In the seven-plus years we've run this website, there hasn't been a ton of discussion about Ring of Honor.
Sure, I own a handful of ROH DVDs and even attended Death Before Dishonor IX live in New York City in 2011, but there hasn't been a ton to write about there.
Beyond that, I haven't been paying as much attention as I probably should have. I even stopped watching ROH's weekly syndicated shows, which I'd been doing sporadically for years, when AEW showed up on the scene and began giving WWE a run for its money. And I'd bet I wasn't alone in doing so, as the company has slowly been losing much of its fanbase.
When you think about everything ROH has accomplished in nearly 20 years (an eternity in this day and age), it's quite impressive. Some of the world's best wrestlers, including Bryan Danielson, AJ Styles, CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Kevin Owens (Steen), Seth Rollins (Tyler Black), El Generico (Sami Zayn), Christopher Daniels, Austin Aries, Adam Cole and The Young Bucks made a name for themselves there. I'm sure I'm overlooking many others with that one sentence.... but that just goes to show you how influential they've been. At one point about three years ago, they were the talk of the independent scene, even booking shows at Madison Square Garden.... and that goodwill certainly helped launched what is now AEW.
Hopefully it's not over for this group as, even with AEW and WWE on the scene, we need as many breeding grounds for top talent out there as we can get. Hopefully the group will truly be reimagined (their language, not mine) come next April and become a successful promotion once again. Hopefully they can find a business model that lets them survive and even thrive in 2022.
But if it truly is over for Ring of Honor.... that's definitely a shame for the wrestling industry. And thanks for the memories!
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