Fifth Year Anniversary of Sinclair Buying Ring of Honor and Why It's Been a Failure
August 30, 2016
By Ryan Porzl
On May 21, 2011, Ring of Honor announced that Sinclair Broadcasting Group, an American Telecommunications Company, had bought the company. Following the announcement, many from ROH personal to fans had high hopes that this is what ROH needed to take them to the next level with many believing they would overtake TNA as the #2 promotion in America. Now five years later, not only has that not happened but the company has arguably gotten worse. So what went wrong? Why hasn't ROH made the growth people hoped they would've?
When it comes to ROH's short comings over the last five years, we need to look at it in two parts because the blame can't be focused on one side. Some of the faults fall on Sinclair and some fall on ROH itself. When it comes to Sinclair, the biggest problem is that despite giving the impression they were behind ROH, they've never shown it once they bought the company. According to Jim Cornette from his Breaking Kayfabe DVD from Kayfabe Commentaries, Sinclair never followed through on things as he claimed to have wrote the proposal that led to them buying the company. While you have to take what Cornette says with a grain of salt, he paints a pretty ugly picture. He claimed that Sinclair were looking at buying a warehouse type building for ROH that could be used as the company's offices, hold their merchandise, and be used for their TV Tapings and training facility but nothing came of it.
The company also wouldn't invest much in the promotion as they apparently didn't buy pipe and drape which led to shows that looked bad and more empty because of it. They were cheap with the new website which has problems multiple times during the early months. The reportedly didn't supply the company with quality television cameras for more than a year after the purchase and then supplied them with faulty equipment that their media crews didn't want to use. They were completely incompetent with the internet pay-per-views to the point where it became a tradition for ROH to have some technical difficulties and black outs. While the latter happened before Sinclair bought the organization, it didn't get better for awhile afterwards and it doesn't help that Sinclair should've put money in to make sure these incidents didn't happen.
Television has been another problem as ROH was first put in syndicated markets beginning in September 2011 but despite the stations being owned by Sinclair, they didn't get any special treatment as most markets air the show either on weekend afternoons or in the middle of the night. The majority of the markets don't air it on prime time which is where most people will likely be watching which means ROH is likely not getting the biggest audience it could get. Then there's Sinclair's newest channel called COMET which began in late 2015 and ROH began airing in December. Yet, despite the station being owned by Sinclair, ROH is put on late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning at midnight. That's right. Even on a station owned by it's owner, ROH can't get a prime time slot. Again, ROH is not going to attract many eyes with a weak timeslot even in an age where DVR exists.
Sinclair also retained Jim Cornette and made him the company's executive producer. While Cornette is beloved by the internet wrestling community, anybody who knows Cornette's history knows he's a ticking time bomb with a short fuse that's waiting to burst. By September 2011, Cornette had seen himself get fired by the top two promotions in America in WWE and TNA less than a decade before (WWE in 2005 and TNA in 2009). He also has proven to be a rageaholic at his worst and can explode at any moment something doesn't go to his liken or when someone suggests something he doesn't like. Cornette was also notorious for being extremely outdated as his wikipedia profile is the definition of outdated. Throughout his history as a booker, Cornette has desperately tried to turn back the clock to the 1970s which was the kind of wrestling he was watching as a kid. Cornette has never been able to understand the business has changed and what worked decades ago won't work now. Ironically, despite many believing Cornette's was a great match for ROH (I was one of those who used to believe that), Cornette is technically a disaster for ROH as ROH is supposed to be a company who used to have the slogan "We Don't Imitate...We Innovate". An organization trying to be innovative and try new things is not where Cornette belongs. In the end, Cornette's run in ROH proved to be a disaster in every way. Behind the scenes, Cornette was not a fan of the Kevin Steen/El Generico (Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, respectively) feud despite the fact it was