Major Shakeup In ROH

[Garth 0]

Ring of Honor Announcement

Sunday, October 26, 2008

 

Ring of Honor is announcing that Gabe Sapolsky will be leaving the company effective immediately. Everybody at ROH would like to thank him for his contributions and wish him well in all future endeavors.

 

Going forward Ring of Honor will be focusing on the stories and the talent in the ring. The company will have no further comments on this issue or a replacement for Mr. Sapolsky. We would like to thank all of the fans and media who have supported us over the years and look forward to bringing you more great wrestling excitement in the future.

-ROHWrestling.com

 

Did that come from nowhere, or what? I never thought that Gabe would leave, ROH has been his baby for a long time now. I can't really imagine why he would leave. Creative burn out, or forced out maybe? Who knows. It'll be an interesting ride for ROH in the next few months, that's for sure. I haven't really been following ROH as much as I used to recently, maybe a major creative shake up is just what's needed.

 

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Sapolsky out as ROH booker - members only news

 

By Dave Meltzer

 

ROH owner Cary Silkin confirmed this morning that Gabe Sapolsky has been replaced as booker and is no longer with the company.

 

Silkin categorized it as change the company had decided to make and it wasn't the result of any single incident that took place over the weekend. The parting of the ways took place at some point last night at the ROH house show in Edison, NJ.

 

At this point Silkin and others in ROH have been closed mouthed about who will be put in charge or what they were unhappy about.

 

Sapolsky was fired from the company last night and sources close to the situation say it was not a falling out last night, but that he also had no idea it was coming.

 

Silkin, who said he didn't want to comment on the change right now, said it would be business as usual with the 11/7 and 11/8 shows in Toronto (Markham, ONT) and Montreal going on as scheduled with the current crew of talent.

 

Last night's show featured CHIKARA Pro talent including Brodie Lee, Cheech & Cloudy and the Osiran Portal, who had never been featured on ROH shows in the past.

 

Sapolsky has been booker of ROH since its inception six years ago. The company has had its financial ups and downs during that period, but for the most part, as been the third largest pro wrestling company in North America, largely relying on sales of DVDs as its primary source of income.

 

Sapolsky had won the Booker of the Year award the past four years in Observer balloting and ROH was known for producing the best in-ring product.

 

The live crowds have been steady in recent months, but DVD sales had declined. Economic problems in North America would have likely affected ROH more than TNA or WWE because they don't have the kind of economic backing to get through rough times.

 

Silkin said it was too early to discuss what would happen next. He said there wouldn't be significant changes, but that over the next several weeks the new direction would be evident. He wouldn't comment on who would take over as booker.

 

Silkin is close friends with Luke Williams of the Bushwhackers, who has extensive booking experience, particularly in Puerto Rico and has appeared a few times at ROH events.

 

From the wording, it looks like things have been building up over time and Silkin finally decided to just cut ties with Saplosky clean. If Sapolsky had no idea this was coming, then if there was 'no falling out' before the change, there will be one now. And Luke Williams as ROH booker?

 

[bob_barron 0]

Busherwhacker Luke booking ROH?

 

God help us

[King Kamala 0]

Bushwhackers Vs Briscoe Brothers! BOOK IT!

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Well, just because someone is bad in the ring, doesn't mean they can't book...though more often than not, that doesn't seem to be the case.

[DangerousDamon 0]

Hahah, The ROH Message board just EXPLODED. Anyway, I'm pretty suprised to hear about this. It will be interesting to see where the company goes from here.

[The Truthiness 0]

This is hilarious.

[geniusMoment 0]

It's kind of weird that Gentry, Feinstein and Gabe are all gone from ROH. You might as well call it something else at this point.

 

I did lose some respect for Gabe when he claimed Rob has stepped down from both RF Video and ROH when to this day Rob still runs RF video. It's also amazing how virtually ever wrestler just appears on RF with known pedo Feinstein. Anything for a buck in wrestling I guess.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

from Bill Behrens at Wrestlezone.com:

 

ROH is financed by Cary Silken. Several years ago the decision was made to begin PPVs. The hope was it would grow the company, add fans, and revenue. It has not.

 

It has been suggested ROH needs TV. They do not unless they are paid to provide their show and at least break even. ROH had TV briefly in Philadelphia on WGTW-TV, payiong for the time slot weekly, and canceled that deal after a few months. The TV was not helping them draw and was cutting nto DVD sales. They had been warned going in that they would lose money, but too many see TV as a holy grail. It usually is not. It's usually just another expense.

 

ROH house shows are down in attendance, and several planned shows in Florida were cancelled then rescheduled to next year.

 

Only NYC & Chicago have really been drawing the crowds ROH needs and expects.

 

After last month's Philadephia show Silkin was close to shutting down ROH altogether. Too much money was being spent, and too little was coming in.

 

Other ROH Management convinced Silkin to keep the company running, and to let Gabe Saposky go, and in the process make changes beyond the booking alone.

 

Card budgets need to be cut. Towns need to be booked to run at a profit regardless of draw even if it means reducing pay to some talent or reeducing the number of wrestlers booked p[er show, particularly fly-ins.

