RING OF HONOR ANNOUNCES SALE TO SINCLAIR BROADCAST GROUP

BRISTOL, PA. (MAY 21, 2011)--Ring of Honor Wrestling owner, Cary Silkin, announced today the sale of the promotion to Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., one of the largest television broadcasters in the country and which owns and operates, programs, or provides sales services to 58 television stations in 35 markets across the United States.

ROH, currently the third largest wrestling promotion in the country, just celebrated its ninth anniversary, and Mr. Silkin is excited about taking the next step towards increasing the company's visibility and expanding its operations.

"We have been waiting for and working for this opportunity for quite some time", he said, "and of our 9 years in business, there has been no better roster of wrestlers than this one to expose the ROH product to the masses. With Sinclair's resources and many avenues of distribution, we believe many new fans around the world will be as captivated as those who have followed Ring of Honor over the years."

The month of September will see the debut of the new Ring of Honor television program which will be syndicated across the Sinclair network of stations, and with it, ROH will become the only wrestling promotion in the United States with a major, multi-market presence on broadcast TV. But if you don't live in a market with a Sinclair station, fear not, says Mr. Silkin. "Through our revamped website we will be able to make the TV show available to anyone in the world with internet access."

Sinclair officials are enthused about the project as well.

"We are very excited about this acquisition," commented Steve Marks, COO of Sinclair's Television Group. "Television and professional wrestling have a long history of successful partnerships and driving viewership. Unfortunately, the broadcast networks have not protected that relationship, allowing professional wrestling to migrate to cable network distribution. We believe that the powerful promotional platform that our TV stations provide, coupled with our 22% share of the U.S. TV households, will allow ROH to achieve name brand recognition and grow its share of the wrestling market. When you consider the makeup of our station mix and the number of CW, MYTV and FOX affiliates we operate, this is a perfect fit for our viewer demographics." Mr. Marks also noted, "Longer-term, we can envision syndicating ROH wrestling to broadcasters in markets where Sinclair does not have a presence, and even internationally."

Mr. Silkin assures the ROH fans worldwide that they will be seeing the same exciting, hard-hitting style of pro wrestling that they have become accustomed to. "We have established the name Ring of Honor as synonymous with the best in-ring action in the sport. The only thing that will change is that it will now be easier for fans around the world to follow. Our visibility will increase greatly--our production will be upgraded--but the work ethic of our incredible talent roster and our athletic style of wrestling will remain the same. This is what our fans have told us they want, and we will continue to give it to them."

The current front office staff, including Cary Silkin, Syd Eick, and Ross Abrams, will remain with ROH going forward. Hunter Johnston, a favorite of ROH fans for years as the masked grappler Delirious, will still handle matchmaking, Jim Cornette will remain as executive producer, and other familiar faces like ring announcer Bobby Cruise and senior referee Todd Sinclair will be in place."

Additionally, longtime wrestling broadcaster Kevin Kelly, already the voice of ROH internet pay-per-views, will assume the TV play-by-play chair this fall. Veteran NWA and WCW promoter Gary Juster will come aboard to be in charge of live event operations, which are planned to continue in current ROH markets as well as expanding into new locations concurrent with the increased TV exposure.

Mr. Cornette, who along with Mr. Johnston, will be in charge of talent and matchmaking, sees this as a new beginning for pro wrestling. "This is not old-school wrestling, and it's not sports entertainment," said Mr. Cornette. "This is wrestling for the 21st century, a new style developed by fresh, young stars that incorporates wrestling, mixed martial arts and high-flying, high-risk action with unique personalities, and it's showcased by a sports-based presentation completely different from any other product out there. In my 30 years in the sport, it's the most exciting live-event wrestling experience I've seen, and I'm thrilled to help bring it to broadcast TV."

A major press conference, open to wrestling press and mainstream media alike, is being planned for Baltimore on Friday, June 24th. This event will feature a number of the ROH staff and wrestlers both announcing news about ROH's future and answering questions. The media event will be presided over by new ROH COO, Joe Koff. Mr. Koff, a longtime Sinclair executive with an extensive background in TV sales and management, also has experience in pro wrestling television production and syndication. Most visible of his projects may have been the first-ever live, prime time syndicated pro wrestling events, the Battle of the Belts, which aired from 1985 to 1987. These Championship Wrestling from Florida-based cards were broadcast live to a syndicated network of stations and may be best-remembered for the classic Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham NWA World Title contest from St. Petersburg.

The press event will kick off a weekend which includes ROH's next internet pay-per-view event, "Best In The World 2011," live from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Sunday, June 26th at 4PM EST. In addition to all the top stars on the ROH roster, this event will feature the return of some favorite stars from Ring of Honor's past, and can be ordered by anyone in the world with internet access through Gofightlive.tv for only $14.95. More information about Ring of Honor can be obtained through their website, www.rohwrestling.com.