the hottest feud ROH had at one point. He also was against using the independent tag team The Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno & Player Dos) because he thought the casual fans wouldn't get them all the while admitting to mocking the hardcore ROH fans who were disappointed in ROH not using them. He also brought in many aging or ex-WWE guys he mostly knew from OVW or years gone by like Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin), Mike Mondo, and The Headbangers with none of them truly catching on. WGTT won the Tag Team Championship twice but weren't as hot as their 2003 run in the WWE was but then again, that was the last time the team was relevant. Mondo was a former WWE World Tag Team Champion as part of The Spirit Squad but didn't get over despite being a solid wrestler and was likely hired and given repeated opportunites because Cornette worked with him in Ohio Valley Wrestling. The Headbangers worked with Cornette in the dying months of Smoky Mountain Wrestling in 1995 and while they were former WWF & NWA World Tag Team Champions, the team peaked in the late 90s and haven't meant anything since they originally broke up in 2000. It also didn't help they were in their 40s and well past their primes. Cornette also brought in Dan "The Beast" Severn for a brief period to mentor Eddie Edwards and while Severn is a legend in both professional wrestling and MMA, his peak ended in the early 2000s with no one outside hardcore fans knowing who he is in 2011. While Cornette has claimed he was never the booker, the period of 2011-2012 would argue otherwise as many ideas and storylines had Cornette written all over it. During this period, ROH saw outdated ideas like WGTT defeating the Briscoe Brothers with an either soaked rag, a big deal about the piledriver being banned & then it being lifted for a match, $10,000 Challenge matches, and Davey Richards booked as white meat babyface during his World Title run which resulted in fans turning on him. To say the least, Cornette is the only one in the 2010s to book the first three things since they all went out by the 1990s. Along with booking, Cornette was also a nightmare as his attitude hurt things backstage as well when he ran afoul with Greg Gilliland. Gilliland, a former office boy from accounting brought in to help run ROH's day-to-day operations, became Cornette's new archnemesis as the two went at it repeatedly. While Cornette claims Gilliland (who he nicknamed Greg The Office Boy) was unpopular backstage, Cornette didn't help his cause with his behavior as he went off at times as it was the same situation he had with Vince Russo in WWF & TNA and Kevin Dunn in WWF as he became unbearable. Even Cornette admitted that ROH's weekly conference calls were him vs. Gilliland in arguments. Cornette would eventually seal his fate following a bad TV Taping in November 2012 as Bell Vernon, Pennsylvania when he was heard shouting that he wanted to gouge Gilliland's eyes out.
However, not all the blame can go to Sinclair as ROH itself is just as guilty of their decline. One reason being that it's failed to cater to casual wrestling fans. One huge reason ROH is stuck as the #3 promotion with not much hope they'll get bigger is they continue to mostly cater to the internet wrestling community instead of casuals. While there isn't anything wrong with playing to the hardcore fans, they're only a fraction of wrestling's fanbase. The majority of the WWE fanbase are casuals who do love wrestling but at the same time, are not going to love a wrestler or a show because of workrate or because the matches are long or certain wrestlers had a five star match. If ROH wants any chance to grow then they must find a way to cater to casual fans or they'll remain the #3 or a big indy with no chance of growth. It's been proven over the years that while the hardcore fans are probably the loudest fans, they're not the majority of wrestling fans. ECW catered to the hardcore fans and never grew much despite eventually having a cable TV deal and Pay-Per-Views. When WCW tried to do storylines in 1999 that only internet fans would understand, they flopped because the internet fans didn't buy it while casuals didn't understand what was going on. Whenever companies have pushed an "internet darling", a lot of times, they didn't catch on with the casuals and weren't big draws. Meanwhile, wrestlers that have been deemed talentless or not good by the hardcore audiences are loved by the casual fans and usually get the biggest reactions at the shows. Now, I'm not saying casuals and hardcore fans won't like the same wrestlers as they can both agree on many but it's probably best for business to think of what would draw in casuals over hardcore if you have aspirations of going national and potentially competing with WWE and TNA.
