ALL PURPOSE CONTRACT STATUS/POTENTIAL DEPARTURES THREAD

[FanSinceHDNet]

On his way out, hardball negotiation tactic, or just general nice thing that happened?

http://www.wwe.com/videos/steve-corino- ... ing-heaven

[leenie426]

On his way out, hardball negotiation tactic, or just general nice thing that happened?

http://www.wwe.com/videos/steve-corino- ... ing-heaven

On the surface I know a lot of people don't want to see Steve in the ring but he's a behind the scenes guy who helps a lot of people. If this is a sign of things to come, meaning him leaving I personally see it as a loss. How could Sinclair be so careless to let a contracted wrestler go to the PC and then show on WWE's website.

The London tour this week should be pretty interesting, and it's probably only a matter of time before the real reason comes out as to why Veda Scott is gone.

How much longer can ROH depend on New Japan to pop houses? What happens if New Japan decides that they want to do their own thing? The CMLL guys don't have the same appeal as is evident by the light attendance in Dallas and San Antonio. 2017 isn't looking great.

[supersonic]

https://twitter.com/windupsoup/status/7 ... 5465743360

[Wilson]

https://twitter.com/windupsoup/status/7 ... 5465743360

Just gleaning from interviews, it seems likely that Rush has the sort of drive to sign promotion to promotion until he makes it to either the WWE or NJPW.

I know he already provides as a father, but his resigning in 2017 seems improbable, especially since he can project his own career in Sinclair by using ACH’s tenure as a marker.

[The Dragon Saga]

Are we seriously questioning whether Lio Rush will make more money with WWN than ROH?

He attended a seminar. He's still allowed to work the indies. In fact someone who watches EVOLVE more intently can either confirm or deny that he has appeared for EVOLVE even after signing with ROH? Until now hes been behind ACH in the similar ultra high flier role. He is after making the final of Survival of the Fittest, he's also in the finals of the Six Man Tag Titles Tournament. Lio Rush isn't leaving. Unless WWE decide for some reason that he's the guy, him out of everyone they have thus far signed or out of everyone available on the indies, 21-year-old, 2 year pro Lio Rush is the guy to head their Crusierweight division, he isn't going anywhere. Certainly not to WWN.

[Big Red Machine]

Are we seriously questioning whether Lio Rush will make more money with WWN than ROH?

He attended a seminar. He's still allowed to work the indies. In fact someone who watches EVOLVE more intently can either confirm or deny that he has appeared for EVOLVE even after signing with ROH? Until now hes been behind ACH in the similar ultra high flier role. He is after making the final of Survival of the Fittest, he's also in the finals of the Six Man Tag Titles Tournament. Lio Rush isn't leaving. Unless WWE decide for some reason that he's the guy, him out of everyone they have thus far signed or out of everyone available on the indies, 21-year-old, 2 year pro Lio Rush is the guy to head their Crusierweight division, he isn't going anywhere. Certainly not to WWN.

He did work one more weekend for EVOLVE, but if I remember correctly, what happened was that he had already been announced and was then pulled after signing with ROH, and then ROH or Gabe or whoever quickly went back agreed to let him work the one final weekend because it was their Maryland debut and he had already been announced.

[Big Red Machine]

Lets run through the names quickly and seriously consider where these guys can go.

- Bobby Fish; 40-years-old - yeah, if you didn't know, hes been around for quite a while. He was considered old when he joined ROH and that was what, four years ago now? He's the World TV Champion, gets plenty of time to talk, is probably making good money between ROH and New Japan and so long as he stays with ROH will consistently be booked in New Japan, with or without O'Reilly, however he means more $$$ for me as one-half of arguably the best in-ring tag team of the last few years.

- Kyle O'Reilly; so where exactly is he supposed to be headed then? New Japan? Why would he limit himself to just New Japan? Even if he does put on the weight, will be really have a chance in the heavyweight division? Sure he's a phenomenal wrestler but he still hasn't achieved "It" yet and he's still not "there" either. For me, if its on the table, him rejecting a ROH World Championship run would be the stupidest thing he could do. Take the run, see how it's handled and then in a year survey the landscape again. There's no indication WWE is interested in him right now and while I'm sure Richards has told him TNA would be great for him, Davey's hanging it up next year and TNA is obviously in tatters.

