THE RING OF HONOR-TNA SITUATION

[Guest glennsoe]

Credit; Dave Scherer @ pwinsider.com

 

 

As I am sure you have all read by now, Ring of Honor and NWA TNA have not been able to come to terms on a deal that would allow wrestlers who have signed contracts with TNA to work for both companies, despite the fact that said wrestlers signed the TNA deals with the understanding that they could work wherever they wanted, save WWE, as long as the dates didn’t conflict with a TNA show. So now, NWA TNA will force wrestlers such as AJ Styles, Chris Sabin and Christopher Daniels to give up paydays because, well, that is just what TNA wants them to do. This situation has all the trimmings for the things that are the vilest about the wrestling business.

 

To briefly recap, since the inception of NWA TNA, they have marketed themselves to the internet fan base. Much talked about plans for national advertising quickly fell by the wayside when the company went through its start-up capital within weeks of doing their first show. What they were left with was the only advertising that they could afford, that which came for free on the internet. So, they focused their efforts there. It was a sound strategy, especially considering their financial state.

 

An interesting thing happened however. Despite having weekly PPVs, NWA could never overtake Ring Of Honor as “the darling promotion of the internet”. This was a fact that rankled people in NWA TNA management to the point where some of them were heard to publicly question why ROH got over with the fans while TNA didn’t, which showed me that they didn’t listen to the internet fans’ who were complaining about the many holes in TNA’s booking. The result was that there was a definite feeling of animosity among at least some in TNA management towards ROH and it was not hidden from the talent. But, given the contracts that they signed, there wasn’t much that TNA could do about the talent’s preference of working for ROH over their promotion.

 

That all changed when ROH owner Rob Feinstein was caught in an “underage sting” by Philadelphia’s Channel 10 News. It just so happened that at the same time, TNA was negotiating a TV deal with Fox Sports Net. They were concerned about their wrestlers’ association with ROH and Feinstein coming back to hurt them down the road in their negotiations and began asking contracted TNA wrestlers to not work for ROH. After the news got out and they were pelted with hate mail from ROH fans, they backed off of their position and tried to come to an agreement with ROH, who by this time had claimed that Feinstein was out of the company and Doug Gentry was now the owner of the promotion.

 

TNA flew ROH Booker Gabe Sapolsky down to Nashville on 3/31 and asked him to sign a letter that stated Feinstein was gone from ROH and stated that there were no plans for him to return. If it turned out Feinstein was part of the company or had a return planned, Sapolsky would be held personally liable for damages that TNA incurred from the fallout of this, if any.

 

This is where the comedy of errors started because while Sapolsky never represented himself as an owner or officer in the company he worked for, TNA apparently didn’t pick that up and flew him down anyway, even though he wouldn’t have been able to sign the deal anyway. TNA did no homework here and created a situation that couldn’t work. So, the plan was made for the person ROH said was the new owner, Doug Gentry, to talk with TNA and sign the same letter.

 

According TNA executive Bob Ryder, (who one would assume wrote the recap of the events between TNA and ROH today on his website 1Wrestling.com -- we can’t say definitively because Ryder doesn’t use his own name on his 1Wrestling reports, instead listing the author as “1Wrestling.com”, perhaps in an attempt to avoid conflicts with the two sides of the wrestling fence he straddles), Gentry signed the letter and faxed it to TNA.

 

At that point in time, TNA then informed ROH that they needed to have Cory Silkin, a “silent investor” in the company, sign a similar letter. He refused and that led to the events of yesterday, when all TNA contracted talent was pulled from ROH shows until such time that Silkin would sign the document.

 

In looking at this situation, there are many things I find to make the wrestling business look really bad. Let’s take a look at the list.

 

From the TNA side:

 

To me, the most important thing about this whole escapade is the incredible gall that TNA has shown. I can respect that they don’t want to be caught in any fallout from Feinstein. I wouldn’t either if I were them. But what they are doing to their talent is unconscionable. Changing the rules of the game well after it starts is a low move for TNA to pull. Plus, in addition to holding the wrestlers to a contract that they now want to change the terms of without giving anything to the talent to make it worth their while, they expect the wrestlers to do so at a loss to them.

 

They expect the workers to give up lucrative dates with Ring Of Honor, paydays that were part of their expected income when they signed deals with TNA, for nothing. TNA wants them to do that for “the sake of the company”. That’s all well and good, but if they want a concession from the wrestlers, they should pay for it. They should offer the wrestlers compensation. Instead, they expect the wrestlers to give up paydays and get nothing back in return. It’s the height of arrogance from TNA, especially when you consider that a guy like Sabin hardly makes enough to live on from what TNA pays him. They expect full time loyalty for part time pay and it makes me sick.

