Ring Of Honor announced in late October that the company would finish up the 2021 year with ROH’s annual year-long finale Final Battle, but after that would be going on hiatus for the first quarter of 2022. Along with this, ROH has made it clear that they will not be renewing any contracts of current roster members. They in fact seem to be stepping away from wrestler contracts in general. With many talented wrestlers now heading towards free agency, what does this hiatus mean for the wrestling scene as a whole?Updated on January 29th, 2022, by Andrew Kelly: With it now being 2022, with Ring of Honor’s Final Battle wrapped up, fans are still wondering about what is to come next for one of North America’s top wrestling companies. Things are still mostly up in the air regarding their next steps, though there are some clues going forwards, with many of their talents being very active within the wrestling world – something which will be looked over at the end of this piece. Many fans were saddened by the announcement that ROH made, with there being some fear that the company may end altogether, but with that not seeming to be the case, with them still producing content to fill their slots on networks, and the ROH Titles being defended around the country, it seems like a matter of when, and not if, for a return of Ring of Honor in some way, shape, or form.
Very Talented Wrestlers Now Seeking A Home
One of the biggest pieces of news from the ROH announcement is the large pool of talent that is now on the free-agent market. Nick Khan recently made the WWE’s stance on signing independent wrestlers very clear, but other companies like AEW, Impact Wrestling, and even Major League Wrestling have continued to sign independent talent throughout parts of the pandemic.
It’s hard to know where to start when it comes to describing all of the great talent that has been set free from ROH. Jonathon Gresham has been making a case for being the best technical wrestler in the entire business, and has got himself in the best physical condition of his life at the same time. The Briscoe Brothers are living legends of American tag team wrestling and had been loyal to ROH since day one. Who captured the attention of wrestling fans from the independent scene during the pandemic more than the enigmatic Danhausen? Friend of CM Punk, friend of Conan O'Brien, enemy of people that swear, Danhausen is one of the biggest potential signings available despite recent breaking his leg.
ROH Had Just Accumulated America’s Best Unsigned Women
ROH had recently taken a swing at revamping their Women’s Division, and in doing so made a great case for a lot of the women that had been featured in the tournament. Many of the athletes seem ready for the spotlight with great showings from Willow Nightingale, Allysin Kay, Trish Adora, and eventual winner Rok-C, just to name a few. Stables like Shane Taylor Promotions and Brody King’s Violence Unlimited had also come into their own even more so lately. Not even mentioning the former dominance of Rush, and more recent ascension of Bandido that have made up the ROH World Title picture.
The independent scene already seem to be benefiting from the former ROH roster now being available for more dates. Game Changer Wrestling had recently brought the Briscoe Brothers in during a successful attempt at capturing the GCW Tag Team Championships. Those GCW Tag belts will now be defended at the upcoming ROH event against members of the Second Gear Crew, AJ Gray and Effy. GCW has also announced upcoming appearances for current ROH World Champion Bandido, more appearances by The Briscoes, the GCW return of Brody King, the return of the monster PCO, with more surely to be announced.
Other American independent companies are also set to benefit from the surge of talent now gleaming with availability, with the same being said for AAA in Mexico and New Japan also being potentially on the table when travel is more possible. For every discussion about where the ever-popular Danhausen would fit best, there is a handful of potential discussions to be had about less discussed, but highly-skilled, wrestlers like Tracey Williams, Tony Deppen, and Hallowicked who may soon be sought after around the globe.
Many readers may have varying opinions on whether or not ROH will be returning in April as the statement from the Sinclair Broadcasting has indicated. Assuming ROH does return, they will do so in a very different manner than how they left. No matter what a “Revamped ROH” might look like, the plan moving forwards is to work with the best wrestlers available to them (without long-term contracts, closer to how the company ran during the HDNet era of ROH Television. What this means for the ROH World Championship is unknown, and it is not clear if some sort of short-term contracts will be put into play for champions, or if ROH is truly done with wrestler contracts in all cases.
Releasing all of its contracted talent at once has come as shock to the wrestling world, and along with the seemingly never-ending list of releases from WWE., there is a lot of very talented wrestlers not currently under a contract to major North American company. While the full effect of the ROH hiatus won’t be felt until fans see if ROH returns on the set return date, it’s only a matter of time before readers see some of the more notable players make their presence known in other corners of the wrestling world.
* Ring Of Honor Looks Set For A Comeback At Some Point
Final Battle on December 11th, 2021 was a pretty decent success, celebrating several of the biggest names that have helped carry the company in recent years, in addition to looking back at some of the greats to have come from ROH back in the day. The likes of Adam Cole, CM Punk, Young Bucks, and Bryan Danielson all had small video cameos, sending messages about their memories and thoughts about ROH, which were all very celebratory and feel-good. The show also introduced new faces, such as the former Braun Strowman, under the name of “The Titan Adam Scherr”, with other cameos from the likes of FTR, who confronted the new Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions, the Briscoes. It certainly felt like an event which set up the future of the company, whilst also celebrating its history.
However, with ROH releasing all of their contracted talent, some names have begun showing up elsewhere. The likes of Brody King, Danhausen, and Kaun have appeared on AEW programming, with others such as former champion Bandido showing up on the independent scene. One thing that does bode well for the company, is that their championships have still remained active. The Ring of Honor Women’s Title recently changed hands on Impact Wrestling, with Deonna Purrazzo becoming the new champion. Jonathan Gresham has also been defending the Ring of Honor World Title at the likes of Impact, Terminus, and GCW.
With the ROH Titles appearing in an array of other companies, it hints at ROH becoming more of an independent company once again, and striking deals with other places, bringing in talents on a pay-by-appearance type of basis, with their champions being free agents. Of course, this hasn’t been confirmed nor denied, but it seems like this could be a very viable direction for the company.