I wondered why no one posts here anymore...

Oh yeah...ROH has new owners.

As I am now using facebook a lot more now please join up with what this community has turned into which is http://www.facebook.com/ProWrestlingPonderings

Ring of Honor will be in Dayton, Ohio tomorrow night with the following announced line up:

1. ROH World Tag Team Champions The Kings of Wrestling ("That Knockout Kid" Chris Hero&Claudio Castagnoli w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Christopher Daniels&Davey Richards

2. Homicide vs. Kenny King

3. Kevin Steen&Steve Corino vs. Adam Cole&Kevin O'Reilly

4. Jay Briscoe vs. Rhett Titus

5. Trial Series Match #1

Andy "Right Leg" Ridge vs. Colt Cabana

6. Daizee Haze vs. Lady Jo Jo

Also scheduled to appear: Mark Briscoe, Ricky Reyes, and Mike Mondo

On Saturday they return to Chicago Ridge, IL at the Fieldhouse:

1. Christopher Daniels vs. Davey Richards

2. ROH World Tag Team Champions The Kings of Wrestling ("That Knockout Kid" Chris Hero&Claudio Castagnoli w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Mark&Jay Briscoe

3. Kevin Steen vs. Homicide

4. I Quit Match; Kevin Steen will have to wear a straight jacket at ringside

Colt Cabana vs. Steve Corino

5. Kevin O'Reilly&Adam Cole vs. The All Night Express (Kenny King&Rhett Titus)

6. Trial Series Match #2

Rickey Reyes vs. Andy "Right Leg" Ridge

Daizee Haze and more are also scheduled to appear

http://www.declarationofindependents.net/doi/pages/roh107xad.html

Just an FYI, not sure if everyone is aware of this or not, but the plan for ROH by January is to no longer have most of the company on the road, the shows are going to happen, but on the road will be very cheap talent who are traveling with the ring/equipment on the crew, local wrestlers from the area the shows are in and 6-8 "higher end workers" traveling to the shows to work the main events. Ie: the champion, tag champs and a few others... Alot less of the shows will have actual matches that have talent that are "programmed together". This will allow Cary to pay locals $50 or whatever to wrestle for a national wrestling company.. You'll be seeing different wrestlers in every town that ROH goes to, with only a few of the same guys up top at every show.

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http://www.declarationofindependents.net/doi/pages/roh106xak.html

Austin Aries, Erick Stevens, The Dark City Fight Club and Necro Butcher were all removed from the roster section of ROH's website today. Several people in the business are comparing to this when ECW at the end were shedding talent and bringing in less established & quality guys to fill spots because they were cheaper to pay. If ROH really wanted to save money, they'd fire Syd Eick.

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http://www.declarationofindependents.net/doi/pages/rohwrestlercutsxx.html

According to reports in the wrestling media, Ring of Honor has decided to cut back on using some talent for both live events and TV tapings for HDNet. Several wrestlers like Necro Butcher and Austin Aries aren't scheduled to be used for a while.

Aries threatened to quit several weeks ago, but decided to finish his run.

ROH's biggest indy competitor, Dragon Gate USA, is expected to sign wrestlers to contracts to make sure they can lock in the guys they want. It should be interesting to see if guys like Aries & Necro show up in DGUSA.

ROH is currently losing money hand over fist and it doesn't help that ROH vice-president double-sells tickets and keeps the money for himself. ROH recently laid off several office employees.

It is pretty well known at this point that the only way ROH is able to continue to exist financially is because of Cary Silken's dedication to the project. If the day ever comes where Cary feels that he is tired of losing money, that will be the day ROH ceases to exist.

While it's not all doom & gloom yet, when the history of ROH is written, one of the biggest culprits in ROH's demise will be Syd Eick, as not only does he double-sell tickets and pull other nefarious scams behind Cary's back, he's also the one who blew the Mark Cuban deal by giving Cuban's people "sketchy" books. Cuban's people wanted to invest, but Syd blew the whole meeting by treating the people like marks and trying to pull wrestling scams on legit businessmen. How dumb can you be? I mean, even Turtle from "Entourage" could get a deal with Cuban!

I believe this action describes wire fraud...


http://www.declarationofindependents.net/doi/pages/brownrohlet.html

Open Commentary From Wrestling Fan Alex Brown

Professional wrestling has always been known to have sleazy promoters or individuals attached to it. Even the biggest promoters in the business have had a sleazy reputation and for good reason. Let's be honest the wrestling business is filled with sleazy individuals.

Over the past few years there were strong enough rumors that started on this DOI website which is why I'm writing you, that one individual by the name of Syd Eick who works as the ROH Vice President was one of these sleazy individuals. Many people have lashed out about ROH double selling tickets at the front door.