 

To make matters worse, in addition to cutting off their ROH paydays, TNA has been running one less show a month recently, thereby reducing ¼ of the money that they were paying the wrestlers. If TNA were to offer to compensate the wrestlers for the dates they are asking them to give up, I could understand their position a bit more. At least then they would be giving something back for what they are asking the wrestlers to do. But, since they aren’t, I feel they are abusing their position and forcing talent to choose between the companies, changing the rules that both sides agreed to when they signed their contract.

 

Also, part of me can’t help but wonder if there is a receipt being given here for the boys “preferring ROH over TNA,” which many of them have told us they do. I would hope that is not the case.

 

Part of me wonders if TNA is using this situation as a way to flush out whether Feinstein is indeed really gone from ROH.

 

From the ROH side:

 

While I don’t think TNA had the right to ask ROH’s people to sign personal guarantees for TNA business, mostly for the reasons stated above, their refusal to do so has once again cast doubt as to whether Feinstein is actually gone. After the scandal broke, ROH said that Feinstein left. We were expected to take them at their word. To be perfectly honest, I had my doubts since the second they announced Feinstein “sold” his interests and was not impressed with the way they released information to “prove” it. However, I felt that we had to take them at their word until it was proven otherwise.

 

I am not saying that this does that but it certainly once again casts aspersions on the ownership of the company, and that is not fair to all of the people who took Gentry and Sapolsky at their word that Feinstein was gone. Frankly, it makes me wonder again what the real deal is with ROH once again. It makes me wonder if Gentry really even signed the paper. It also makes me wonder if Feinstein is still on board, and if he is, ROH would be totally dead to me and deserve every bad thing that would happen to them in the fallout. In the end, it also leaves me feeling kind of dirty.

 

So, when the deal fell apart yesterday and TNA and ROH released their amicable joint statement, it came across to me as if the sides both knew what had gone down and they were trying to put the best possible spin on it. It certainly had the opposite effect on me.

 

All I could think was that I was staring dead into the sleazy underbelly of the pro wrestling business and I didn’t like what I saw. As much as the business needs competition and strong independent companies, it needs to get past the internal sleaziness that so often abounds in it. It needs to do that much, much more.

[MrRant 0]

What the fuck have you been told about caps?

 

Since you have been told repeatedly yet still do it I think we you need to be banned or at the absolute least suspended for 2 weeks.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

The Wrestling Business is sleazy? Who told?!

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Why didn't you post this in the other thread. This didn't justify a completely new thread.

[Guest TDinDC1112]

I don't think you should be copying an entire opinion piece from that website and posting it here.

[Guest netslob]

What the fuck have you been told about caps?

 

Since you have been told repeatedly yet still do it I think we you need to be banned or at the absolute least suspended for 2 weeks.

heh...ironic you have a picture of a Nazi officer in your avatar.

 

Why didn't you post this in the other thread. This didn't justify a completely new thread.

 

well, he didn't...you'll live.

 

I don't think you should be copying an entire opinion piece from that website and posting it here.

 

well, he did...Scherer'll live.

[syxx2001 0]

Whats wrong with all caps again? Be glad he didn't do it LiKe ThIs.

[Styles 0]

This guy's got to be a gimmick poster...

[Golgo 13 0]

All caps is the equivalent of screaming. 95% of the time it's just not needed. The only time it should come into play is for emphasis of a word within a sentance, excitement, anger and that's it. But even for anger it just looks childish and for excitement it looks lame unless done facetiously.

 

All caps is just as bad as tHiS. Let's face it, people will still see the topic if it's regular text, and if it interests them, they'll click it. Personally, if I see all caps in a topic title or in a post, I just ignore it.

 

The no caps thing has the backing of the mods. Glennsoe has been warned for this multiple times already in the WWE folder, along with his topics having been changed. Additionally, some guy a few weeks ago was warned, then suspended and finally banned for repeatedly typing in all caps.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Additionally, some guy a few weeks ago was warned, then suspended and finally banned for repeatedly typing in all caps.

Don't forget whenever a poster told him about it he'd flame the person for no reason, and he did this several times.

[Guest]

Surprisingly a mod hasn't changed this.

[MrRant 0]

What the fuck have you been told about caps?

 

Since you have been told repeatedly yet still do it I think we you need to be banned or at the absolute least suspended for 2 weeks.

heh...ironic you have a picture of a Nazi officer in your avatar.

What does that have to do with anything?

[Guest]

Maybe netslob could be glennsoe.........that would be the only reason possible for defending the name.

[Guest netslob]

What the fuck have you been told about caps?

 

Since you have been told repeatedly yet still do it I think we you need to be banned or at the absolute least suspended for 2 weeks.

heh...ironic you have a picture of a Nazi officer in your avatar.

What does that have to do with anything?

*sigh* if i have to explain it, you'll never get it. just go about your rounds to make sure no one uses the caps key too liberally...you provide a valuable service.