Rumored Big News

[Burnside]

Besides Strong, is there anyone else that WWE would feasibly try to take, or would want to take, to screw ROH over? I would presume they can't touch anyone who has a deal with ROH at the moment (Lethal, The Briscoes, Cole, Elgin, reDRagon & Moose. There might be more but I don't know for certain).

Regarding who else could WWE take:
- Not sure when Lethal's deal is up; there was talk that it's right around now and we haven't heard anything about him re-signing.
- I think whenever their NJPW deals are up, WWE will make a serious play for AJ & the Bucks
- Bennett & Taven too; I know they're not under contract to ROH. They MAY be under contract to NJPW, but I actually doubt it.
- Austin Aries. We know they've passed on him before, but NXT changes things.
- Daniels and Kazarian are REAL long-shots for WWE given their age. That would STRICTLY be about fucking with ROH. But again, it's two guys who are actually the ROH tag champs yet are total freelancers. That would be a TERRIBLE dilemma for Daniels - you can finally have one last shot at WWE, which you've always wanted, but you have to fuck over the company that was always there for you whenever TNA decided you weren't worth it.
- Elgin. Pretty sure his ROH deal has expired. Again, it's kinda like why would WWE take him, but they could. I would not be super upset with that one, to be honest.

[WHG]

I still find it unfathomable that BITW would have ended the way that it did if Lethal isn't under contract at least until the end of the year, but I guess crazier things have happened.

Other contract status relating to what Burnside said above that I am aware of info on:

- The Bucks have said that they don't actually have a contract with New Japan and work there on a handshake deal, which I was shocked by at the time but have no reason to doubt.

- It was reported that Bennett and Taven's contracts were up at the end of the year last year, and that they didn't re-sign but agreed to work with ROH going forward through (at the time) the Anniversary show. Nothing was ever reported but not too long a go a fan on Twitter asked Bennett if he had a ProWrestlingTees store and he replied that his ROH contract doesn't allow it, so it would seem that they've quietly re-signed.

- During his dispute with management, Elgin publicly said that he was under an 18 month deal that expired in (I believe) October 2015...but I really doubt there's any interest in him right now regardless.

Not mentioned, but keep in mind that Fish & O'Reilly re-signed in July last year, so depending on duration their contracts may be up.

The hang-up for me here is the idea that something is happening that the company won't see coming. If you have talent with an expired contract or no contract at all, how can you not see that coming?

[supersonic]

Meltzer's a great hustler. Can't wait for Wednesday's newsletter.

[jordidebaas]

- Daniels and Kazarian are REAL long-shots for WWE given their age. That would STRICTLY be about fucking with ROH. But again, it's two guys who are actually the ROH tag champs yet are total freelancers. That would be a TERRIBLE dilemma for Daniels - you can finally have one last shot at WWE, which you've always wanted, but you have to fuck over the company that was always there for you whenever TNA decided you weren't worth it.
- Elgin. Pretty sure his ROH deal has expired. Again, it's kinda like why would WWE take him, but they could. I would not be super upset with that one, to be honest.

I'm pretty sure that Daniels actually signed a contract with ROH, I think either Meltzer or ROH itself announced it sometime after BITW last year, though if it was for one year only, it might just have expired, or be on the verge of expiring.
As for Elgin, according to cagematch.net, he has wrestled a few matches outside ROH this year (5 for one promotion in late june, one in april and one in february), so his exclusive contract might be up, but considering how much he wrestled for other promotions before ROH decided to make him exclusive, it would be kinda strange if he'd only have 7 matches outside of ROH in half a year.

[Burnside]

I think - but again, I'm not sure - that Elgin's deal just expired within the past few weeks.

[LJimmy]

I don't see how this thing people are thinking with Roddy is even possible given that Bob Ryder is going to sign him for TNA.

[WHG]

I don't see how this thing people are thinking with Roddy is even possible given that Bob Ryder is going to sign him for TNA.

Haha...in hindsight Ryder probably posted that shit the day he officially heard that Aries was going to appear for ROH.

[DXvsNWO1994]

So what do we think is the most likely to occur? WWE taking talent....taking venues....something else? Wednesday will be a really interesting day for sure.

I've heard some speculate about AJ Styles appearing on the NXT Brooklyn special. He has nothing scheduled for that weekend, and is conspicuously absent from Field of Honor. Though he might not be there for other reasons (GFW has a show that day. I'm sure Jarrett is going to try booking Styles at some point. It could just be a weekend off for him. Who knows?), but it's an interesting point to think about. I've seen a few people on Twitter talk about him leaving New Japan to jump to NXT (even as soon as after the G1, which is ludicrous), but if Styles is going anywhere, it probably won't be until after January 4th (should he decide to do so).

