What’s the story?
Mike Johnson from PWInsider has just published a story regarding contract updates for nine key superstars within Ring Of Honor. Some major names in the main event and tag team scene just happened to have their contracts coming to an end at the same time, and below is the current status:
Christopher Daniels- Signed to new, long term deal.
Bobby Fish- The two sides have signed an extension of Fish's previous contract and are currently working on a new longer form deal.
Frankie Kazarian- Was already locked into deal before end of 2016.
Jay Lethal- As previously noted, Lethal has been locked into a new, long term deal.
Kyle O'Reilly- His ROH deal expired on 12/31. O'Reilly is said to be reviewing his options (translation: WWE) Two sides working on a per date agreement going forward.
Adam Page- A new deal is being finalized but has not yet been signed. Obviously already working for New Japan as well.
War Machine- We are told that a new deal is being finalized but has not yet been signed. There is also interest from New Japan in using them more in 2017.
BJ Whitmer- Signed to new deal before end of 2016; no definitive word on length.
In case you didn’t know...
The WWE is in a major signing mode with the brand split, the continued success of NXT, and the start of 205 Live. A lot of these wrestlers were probably on Vince McMahon and Triple H’s radar, but it appears that Ring Of Honor has been able to retain most of these guys.
The heart of the matter...
It is a unique situation that could have been disastrous for Ring Of Honor with so many contracts coming up at once. For Ring Of Honor’s sake, hopefully, they staggered out the end date on some of these deals to avoid a situation like this from happening again. However, it almost seems like a yearly occurrence at the start of a new year.
What’s next?
The main event and tag team division will remain intact with re-signing the likes of Jay Lethal, War Machine, and The Addiction. The only question mark currently is Kyle O’Reilly, who looks to be heading to the WWE after dropping the title back to Adam Cole at Wrestle Kingdom 11 this week.
Sportskeeda’s Take
It could have been really ugly for Ring Of Honor, but they have escaped having to do anything too major. The biggest piece of unfinished business would have been the ROH World Championship since that was held by Kyle O’Reilly.
The fans of NXT or 205 Live should get very excited at the addition of O’Reilly as he reminds a lot of people of Daniel Bryan in the ring. If nothing else, Ring Of Honor may end up stronger due to the results of these re-signings plus the fact that they are now in talks to bring in Drew Galloway.
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