT up reply actions

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