ALL PURPOSE CONTRACT STATUS/POTENTIAL DEPARTURES THREAD

[Wilson]

War Machine is done in ROH.

Been no indication of this at all. Actually quite the opposite.

That's because you have no idea what is going on, Chris.

Quite the opposite? Because they're listed for Atlanta? If anyone actually watched the latest TV it shouldn't come to much surprise that this is a strong possibility.

He won't be the only one leaving either.

Very intimidating, "rohfan". You come off as one post away from rattling off on Purple Hazes and Mark Lewins.

Please don't write in conspiratorial fervor. Please don't call people out.

[Thelone]

Been no indication of this at all. Actually quite the opposite.

Outside of being beaten repeatedly by an undercard act for the last six months and going absolutely nowhere ? To be fair, I thought it was another """clever""" losing streak storyline leading to a heel turn (and maybe joining Taven in the new Kingdom) that Delirious loves so much, but it seems to be more about how he has no idea what to do with those "heavyweight" teams (Lee & Taylor included) outside of squashing jobbers endlessly and facing each other over and over again.

[BurningHammer]

Nice to see Page, PBK and War Machine back, it will be interesting to see what happens with them now there back in fold. I know the like of Fray and Rovert have been saying that War Machine wont be with ROH for long in 2017, i don't know wether that's changed in or whether or not it's true in the first place. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens there. I do think War Machine taking a break and also going through the series with PBK will help them with being a strong team within ROH but with the lack of teams in ROH it will be interesting to see where they go with them and all the teams in all honesty.

The tag division really does need some new life to really move it forward.

fantasy booking here in the tag team division

damien martinez & jason kincaid
lio rush & jon gresham or david starr
beaver boys


they need fresh tag teams

I think the Beaver Boys would be a good idea, I think they both can work good single matches as well as being a good tag team, plus they have history as a good tag team.

I think Damien and a younger or similar experience to Damien would be a good idea, I like the idea of Kincaid I think he would work well in the group as a whole as you could certainly create unique matches with both involved.

Gresham I think should be a singles guy, they are giving him a good amount of TV time and he looks good but I don't know if he has the personality to really grow into anything like Fish etc, despite how good is. It wouldn't surprise me to see Rush with the Rebellion at some point. Starr I just don't see it, he looks ok in the ring but nothing stand out and he just doesn't have that it factor even for ROH.

Team IOU might/could be interesting, I saw Nana that looks to be bringing in a couple of guys so we've got them whoever they are, wouldn't be surprised to see LSG involved in that team. In all honesty there aren't that many stand out Tag teams in the US right now, so you are going to have to be creative and create some, similar to KOW.

[BurningHammer]

Been no indication of this at all. Actually quite the opposite.

Outside of being beaten repeatedly by an undercard act for the last six months and going absolutely nowhere ? To be fair, I thought it was another """clever""" losing streak storyline leading to a heel turn (and maybe joining Taven in the new Kingdom) that Delirious loves so much, but it seems to be more about how he has no idea what to do with those "heavyweight" teams (Lee & Taylor included) outside of squashing jobbers endlessly and facing each other over and over again.

Hang on didn't Delirious do exactly what you should do with Heavyweight tag teams and put them together with the Feud of PBK and War Machine, also considering the teams and history of those involved it was always going to be hard for War Machine to grow. Right now ROH needs more tag teams to allow other teams to grow instead of just coming up against the Briscoe's and The Addiction who have been trying to save face up until seemingly these final months.

I would love to see War Machine vs The Bucks I think there could be some great matches there.

[leenie426]

Been no indication of this at all. Actually quite the opposite.

Outside of being beaten repeatedly by an undercard act for the last six months and going absolutely nowhere ? To be fair, I thought it was another """clever""" losing streak storyline leading to a heel turn (and maybe joining Taven in the new Kingdom) that Delirious loves so much, but it seems to be more about how he has no idea what to do with those "heavyweight" teams (Lee & Taylor included) outside of squashing jobbers endlessly and facing each other over and over again.