- Jay Lethal; Lethal is the one who I think has the most potential. He'd be the guy who'd walk into NXT, ala Nakamura, and just be in the main event from the get go. They can talk about how hes wrestled in the Tokyo Dome in-front of 30,000 people, Corey Graves can reiterate how he's, "the biggest free agent available today" and all that jazz and I'm sure WWE would be interested. Jay is 31-years-old, hes done it all, he is for me the face of the promotion but at the end of the day, if WWE is the next step that's fine, let him leave.

- Adam Cole; if WWE want him, at this point, like Lethal, hes pretty much done it all. In his second ROH World title reign, leader of the US version of the Bullet Club, he has the look, he can talk, he'll probably need to work on his physique a little bit but that's what the Performance Center is for. He would be a big loss because of his appeal and popularity but again, hes been with ROH now seven years, hes done it all, if it's time to go it's time to go.

- The Briscoes; as the above poster stated and as we were stating LAST YEAR when the rumors started up about The Briscoes, they have literally done everything. Mark needs a singles title reign and that's it, but need is hyperbole on my part because he doesn't necessarily need it. How many more promos will they cut about being here since day one? How many more feuds can they have about how people need to respect their legacies? How many more times do they need to win the ROH World Tag Team Championships? Does Jay really need to be the first time three time ROH World Champion? The Briscoes have done it all and then some and more! If they stay, Mark needs a singles title reign, but if they leave, they leave, they'd be a loss because of what they mean to ROH but it's not like they won't have done something.

Note: The Briscoes outside of wrestling have quite a successful gardening and landscaping business. While some may giggle at that they have always seemed very passionate about not throwing that away just for wrestling so if they go to NXT that's essentially bye bye to their outside business plus they'll need to move to Florida unless like Gallows & Anderson they get a straight up main roster run.

- Young Bucks; they seem to get off not needing WWE more than WWE really seem to want them, is the impression I always get. They haven't got much more they can do outside of WWE to be honest, they've won pretty much all the tag belts, they need the IWGP Tag Team titles but do they fit that mold? It totally depends on what they want to do. As Meltzer has said before they get a lot of money from ROH alone, the New Japan dates are the icing on that cake. If ROH can improve on that, sure, stay. If they can't, go to WWE, again not a lot left to do.

- Steve Corino; he'd be an awesome coach for them and if they want him as an announcer I for one would be happy for Corino to go. He's one of those guys that years ago deserved a WWE run and never got it. I know people are critical of his commentary but personally, for me, he's the best color commentator in the business - a business not full of very good color guys anymore. This is up in the air.

- War Machine; yeah, I don't see them leaving at all. Still lots to do, Hanson is in his late 30's and admits in Cabana's podcast that he has a lot of injuries, his goal was also to make it to Ring of Honor and to win the ROH World Championship. Ray Rowe was nothing before War Machine and like Fish, while don't mean as much, War Machine = more $$$ than Ray Rowe or Hanson equal as singles guys. I doubt their going anywhere and I doubt WWE are interested. They'll stick around and do the ROH/New Japan deal.

- Lio Rush; why in God's name would he leave? Apparently at wXw he cut a promo talking about how much he loved working for ROH and how he intends to reach the top there. He's young and I'm sure he'd fit in great in their cruiserweight division but does he really want to forgo more of a career than being stereotyped as a WWE cruiserweight? Again, doubt he's going anywhere, makes little sense for him to. He also has more potential for me than ACH did and seems to be a much smarter guy.

- BJ Whitmer; he's not going anywhere. He is heavily featured, apparently has a backstage role and has been with ROH forever. If anything he'll get more money which will help him and he probably has a job for life.

As for Delirious and whether creative gets shaken up or not, there are tons of elements to take into consideration. One being Delirious has been with ROH since Sinclair took over, he was Cornette's right hand man, Joe Koff talks about him like he's his son or some shit, hes handled personal issues well by bringing back several names who knocked him and ROH after they left which shows a very professional demeanor. Whether the rumors that he is hard to communicate with are true or not, anyone associated with ROH say he does the job of like six people. He only started getting help from others this past summer and if a small rumor making the rounds, that Christopher Daniels may take over if Delirious were to step aside, would Daniels be able to devote as much time to ROH as Delirious does? Delirious seems to be a company guy and I'm sure he gets paid well so he'll hold onto the booker job until someone axes him or he totally burns out. I doubt the former will happen so long as Koff is in charge.