The company has also constantly figured out ways to squander talent. While ROH has had success with men like Adam Cole, Matt Taven, and reDRagon, Ring of Honor has had many excellent prospects but rarely has been able to fully utilize them. Michael Elgin was a talented big man who seemed like "can't miss" especially following his winning the 2011 Survival of the Fittest Tournament and a critically acclaimed match with Davey Richards back in March 2012. After that though, Elgin's stock began to drop as the company began to wait too long to pull the trigger and it took them to June 2014 to finally put the World Title on him only to then have to have him drop it two months later due to visa issues. After that, Elgin never seemed to recover as he became a villain for no reason and drifted for a year before seemingly bouncing back by winning the SOTF 2015 tournament at the end of the year and becoming a fan favorite. Unfortunately, Elgin failed to regain the championship at Wrestle Kingdom X In Tokyo Dome in January and then left the company to sign full time with New Japan. Tommaso Ciampa also seemed lost in the shuffle in his last year after he lost the ROH TV Title to Jay Lethal in April 2014 and then did little to nothing as he became a villain and had a forgettable feud with Elgin before leaving in early 2015 to work for NXT. To be fair, Ciampa's feud with Elgin likely got hurt due to Elgin's visa issues. Cedric Alexander looked like he was destined for a singles push when he feuded with veteran Roderick Strong in the spring of 2014 but despite winning the feud, Alexander's career went nowhere as he was rudderless for a year as a fan favorite, turned villain, and then spent a year wasted as a jobber until finally bailing in the spring of 2016 to take part in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic which could lead to a full time job. Mike Bennett seemed like another "can't miss" but aside from winning the 2011 Top Prospect Tournament, the company seemed to sit on him. While he did get involved with names like Matt Hardy and Lance Storm, the company took forever to put a title on him as it wasn't until September 2015 when he finally won one in the ROH World Tag Team Championship. Unfortunately, it was too late as Bennett's future with ROH was up in the air for much of 2015 due to failed contract negotiations and Bennett finally left in December after he dropped the tag titles and went to TNA in January 2016.
Along with former talent, ROH has also done little with their current prospects. ACH is a guy they appear to be high on and the announcers hype him up but the problem is that he's not booked to be special as he has yet to get that huge signature win that gets him to the next level. He's also not won one title in ROH despite the fact he's been under contract for three years. Adam "Hangman" Page started working for ROH in 2011 and by 2014 was in a storyline with The Decade stable as a young boy before becoming a member in 2015 during which time he was a villain. In early 2016, Page became a fan favorite and began feuding with former mentor BJ Whitmer only to then become a villain by May when he joined Bullet Club. Same problem happened with Donovan Dijak as he came in and won the 2015 Top Prospects Tournament only to be wasted all year as a stooge for the House of Truth where he was a villain. He got kicked out in December 2015 and became a fan favorite only to become a villain again one month later. Both Page and Dijak were in the same boat as they wasted a year of their careers as stooges or sidekicks then became fan favorites only to immediately become villains again. It's like ROH has no idea what to do with either guy or make up their mind.
The company has also become obsessed with their working relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling to the point where they bring in New Japan guys more and more. Originally, most of the New Japan's wrestler only appeared for the yearly Global Wars shows which was fine but more and more, we've been seeing them on other big shows. In fact, out of the four PPVs to date in 2016 that Ring of Honor held, three heavily featured New Japan talent. It's gotten to the point where they're relying on New Japan like a crutch. Even worse is that most of the time, ROH doesn't get much from the deal. When shows heavily feature New Japan guys, the New Japan guys almost always beat ROH wrestlers. The majority of the time when ROH beat New Japan guys, it's either tag matches featuring a New Japan guy teaming with a ROH guy or the ROH guy beats a rookie/young lion. Almost every time a ROH wrestler takes on one of the New Japan's top names in one-on-one, they almost always lose. It's gotten to the point where even some wrestling reporters such as Dave Meltzer are saying that New Japan's wrestlers are coming off as the bigger stars over ROH's. In a business relationship like this, you should have it be where both sides work together and benefit but it feels like the deal mostly benefits New Japan while ROH sees their wrestlers come off inferior. Another problem is by heavily relying on New Japan guys, it results in the fans eventually only caring when they show up and may not care enough to go to average ROH shows or by overusing them, they no longer come across as special and the fans stop caring since they've seen the same New Japan wrestlers multiple times a year. Also, while bringing in New Japan guys at times can by cool, ROH should focus on their own future by using slots for their events or for TV with full time guys who can be stars in the future.