Hang on didn't Delirious do exactly what you should do with Heavyweight tag teams and put them together with the Feud of PBK and War Machine, also considering the teams and history of those involved it was always going to be hard for War Machine to grow. Right now ROH needs more tag teams to allow other teams to grow instead of just coming up against the Briscoe's and The Addiction who have been trying to save face up until seemingly these final months.

I would love to see War Machine vs The Bucks I think there could be some great matches there.

War Machine vs The Young Bucks would be awesome. Hanson & Rowe looked phenomenal in the World Tag League, hopefully ROH will build on that upon their return in January.

[Wilson]

War Machine vs The Young Bucks would be awesome. Hanson & Rowe looked phenomenal in the World Tag League, hopefully ROH will build on that upon their return in January.

War Machine were definitely more over in New Japan than they usually are in ROH. Hanson's physical charisma has quickly proven to work in heavyweight tag matches, and is complimented by Keith Lee's whenever the two teams do their awesome bruisings. But I can't say that Hanson and Rowe have been working better. They've just been put in a better spot with less at stake.

Young Bucks vs. War Machine could work pretty well as a title feud, though it wouldn't be as fast as most Bucks matches and War Machine would not be over as faces. Still, it's a better prospect in 2017 than War Machine/All-Night Express was in 2016.

[cgstong]

Been no indication of this at all. Actually quite the opposite.

Outside of being beaten repeatedly by an undercard act for the last six months and going absolutely nowhere ? To be fair, I thought it was another """clever""" losing streak storyline leading to a heel turn (and maybe joining Taven in the new Kingdom) that Delirious loves so much, but it seems to be more about how he has no idea what to do with those "heavyweight" teams (Lee & Taylor included) outside of squashing jobbers endlessly and facing each other over and over again.

A team being beaten and having no direction in ROH is par for the course isn't it? Tons of talents over the last few years who had almost no direction and that was no indication they were leaving.

[Thelone]

A team being beaten and having no direction in ROH is par for the course isn't it?

Fair enough on the "going nowhere" part, but you don't see MCMG or the Addiction get their ass handed to them by a random undercard team over and over. Since day 1, that War Machine/PBK program screams "PBK is taking WM's spot because they're on their way out".

Tons of talents over the last few years who had almost no direction and that was no indication they were leaving.

Ciampa, Alexander, Moose, ACH and Strong to name a few.

[cgstong]

A team being beaten and having no direction in ROH is par for the course isn't it?

Fair enough on the "going nowhere" part, but you don't see MCMG or the Addiction get their ass handed to them by a random undercard team over and over. Since day 1, that War Machine/PBK program screams "PBK is taking WM's spot because they're on their way out".

Tons of talents over the last few years who had almost no direction and that was no indication they were leaving.

Ciampa, Alexander, Moose, ACH and Strong to name a few.

To break it down, we're conflating two issues here. One is booking and the other being talent not happy with how they are being booked.

Ciampa, Alexander, and ACH were not happy with their booking so they left for greener pastures and it has definitely paid off for two of them so far.

Moose was offered more money by TNA and end of the day, that's what business is about.

In terms of War Machine being beaten, PBK is a talented undercard team but they are both making waves on the indie scene and War Machine was the perfect team to match them up against. Also WM during this were still in tag team title matches and never looked weak. There is a difference between losing and made to look weak.

[Roque11]

Judging by the type of claims rohfan237 keeps making regarding wrestlers leaving and other stuff I'm thinking he's actually a certain somebody from the wrestling twitter world who always says the same type of stuff.

This is always just a case of ROH haters trying to bring the company down, which is what they've been trying to do all year with all of this false or overblown negative backstage talk.