For the first time in recorded history, I think you and I are 100% on the same page.
I do, however, think that if he was being paid full time to book ROH, that Daniels would devote as much time to it as was necessary to get the job done well.

[The Dragon Saga]

Thanks for clarifying the Rush situation.

I actually feel like you've lightened up a bit as a poster in the last few months, however I've not been as active due to life and such.

And I never said he wouldn't, however I think Delrious is so enshrined in his position that no matter who they were to replace him with it would be a difficult transition due to how Delirious gets on with the management of ROH and Sinclair, took over a rocky ship after Cornette left and steered it to its most financially lucrative year ever and has shown a good degree of professionalism throughout his tenure. If I were Joe Koff or Sinclair I'd give Delirious an end of year review and ask him to try and produce more consistently entertaining TV.

That said, the majority of people I see who watch ROH generally agree that ROH TV is, "an easy to watch show". Sadly NXT nowadays is also "an easy to watch show", which is when ROH should be capitalizing and trying to solidify itself as the top one hour weekly wrestling show which wouldn't take that much effort IMO.

[Big Red Machine]

That said, the majority of people I see who watch ROH generally agree that ROH TV is, "an easy to watch show". Sadly NXT nowadays is also "an easy to watch show", which is when ROH should be capitalizing and trying to solidify itself as the top one hour weekly wrestling show which wouldn't take that much effort IMO.

This is exactly it. The show feels like a thing that gets done to build to PPVs and put matches on rather than a show that is going out there to build up stars by having great matches and creating memorable angles to build to a PPV (the head-shaving is the only thing I can really think of that has felt that way).
The funny thing is that I think the answer to this is actually something that should play into one of the TV show's weaknesses over the past year, which has been lack of new content. If they made a concerted effort to make each episode have fewer matches but longer, higher quality matches (and fill the remaining time with quick efficient promos rather than rambling by Caprice, the Addiction and the Briscoes- or alternatively, due some of your longer promos backstage rather than in the ring), you'd be able to stretch each taping into five or maybe even six episodes of TV.

[monster mafia]

ach for S.I.

SI.com: Why did you and Ring of Honor decide to part ways before your contract officially expired?

ACH: I went to Ring of Honor and we discussed the future plans. The internet reported that there was bad blood, but there is no bad blood. I love everyone in the office, from Greg Gilleland to Joe Koff to Kevin Kelly. They all watched me grow in the business for the past four-and-a-half years. They stuck with me through a lot of my bad times. A lot of people don’t realize the issue with me missing my flight had nothing to do with what was being reported. I learned from that situation. Even when I’m not at fault, I still need to be in control. A lot of people don’t know the story behind the missed flight. People just assumed that I missed my flight, and then the second time, when I wrestled Nakamura, a lot of people think I forgot my gear. But a lot of people don’t know the situation, and it kind of put a blemish on who I am. One thing I learned from Kevin Kelly after I missed that flight was when he said, ‘Take your punishment, man up, and make sure you are in control of these things in the future.’ That’s all I could do. I got to a point in my career with Ring of Honor where I was stale. They’d always tell me I wasn’t, but my perspective was a little different. The fact that they let me out of my contract early shows that they are good people. They could have said, ‘No, we own you until the end of the year.’ But they didn’t, and I appreciate them for that.

I couldn’t tell you right off the bat what the future holds for me. That’s the most exciting part of the new journey I just began. In my life, in my career, I feel like I’m in control. A couple of months ago, I didn’t feel like that. To say I’m in control of whatever happens in the future makes me feel confident that I can make the right decisions for myself. In life, sometimes, you need to take a leap of faith. It is hard to do that when you get comfortable, and I think I got to a point in Ring of Honor where I felt comfortable. Ring of Honor treated me so well and I’m truly blessed for it, but I got comfortable there. Now I feel like I’m in control of my destiny.