 

Whether PPV will continue is unknown. I'd recommend no. ROH needs to focus on events and DVDs, and story telling, alnost go back to the beginning in some ways. Their press release suggested that direction.

 

The current booking plan is to use a committee. Exactly who is on the committee has not been announced. For this group, whoever they turn out to be, to be sucessful, they first need to meet with Cary Silkin and find out exacting what he wants. It is his money after all. If they plan to repackage ROH, I'd focus on NE dates and run fewer shows, and go to the mid-west only once every two-three months. I'd cancel any new market unless indications are good for ticket sales, and regardless I'd underbook the cards. I'd try to sell ROH Shows to buildings for a guaranteed fee.

 

There will be no quick fix, but if the bleeding can be stopped, Cary Silkin & ROH can survive.

[2GOLD 0]

Dang, that is a shame for the indy scene and for ROH. Hopefully they don't shut down but wow, that is sounding a lot like the last days of ECW. Well, minus the excessive constant amount of bouncing checks

[bob_barron 0]

Can anyone with a f4w membership say what Dave and Bryan said in the audio update?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Can anyone with a f4w membership say what Dave and Bryan said in the audio update?

Said that Gabe was fired by Cary and they are going in a different direction but nobody is saying what that means. Dave thinks the new booker will be announced at the November 7th show in Toronto, and they'll give a speech detailing what they're planning on doing. Said that booking isn't something someone can do for an extended length of time, and that historically speaking, you generally get two good years as booker before the ideas start to run dry. It may have to do with TV negotiations and the deal, which isn't imminent, and that the new booker may be someone more experience with booking a TV product. Dave talked with Cary this morning who said people would have to wait and see and that they wouldn't talk about it. Gabe didn't expect he was getting fired, so it appears he was totally blindsided. Dave thinks he would be effective in TNA, but it isn't going to happen. At this point, Bryan brings up, in relation to the two-year timeframe for booker's to have a good run, that it's been two years for the Russo-Jarrett-Dutch team in TNA. Dave brings up that while Gabe had ideas suggested to him and the like, he had to steer the whole ship and write everything himself, and that it was a tough job. Dave says it's impressive they've survived for so long in a tough period and have produced so many great matches. Dave points out that if a company is on it's way down, nobody in the company actually says so outright until it's late in the game. Thinks it could be a case where the feeling is they need to go in a new direction to grow from where they are now. In the current environment, where the popularity and direction of wrestling is ultimately determined by WWE, and it's down right now, even with a good product, it's going to a tough going for ROH, even with Gabe. Dave doesn't know who they are putting in the spot, but the Luke Williams name was speculated on by those close to the company. Dave describes his booking as old-school and bloody orientated, similar to Dutch Mantell. Dave doesn't know who it would be in terms of it being an experienced booker who is out there. Bryan thinks the only reason you'd axe the booker like this is if you said we need new faces and the booker refused, which Dave thinks it could be that someone has suggested to Slkin that ROH needs a new direction and Silkin agreed. The talent, and Gabe, didn't know this was happening. Dave thinks the decision was made during the week and they decided to wait until after the weekend events to tell him. Dave expects the current line ups, for advertised cards, to remain the same, and the first two shows will be a good indication of the new booker. Thinks the new booker could work more with TNA, but if ROH got TV then it would make them competition and they wouldn't be able to work together so much, if at all. Homicide's positive remarks about ROH at the show last night didn't endear himself to TNA management, and Dave points out that unless you're Kevin Nash, if you say anything negative about TNA, the booking committee punish you for it.

 

 

[bob_barron 0]

Thank you so much, HTQ!

[SamoaRowe 0]

Thanks for the updates.

 

I always hoped that if it seemed that ROH was going under, that I'd see it coming from a mile away and I'd be able to brace myself. ROH played a big part in keeping me into professional wrestling during a time when WWE wasn't doing it for me (TNA deserves some credit too, in their early days). I would be very sad if ROH were to shut down.

[spman 0]

This doesn't really surprise me. From what I've heard, attendance and merchandise sales have both taken a dive as of late, and the company has been operating at a loss for some time now. I was at the show in Danbury, CT on Friday, it only drew maybe 300-350 tops, most of whom seemed completely bored, and I saw almost no one buying any merchandise to speak of. I heard that last nights show in New Jersey had an even small crowd, so things can't possibly be good. Television will only speed up their death even faster. The market just isn't big enough for three wrestling products anymore, and with WWE's ratings in the toilet, TNA's ratings even worse, that leaves very little hope for ROH on TV. It's a shame too, as I really like ROH, but I guess the economy affects everything.

[SamoaRowe 0]

I've been seeing the opposite effect at the Boston shows. They outgrew the Braintree venue last year and have drawn solid crowds at Boston University. And the merch tables always seem to do well.

 

Sucks to hear that things aren't so hot in CT and NJ.

[Papacita 0]

How's PPV been working for them? I heard it was pretty bad in Canada, but I've never really heard much about their US buys.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

Not good. Not good at all.