These current stories are ridiculous. So Kyle O'Reilly is still looking to leave according to these "insiders" even after ROH makes him the champion. If Kyle was on his way out it makes no sense at all for ROH to book him to win the title. This War Machine talk is also silly. At most the only thing they will do is split time between New Japan and ROH. It's amazing that after these people were proven wrong by the Bucks staying and after the Bucks started this trend of people staying beyond this 12/31 date that these people are still claiming a bunch of people are leaving.

Where are these guys even going to go? WWE love to low ball wrestlers and they're overcrowded. Why leave ROH for this Flo Sports deal when they still have a long way to go in order to prove themselves?

Funny how Final Battle got a lot of praise and these haters are now at it again with new doom and gloom claims.

[King of Indy Style]

Yeah, the vicious cycle continues. Phony insiders trying to peddle Anti-ROH nonsense for a while, then the date of the dreaded doom and gloom comes and nothing happens, and then they make up more lies to try to besmirch ROH because of some weird vendetta. One guy who doesn't deserve to have his name spoken tried to peddle that ROH is nothing more than a bunch of racist monsters a while ago lol.

[WHG]

I'm not saying it's a sure thing Kyle is staying if he hasn't signed yet...but to keep perspective many people thought Elgin was winning the title at WK10 last year in the Dome because Lethal hadn't resigned yet following Final Battle.

Now the big rumor is that Cole is winning it back in the Dome. You know, Cole...the same guy who was rumored to be gone 12/31 (who will likely actually be gone in April).

The point is there's no exodus...and the "12/31" people on Twitter should feel really foolish.

[Roque11]

I'm not saying it's a sure thing Kyle is staying if he hasn't signed yet...but to keep perspective many people thought Elgin was winning the title at WK10 last year in the Dome because Lethal hadn't resigned yet following Final Battle.

Now the big rumor is that Cole is winning it back in the Dome. You know, Cole...the same guy who was rumored to be gone 12/31 (who will likely actually be gone in April).

The point is there's no exodus...and the "12/31" people on Twitter should feel really foolish.

Yeah, this whole Dome thing they're claiming makes zero sense. No only does it make no sense to keep booking Cole to win the title if he's out the door, but it also makes no sense to even book Kyle to be the champ on a show as big as the Dome. Why would ROH want their Dome rep to be someone who was leaving? Why would New Japan go along with this especially after what went down after the last Dome show with people leaving?

If this whole deal with an exodus was legit the thing to do would've been to blow off Kyle vs Cole at Final Battle and then have someone who is sticking around win the title at the tapings the following night.

[rohfan237]

I know it's tough for a lot of you to swallow, but most of the talent in ROH is not happy there right now. The more guys leave and have success, guys like Ciampa and Alexander, who were constantly floundering in the promotion, guys who were not guaranteed anything when they left, the more guys are going to be willing to leave and bet on themselves. There's a path to success without the company, and the trajectory of having future success with the company is probably as low as ever.

Remember when this narrative started in May, and then Moose ditched ROH for TNA, Roddy signed with WWE, and Cedric left? Then ACH? Elgin decided against re-signing at the beginning of the year despite being offered a title win at WK. Now at least a couple more? I'm not saying there will be a "Exodus" come 12/31, but there will be more guys not re-signing and eventually leaving, and there is precedent. Quite frankly, for the sake of ROH, I hope all the rumored names don't leave.

I can't believe people don't think ROH would book KO/Cole exactly the way they have with these circumstances in mind. This company doesn't think anyone is ever leaving them, despite it already blasting them in the face multiple times. Why did they give Moose the biggest rub ROH/NJPW week? Why did Roddy go over Jay Briscoe two shows before he was done, the show before Jay Briscoe would challenge for the title in the main event of a PPV?

Time will tell. By that time I'm sure I will be banned.

[WHG]

If you think you've arrived at TNA Mecca to rid us of delusion, you came to the wrong place. Most of us are realists and probably have more issues with today's ROH than the average fan. So the "hard to swallow" thing doesn't really apply.

