ROH/WWE Talent agreement made

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

From the WON

 

"There is some sort of agreement with WWE right now, but I am not sure of the details. It appears that some of the lower talent that is hardly getting booked they will allow to work ROH since they know it's a professional group as compared to most indies."

 

Obviously they are already using Stevie Richards, any thoughts about other guys they might use?

[Guest Trivia247]

Perhaps ROH is the new unofficial ECW like farm fed for the WWE, where the WWE will trade over some talent like Stevie richards or an Al Snow, or a Tommy Dreamer, and in return they can test and observe their wrestlers.... alla the later 90's age where ECW had Kaientai and the Headbangers come in.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I know for purpose of angles that ROH will have a winner gets a contract match or whatever...but I can't imagine an indy having guys signed to actual contracts, but I know their guys are loyal. So what does Vince really get out of this when he doesn't have to do this.

[Guest MikeSC]

If the WWE uses this to their utmost advantage, this might be one of the better moves they have made in a long, long while.

-=Mike

[Vyce 0]

Perhaps ROH is the new unofficial ECW like farm fed for the WWE, where the WWE will trade over some talent like Stevie richards or an Al Snow, or a Tommy Dreamer, and in return they can test and observe their wrestlers.... alla the later 90's age where ECW had Kaientai and the Headbangers come in.

And the WWE can then steal all of their best and / or most over workers.

 

Smooth deal.

[Mystery Eskimo 0]

It's not really stealing. None of the RoH workers are contracted to them.

 

I can't really think of anyone in the WWE lower card that could add anything to an already stacked RoH roster. But if they help RoH sell a few more tickets and DVDs to casual fans, great.

[Guest MikeSC]

Perhaps ROH is the new unofficial ECW like farm fed for the WWE, where the WWE will trade over some talent like Stevie richards or an Al Snow, or a Tommy Dreamer, and in return they can test and observe their wrestlers.... alla the later 90's age where ECW had Kaientai and the Headbangers come in.

And the WWE can then steal all of their best and / or most over workers.

 

Smooth deal.

Paying them more money is stealing?

-=Mike

[Guest Trivia247]

Its this whole Indy's is better and WWE is just corporate evil and must be destroyed, get back to the Soil......mannnnnnn sounds almost stereotypically hippyish.

 

Yea who'd want any ROH wrestlers to ever have a National to global exposure, you know on tv without having to go hunting on the webpages for Tapes and DVD's for sale... that would be silly.

[Guest Loss]

Sounds like a move that's more about letting the lowcarders make some money on the side than it is something huge that's going to benefit WWE.

[Youth N Asia 0]

While I'm a very big fan of ROH, I hate the whole "stealing" bit from the indies. The WWE makes an offer, nothing else, it's up to the worker to decided if they want more money and worldwide exposure or not.

 

And Vince floated ECW $50,000 a month after Vince started STEALING ECW workers. Paul E said himself ECW would have folded sooner had Vince not done that...which he didn't have to

[Guest BobBacklundRules]

Does anyone think that jobbing out ROH Pure Champion John Walters to Angle on national television was a 'show of trust' trade off to have Richards come in?

[bob_barron 0]

Walters jobbed to Masters. Roderick Strong jobbed to Angle.

[SamoaRowe 0]

Walters also jobbed to Team Angle in 2003 but no one seems to remember that (I only do because I was there in person, the match aired on Smackdown, not Velocity).

[Guest BobBacklundRules]

Walters jobbed to Masters. Roderick Strong jobbed to Angle.

Oh yeah, forgot about that.

 

DAMN THAT FULL NELSON!

[Youth N Asia 0]

Walters was done with ROH by then anyway, didn't he show up to drop the title and say he wasn't coming back?

[bob_barron 0]

Walters was still champ when he lost to Masters. I think him quitting might be a work though

[Mystery Eskimo 0]

Yeah, I'm sure Walters will be back in ROH.

 

As for his and other ROH worker's appearances on WWE, they were just indie workers getting a pay day, nothing to do with any working arrangement.

 

And other than Punk, I can't see WWE wanting to "steal" any ROH guys anytime soon.

[Guest OSIcon]

Like others have said, the WWE didn't need to make this deal in order to take any ROH wrestlers. If they want Samoa Joe, Punk, or Vordell Walker, all they need to do is call those guys up and they'll most likely be there in a heart beat. I guess you could still go by the conspiracy theory that these guys are being sent to "scout" but i just don't see Vince using guys like Stevie Richards and Shane Helms as talent scouts.