Another interesting point is money. I assume if WWE does try to take people, that they'll be on NXT, and not the Main Roster. Of course, the pay of people in NXT has been well documented. If WWE is serious about poaching talent from ROH for NXT, they can't offer what they offered to guys like The Briscoes (and obviously WWE has the money & resources).

[supersonic]

If Styles were to sign with WWE early next year, have him by-pass NXT and he debuts on Raw in Dallas.

[Pogo]

So what do we think is the most likely to occur? WWE taking talent....taking venues....something else? Wednesday will be a really interesting day for sure.

NJPW.If they can take a deal with NJPW to have an exclusive relationship in USA with the NJPW talent.If ROH is gonna lose the Japanese,Aj Styles ,YB,Bullet clump ....

[Sandy Fork]

I find it unlikely that NJPW would cut a deal with WWE. Because in said relationship NJPW would be the lesser part, the vassal so to speak. And NJPW doesn't operate like that. They want to be the dominant party in their alliances. Which is why they partner with companies like ROH, WXW, NWA and such

[WHG]

The only detail of any substance that Meltzer has given is that whatever it is doesn't involve New Japan, which makes Styles and any kind of formal New Japan exchange unlikely.

The story of a WWN/Evolve deal with the WWE has been out there for a month, so it's possible it's that. Gabe has been tweeting things the last few days that could be construed as clues to that. But what about that would ROH not see coming?

The irony in most of this...and maybe the best news for ROH...is that NXT has already kind of outgrown a meaningful competition with ROH. It's already more mainstream and is likely to want to run bigger venues.

My vote is it's a deal with Gabe or some talent poach that would be viewed as a big deal.

[Memphis Mark]

The WWE could poach some ROH talent. I am not sure that losing some talent would be a big deal in the long run. It is a buyer's market for talent.

Let's say WWE takes AJ Styles, Austin Aries , Young Bucks, Matt Sydal , Maria, Bennett , Taven and Elgin. ROH would just replace them with AR Fox, Chris Dickinson , Harry Smith , Lance Hoyt , CJ Parker , Willie Mack , PJ Black and Mike Bailey. ROH just had a try camp with over 50 hopefuls. There is plenty of talent. Besides the WWE would just fire 8 to 10 wrestlers to make room for the new ones. It is just the nature of the business.

[Thelone]

Or most likely, a bunch of cheap scrubs from the Dojo and/or seminars.

[supersonic]

The WWE could poach some ROH talent. I am not sure that losing some talent would be a big deal in the long run. It is a buyer's market for talent.

Let's say WWE takes AJ Styles, Austin Aries , Young Bucks, Matt Sydal , Maria, Bennett , Taven and Elgin. ROH would just replace them with AR Fox, Chris Dickinson , Harry Smith , Lance Hoyt , CJ Parker , Willie Mack , PJ Black and Mike Bailey.

That'd be a TNA-style downgrade.

[Memphis Mark]

Okay. How about Trevor Lee, Andrew Everett , Dan Barry , Bill Carr , John Silver , Alex Reynolds, Brian Myers , Bravado Brothers , John Skyler , Jeff Cobb , JT Dunn , David Starr , Low Ki , Reno Scum or Ricochet. You can find five or 6 names that will draw out of both list.

My point is that ROH has lost talent thur the years and have always replaced them . There are always a handful of hungry talents waiting in the wings for their time to shine. That is one of the cool things about wrestling , watching the new talent grow and develop into stars. A would not worry about a NXT talent raid, there pleny of wrestlers to go around.

[The Dragon Saga]

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/ ... on_austin/

WWE are going to run NXT two nights in Texas, Austin and San Antonio on the same nights ROH are doing All Star Extravaganza.

That's too blatant to at least deny that they aren't pissed at ROH.

[monster mafia]

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/ ... on_austin/

WWE are going to run NXT two nights in Texas, Austin and San Antonio on the same nights ROH are doing All Star Extravaganza.

That's too blatant to at least deny that they aren't pissed at ROH.

the beef is real!

[supersonic]

Plus Houston on 9/17.

[5eightlane]

It doesn't look like ROH is backing down though. According to the North Atlanta Trade Center's website ROH has got another show scheduled for November 21st, the night before Survivor Series in Atlanta.