The reality is that almost all full time wrestling talent throughout history has been unhappy unless they're top guys where they work, making what they think they deserve. And if they can find a better deal, they leave. Same goes for happy, pushed talent. I'd argue that Moose and Bennett were both pretty happy with ROH when they left.

I do love the wrestling-bubble narrative that Tomasso Ciampa has become a huge mega star. He finally got signed after more than a year and is a tag champion in NXT, where he's almost certainly making less $ than any of the exclusive contracted ROH guys. He lives in an apartment with a married couple to save money. His main roster prospects are marginal at best...with a long-term ceiling now appearing to be lower than when he was a singles wrestler in ROH. I think they dropped the ball on him and absolutely shouldn't have let him leave...but the idea that he "bet" on himself and it's paid off because he has a mark belt on the developmental show isn't helping your argument.

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

I know it's tough for a lot of you to swallow, but most of the talent in ROH is not happy there right now. The more guys leave and have success, guys like Ciampa and Alexander, who were constantly floundering in the promotion, guys who were not guaranteed anything when they left, the more guys are going to be willing to leave and bet on themselves. There's a path to success without the company, and the trajectory of having future success with the company is probably as low as ever.

Remember when this narrative started in May, and then Moose ditched ROH for TNA, Roddy signed with WWE, and Cedric left? Then ACH? Elgin decided against re-signing at the beginning of the year despite being offered a title win at WK. Now at least a couple more? I'm not saying there will be a "Exodus" come 12/31, but there will be more guys not re-signing and eventually leaving. Quite frankly, for the sake of ROH, I hope all the rumored names don't leave.

I can't believe people don't think ROH would book KO/Cole exactly the way they have with these circumstances in mind. This company doesn't think anyone is ever leaving them, despite it already blasting them in the face multiple times.

Time will tell. By that time I'm sure I will be banned.

I don't necessarily disagree with this. Objectively speaking, yeah it is hard for some of these guys to sit back and see the success that Ciampa and Alexander are having. The jury is out on Strong still. Aries isn't healthy and its debatable whether he will ever fit the WWE style. Worse, look at the fucking hatchet job they have done on Zayn since he got called up. Conversely you have Cody Rhodes who has gambled on himself to get out of the WWE machine. There are two sides to this and we aren't in the locker room to gauge the true measure of unhappiness some of these guys might be having. A year ago I might have been a fervent supporter of this viewpoint. The landscape has changed over the last 6 months and I might not be so inclined to think it as bad as it once was.

[rohfan237]

ROH got mad at Ciampa for moving from the Northeast.

Unfortunately they're all marks, brother. Bigger marks than anyone on this board. I won't dispute some of what you're saying, but he's making more than the average exclusive ROH deal. Also, I'm not sure how his "Long-term ceiling" is lower now than two years ago.

This place is absolutely TNA Mecca.

[Roque11]

With Cedric they already have him losing everything week and instead of having him be himself they're throwing him in a romance storyline with someone most people forgot was still employed.

I bet Roddy would've stayed if New Japan was booking him. Michael Elgin still works for ROH and he gets to go back forth between both compnaiesl The ROH/New Japan combo always wins out in the end. The Bucks just proved this. I look for the same to happen with War Machine, Kyle, Fish and whoever.

[WHG]

ROH got mad at Ciampa for moving from the Northeast.

Unfortunately they're all marks, brother. Bigger marks than anyone on this board. I won't dispute some of what you're saying, but he's making more than the average exclusive ROH deal. Also, I'm not sure how his "Long-term ceiling" is lower now than two years ago.

This place is absolutely TNA Mecca.

None of us would have ever seen this post if this were TNA Mecca. It would have been tossed in pre-moderation and you'd have been banned. There's as much negative as positive, here, as well.

Also, no one is writing dog wrestling federation fiction.

[Big Red Machine]

If I might propose a new rule: If you're going to portray something as anything but your own opinion, it should be sources or GTFO.