The company has also done a terrible job of retaining talent. People talk about wrestlers leaving TNA but at least TNA has retained many especially with their prospects while ROH has lost all sorts of wrestlers from vets to prospects. Since Sinclair bought Ring of Honor, we've seen Kevin Steen (Kevin Owens), El Generico (Sami Zayn), Jimmy Jacobs, Mike Bennett, Moose, Roderick Strong, Michael Elgin full time, Tommaso Ciampa, Cedric Alexander, The King's of Wrestling, Kenny King (who later came back), and The Wolves all leave. While some were stale and needed to go like Jacobs and Strong, many were blows to the company as many top stars and prospects have slipped through their fingers. If ROH has any chance of growing then they need to be able to keep their talent especially prospects who can be stars of the future and they need to come off as a place where guys and girls should want to be and stay at instead of using it to eventually move to the WWE or TNA. By having wrestlers leave at the rate they have, it makes ROH a company where up and coming talent go to only to ply their trade until getting called to the big leagues which makes them come off like the big indy companies.
ROH has also not done the best job with their belts. From 2011-2014, ROH did a good job with the ROH Television Championship for the most part but then began making questionable decisions in 2014 when Jay Lethal regained the championship. Now, while there's nothing wrong with Lethal winning he belt, he held it for over eighteen months and he didn't need to. Even worse is that by the time the title reign ended, it not only dragged on and on and on but he was also ROH World Champion in the last four months of his reign. Then the title went to Roderick Strong who didn't need it and ROH could've established a new star by having them end the title reign. After that, the belt went to New Japan's Tomohiro Ishii who, while a great wrestler, was another poor choice as Ishii didn't bring more prestige to the belt and was barely around as he won it on a tour of Japan in February 2016, made two title defenses for ROH, and then wasn't seen for two and a half months until he lost it. Again, it felt like a young guy could've won it instead of someone who was MIA. It also didn't add anything either like more prestige. Since then, Bobby Fish has won it and while Fish is a great wrestler, it can be argued that an up and comer could benefit more from having it while Fish is already established as part of reDRagon. The World Title situation has also been too repetitive. While the company has booked Austin Aries, Jay Briscoe, and Adam Cole to regain the title, wrestlers rarely regain the title and it's almost like when someone wins the ROH World Championship, it's their "turn" and when they lose it, then it's somebody else's turn while they likely never get the belt back because they had their turn. Meanwhile, almost every title reign especially during the Sinclair era have had title reigns that went six months to a year plus. Since Davey Richards won the championship shortly after the purchase, there have been eight reigns. Not counting current champion Adam Cole's recent reign, only two of the seven other reigns lasted less than six months and there was reasons because of it as Michael Elgin's reign ended due to visa issues (Elgin is Canadian) while Jay Briscoe's first reign ended due to his contract ending. Every other title reign goes at least nine months. While wrestling companies don't want their belts to be hot potatoes or have a situation like the WWE has where guys like Cena and Orton are 12-15 time champions, not every title reign can go 6-12 months or else it doesn't mean anything because every reign is that long. It's not special when someone has a year long title reign because everybody who wins it has reigns that go that long or near it. A great championship should have a nice mix of long and short reigns as well as some winning the championship more than others. A championship doesn't mean as much if almost everybody that's held it held it the same amount of times and had the same length of reign.
Having giving all these examples, it's safe to say that the Sinclair Broadcasting purchase has been a colossal disappointment. Ring of Honor hasn't been able to get the most out of the situation but if Sinclair can ever truly get behind them while the company corrects a lot of their mistakes then they have a chance to get bigger. Whether that happens or not is another story.