 

The problem with the PPV shows, is the same issue that people like me who only buy the PPV's have bitched about. If you don't follow ROH, you don't know *ANYTHING* that's going on. There's no possibility for growth there, and it has been that way since the first show. They've done a poor job from day one getting over personalities and feuds. Not to mention that the production was pretty horrible until recently as well.

 

The last PPV was a vast improvement. The videos of Claudio and the Briscoes did more in a few seconds to get them over then anything thus far.

 

To be honest, I'm the type of fan ROH should be trying to grab, and they've never gotten me. Right now, it's more the booking then anything. I typically find the booking to be utterly confusing. What are Age of the Fall rebelling against? Is Necro Butcher a face? Is he a heel? Does anyone know? I don't even know who the tag champions are. If their Steen & Generico, then why didn't they lose the titles on the last show where they lost an iron man match to LAX?

 

It's just a very confusing product right now. Age of the Fall being over everything is not good, outside of Tyler Black. They are absolute negative buys on the PPVs.

 

I used to use the "Every match on a card feels exactly the same" complaint, but on the last few PPV's, they've managed to mix up different paces and styles well. So I can't really use that as a negative on ROH's possibility for growth when I haven't seen it recently.

[DangerousDamon 0]

Not good. Not good at all.

 

The problem with the PPV shows, is the same issue that people like me who only buy the PPV's have bitched about. If you don't follow ROH, you don't know *ANYTHING* that's going on. There's no possibility for growth there, and it has been that way since the first show. They've done a poor job from day one getting over personalities and feuds. Not to mention that the production was pretty horrible until recently as well.

 

The last PPV was a vast improvement. The videos of Claudio and the Briscoes did more in a few seconds to get them over then anything thus far.

 

To be honest, I'm the type of fan ROH should be trying to grab, and they've never gotten me. Right now, it's more the booking then anything. I typically find the booking to be utterly confusing. What are Age of the Fall rebelling against? Is Necro Butcher a face? Is he a heel? Does anyone know? I don't even know who the tag champions are. If their Steen & Generico, then why didn't they lose the titles on the last show where they lost an iron man match to LAX?

 

It's just a very confusing product right now. Age of the Fall being over everything is not good, outside of Tyler Black. They are absolute negative buys on the PPVs.

 

I used to use the "Every match on a card feels exactly the same" complaint, but on the last few PPV's, they've managed to mix up different paces and styles well. So I can't really use that as a negative on ROH's possibility for growth when I haven't seen it recently.

 

I still have yet to figure that out.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I didn't think the business model of making every show count and put out on DVD was a good business model, but I guess it worked for awhile. I basically had to stop following it closely just as quickly as I started once I realized this (and yes, I'm aware of there are alternative methods of watching these shows without buying a DVD, but that's not my thing).

 

I had a blast at the Steelcage Warfare show in December 2005 in NYC though!

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

Bushwacker Luke may be replacing the WON's 4 year Top Booker Champion.

 

I love it.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Did that message board angle ever go anywhere? What a debacle.

[Scroby 0]

I haven't followed ROH for a long time, so I have a few questions.

 

Does ROH normally run out of one place or do they travel?

 

I know they traveled to CA to do the Cow Palace show last year but does the company travel a lot or do they travel a certain area or do they just run out of one building?

 

How often does ROH run a show?

 

 

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

I'm gonna get flamed for incorrect answers, (consider the rest IIRC)

but ROH travels across the US, and has run 2 or 3 Japan tours.

 

They run a Friday and Saturday show most weeks I think. Chicago and NYC are the only 2 cities drawing well at this point.

 

 

[BUTT 0]

They just said on Observer Radio that the new booker is Adam Pearce.

[Silence 0]

They just said on Observer Radio that the new booker is Adam Pearce.

 

Does this mean more old-school wrestlers in the promotion?

[King Cucaracha 0]

Honestly, a shake-up was needed. I've only bought one DVD this entire year and that was Rising Above, simply to watch Aries/Nigel.

 

Storylines have been thin on the ground and somebody said a lot for the booking in general being confusing or plain bad. Ever since the Gen Next stable warfare feud went wrong, it's been downhill. I can't think of one single thing that turned me off. Claudio should be the top guy in the company right now and they screwed that up monumentally, but really there's just been nothing all year that's gotten my interest.

 

So, I'm only seeing the positive of this so far.

 

 

Last night's show featured CHIKARA Pro talent including Brodie Lee, Cheech & Cloudy and the Osiran Portal, who had never been featured on ROH shows in the past.

 

Well, ignoring that Cheech and Cloudy were in ROH for months, I'd like to think that this is a good sign and wasn't sighted as a negative against Gabe. ROH needs some new talent desperately. Cheech and Cloudy are one of the best teams on the indies at the moment. Brodie's been improving dramatically for the past year. And I don't know how the Portal will go down with diehard ROH fans (a dancing pharoah and a snake) but they're really talented, especially considering they've been around for only 1-2 years.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

What's this business about them having a wrestler named Cheech?

[Silence 0]

What's this business about them having a wrestler named Cheech?

 

Every time I see your name, I always think of the wrestler.

[Angle-plex 0]

The probably came to the SmartMarks and took your name Cheech.