SI.com: Cedric Alexander exited ROH and went on to succeed in WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic. Did that at all impact your decision to leave ROH?

ACH: Cedric leaving was a little bit of motivation, but he had his own reasons for leaving just like I had mine. I didn’t want anyone to think, ‘ACH left because Cedric left,’ and it wasn’t like that at all. I’m my own man. Cedric is one of my closest friends in the business and I am so happy and proud of him. I just wanted to make sure, when I left Ring of Honor, that it was right for me—not because I was sitting at home watching my peers do well. This is about me wanting to be better and go out and truly challenge myself.

[Thelone]

Such an unprofessional piece of shit, amirite ?

[Wilson]

Such an unprofessional piece of shit, amirite ?

[Laughs] That was my reaction too. I just had the teeniest desire that he would have mentioned something on the racial balance at Baltimore.

ACH is great. Wish him luck. Get those belts, make that money.

[supersonic]

ROH is about to announce a big resigning. Along with UK tour and Marty ROH is changing the narrative about themselves fairly quickly.

[SandsShifter]

ROH is about to announce a big resigning. Along with UK tour and Marty ROH is changing the narrative about themselves fairly quickly.

I'm guessing the Bucks have re-signed.

[Wilson]

ROH is about to announce a big resigning. Along with UK tour and Marty ROH is changing the narrative about themselves fairly quickly.

I'm guessing the Bucks have re-signed.

A big re-signing that would affect their narrative would more likely be O'Reilly. For the sake of the company, fingers crossed.

[jordidebaas]

Yeah, anything other than O'Reilly, or even better, reDRagon, would really not be that big

[TYFDK]

Looks like Steve Corino is heading to the WWE as a Performance Center trainer, which is great for him! He'll be finishing up next weekend. Lots of questions and notes because of that though:

- What happens with the Corino/Whitmer feud?
- Who fills in for him now that he's leaving? Nigel? Joey Styles? Ian Riccaboni? Caleb Seltzer? Someone new?
- That teased Cody Rhodes/Steve Corino match won't be happening now unfortunately.
- Will they give him a big send-off?

[DXvsNWO1994]

Looks like Steve Corino is heading to the WWE as a Performance Center trainer, which is great for him! He'll be finishing up next weekend. Lots of questions and notes because of that though:

- What happens with the Corino/Whitmer feud?
- Who fills in for him now that he's leaving? Nigel? Joey Styles? Ian Riccaboni? Caleb Seltzer? Someone new?
- That teased Cody Rhodes/Steve Corino match won't be happening now unfortunately.
- Will they give him a big send-off?

Has this been officially confirmed or is this still just speculation based on his appearance at the WWE Performance Center?

[TYFDK]

I found it via this link:

http://prowrestling.net/site/2016/11/23 ... no-to-wwe/

[FanSinceHDNet]

Looks like Steve Corino is heading to the WWE as a Performance Center trainer, which is great for him! He'll be finishing up next weekend. Lots of questions and notes because of that though:

- What happens with the Corino/Whitmer feud?
- Who fills in for him now that he's leaving? Nigel? Joey Styles? Ian Riccaboni? Caleb Seltzer? Someone new?
- That teased Cody Rhodes/Steve Corino match won't be happening now unfortunately.
- Will they give him a big send-off?

- What happens with the Corino/Whitmer feud? I'd have Whitmer take credit for running Corino off and then have Martinez turn on Whitmer eventually becoming a title contender.
- Who fills in for him now that he's leaving? Nigel? Joey Styles? Ian Riccaboni? Caleb Seltzer? Someone new? I think Nigel would probably be the guy. If they look in house, maybe Riccaboni and Veda Scott? I doubt Kevin Kelly is going anywhere but I don't think you can put Riccaboni, Styles, or even Seltzer (again) with Kelly because those three are all pretty straight PBP guys.
- That teased Cody Rhodes/Steve Corino match won't be happening now unfortunately. This does stink. It kind of wastes the Sullivan stuff, too, if that's where they are headed.
- Will they give him a big send-off? Well... he is from the Philadelphia area and his last show, if this is true, is in Philly. Would be nice for him if all of this is accurate.