 

To me, it seems as simple as the WWE wanting to help some of the lower card guys out. The guys who don't get booked consistently wabnt to also work elsewhere. Instead of letting them take random indy gigs (with the posibility of being screwed out of pay or trated poorly), the WWE instead just lends them out to ROH which they know won't do that.

 

Only two guys I'd want to see in ROH (and have a realistic shot of appearing) are Shane Helms and Val Venis. Helms was so good in OMEGA and his late WCW run. I'd love to see him (minus the Hurricane get up) against Noble or Danielson. Venis is one of the better workers in the WWE and it would be interesting to see what he could do with Punk, Joe, Danielson, ect.

[Guest MikeSC]

One thing that gets ignored is that if Vince doesn't feel somebody is a threat to him, he'll often help them quite a bit. He did so with SMW, USWA in its later days, ECW, etc.

 

This really isn't that out of the ordinary for him.

-=Mike

[tpww7 0]

Gabe just made a post over at the ROH board saying that everyone was jumping the gun over the situation and to not believe everything we read.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Wait, ROH working with WWE? Pure wrestling working with sports entertainment. I thought ROH DOESN'T DO SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT~!

 

(Apart from Special K, The Christopher Street Connection, the 'fan run-ins' at Unscripted, Low Ki pretending to take an E tablet and booking a worked fan riot of course.)

 

Still, if it means letting Jimmy Rave go to the WWE and job to Chris Masters while he's in the middle of a push, who's to argue with ROH if they're really working with the WWE? And hey, if it means the WWE (reportedly) sending out feelers to CM Punk and Joe and possibly taking away ROH's two drawing cards, who's to argue? I mean, they get to use Stevie Richards. That's GOT to be a good deal.

[Mystery Eskimo 0]

ROH have no authority to stop Jimmy Rave working for whoever he wants so its not a question of letting him. WWE could take who they want, working relationship or not.

[razazteca 0]

The whole Mick Foley vs Ricky Steamboat angle was a cover for WWE scouts!?!?!?!

[Zack Malibu 0]

Walters is apparently taking time off as he's burnt out, as well as digruntled about being passed over for a developmental deal for the new Atlanta outlet.

[NoCalMike 0]

This working relationship is good for ROH, as it gives them many more folks to work with. I am not even sure what WWE looks to gain from this, as they rarely push or elevate any leased talent anyway.

[Guest Shadow]

If anyone is expecting ROH to get promotion and big name stars and for vince to "raid" the roh lockeroom, they are clearly nuts.

 

This is a good faith gesture by vince and nothing less. He knows some workers arent being used and instead of outright cutting them, he lets them not get stagant and go to smaller feds to either get their fix, remotivate themselfs or perhaps in the case of al snow, INNOVATE themselfs.

 

Vince has done this many times as mike pointed out, most notably ECW. Ring of Honor is the best ran and promoted independent promotion in america and vince knows that.

 

Vince would'nt be raiding nething, he would simply be making offers to wrestlers who are essentially free agents. If he went into tna and took styles and daniels...thats raiding. CM PUNK is a free agent so to speak.

 

if he wanted to get Joe or Punk or Dragon, he'd simply get them. He is kept aware of these guys via his underlings reports and we arent even certain if he's even personally watched any roh stuff but its wise to assume that Jim Ross has. it's also wise to assume since CM PUNK doesn't fit Jim Ross's mold, punk wouldn't get a favorable review from jr meaning Vince only gets a negative report. Samoa Joe though should fit Ross's mold.

 

The only thing that really comes out of this is that it allows Richards, Venis, Nunzio, and those types more chances to perform or find a way to re design themselfs.

[natey2k4 0]

The only thing that really comes out of this is that it allows Richards, Venis, Nunzio, and those types more chances to perform or find a way to re design themselfs.

 

 

I agree with what you said.. but wasnt there already some type of agreement with WWE and it's lower card superstars that they could work independants?

[Guest Shadow]

ROH pays better and it would allow vince to only have to deal with ONE indy promotion instead of smaller more shady ones.

 

roh is the cleanest and most professional and best with payoffs.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

When did ECW ever use The Headbangers???

[Toshiaki Koala 0]

Look out, Samoa Joe - Chris Masters is coming for YOU!