As someone involved in a ticket selling business, it is understandable how he gets away with it.

Basically its a very easy scam to do. Syd who is charge of selling the tickets at all of their live events gets double tickets printed up. He sells them online and then he has copies of the same seats at the live event. So when a fan walks up to the event and goes to their seat they usually find someone else sitting in it who also purchased the same tick that very same night. I've seen this practice done first hand and there have been fan reports that even Cary Silken has done this.

You might ask yourself how does this happen. Well Syd is smart enough to only do a small number of these double tickets per show. That way he can pocket some extra cash and also find the unfortunate wrestling fan other seats. What they usually do is add a seat or two to a row and hope that the fan is happy.

The other part to this scam which was finally exposed this past weekend by numerous fans on the CZW message board, is that when you go to purchase GA tickets at the door, Syd will tell you that they are sold out of GA often trying to get you to purchase the more expensive tickets because nobody is buying them anymore. ROH has run so many sales that even a packed NY city house is half off what the gate should really be because of their business being down. Yes they drew a sold out house but the tickets were all discounted.

With so many fans now speaking out about being screwed over especially this past Sat night in NY its mind boggling how this guy still has a job in the wrestling business. You would think he has some deep darker secrets on his boss, which already have been floating around the internet. If you're a young male wrestling fan you can meet Cary Silken at the live events for a one one one encounter. I wonder if he supplies the gloves. Cary is always looking for some good "Input". We've seen wrestlers come out and even speak about this on their blogs.

Now that Syd's dirty ticket scam has been exposed outside of the DOI , I hope that the wrestling fans will be more careful before they purchase future tickets from him. Remember there are always GA tickets available at the door and most of the time if you're lucky enough they will mail you some for free because they are that desperate. They have already killed the Philadelphia market by doing this. There is no "Honor" in lying especially to your own fan base.

In times like these, promotions should be going out of their way to encourage fan support, not turning their fans off. I do want to make clear that according to several fans , ROH did refund their money, but at what cost? In all my years and out of all the sporting, theatre and other events I've attended, I've never been turned away at the door when I had a ticket. To me this is just despicable.

A. Brown

ROH owner Cary Silkin relieved Adam Pearce of his role of head booker for the promotion and has decided to hand the reigns over to Hunter "Delirious" Johnston.

When asked about the change Silkin said "We thank Adam for everything he brought to the table, but I decided to make a change. There were no problems between us. There was no blow-up and it's entirely possible he will return down the line either in front of the camera or in another backstage role." and also "Adam did a good job and I believe Hunter will do the same."

Johnston will be in charge of everything in the back while Jim Cornette will continue his role in handling the HDNet product. No other major shifts in talent or otherwise are expected.

World Wrestling Entertainment has signed current Ring of Honor World Champion Tyler Black to a developmental contract and he will report to Florida Championship Wrestling.



As long as he doesn't choke someone with a tie, I think Black could flourish in WWE. He has the ability and the look they like these days. The only thing he needs real polishing on is his promos and with Dusty Rhodes at the helm in FCW he'll get a genuine learning experience. Good signing by WWE imo.

Ring of Honor has announced that former WWE Smackdown World Tag Team Champions Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas (The World's Greatest Tag Team) will make their debut for the company on September 11 for the Glory by Honor IV Internet PPV. Their announced opponents are current ROH World Tag Team Champions The Kings of Wrestling.

Good signing in my opinion. I know most people rag on Benjamin but I think working with good solid talent like the KOW and others (should they stick around) would help him get to the level WWE waited on him to reach before finally cutting him loose a few months ago. And Haas' style/no frills personality is a good fit for them. In a perfect world he'd still be on Smackdown having great matches with the likes of Kingston, Christian, etc. but what can ya do?

Ring of Honor results from Collinsville, IL on 7/23 --

*Brandon Espinosa, Mike Sydal & Ace Hawkins pinned Mark Sterling, Jordan McEntyre & Jay Bradley
*Tony Kozina beat Andy Ridge by submission
*Josh Raymond & Christian Able pinned The Bravado Bros.
*Grizzy Redwood beat Erick Stevens by DQ
--A brawl ensued when Necro Butcher interfered and Raschee Brown came out to deal with him. All the guys from the opener tried to stop it without success.
*Rodrick Strong pinned Colt Cabana
*The American Wolves pinned The Young Bucks/Gen ME
*ROH World Champ Tyler Black, Delirious & Jerry Lynn pinned Austin Aries, Rhett Titus, & King
--Aries carried off Daizee Haze, Steen ran out to attack Black leading to...
*El Generico beat Kevin Steen by DQ
*Amazing Kong & The Brisco Bros. pinned Sara Del Ray, ROH Tag Champs Chris Hero & Claudio Castignoli