ROH Talent May Not Be Able to Work PWG Next Year

[cero2k]

Source: pwponderings.com

ProWrestling.net is reporting via a member exclusive audio that there have been some discussions within ROH management that they will limit contracted talent from working other promotions, one of which is PWG. There are multiple factors going into this type of decision and nothing is final. But if this does go into affect it would start next year when talent contracts come up.

This is another factor that has to be thought of for wrestlers deciding to work for ROH if they are offered contracts or if they are renewing existing ones. Also there is no evidence that the situation between Elgin and Trevor Lee is what caused this though the connections seem obvious.

This just follows a string of ROH talent issues involving management and communication that we’ve reported on in the past. It should be noted that this is not necessarily coming from Joe Koff or Delirious who are the two most prominent people of the ROH office. This could be coming from higher up the food chain from men who don’t truly understand indie pro wrestling. One of the issues talked about is management not understanding why ROH talent would work for PWG for less money while seemingly working “harder” ie taking more bumps or just having more fun there. Hopefully the wrestlers can have a voice in this and state the obvious that PWG just has that special culture and the popularity of the promotion only serves to help ROH talent exposure.

When you consider the fact that actors from various popular TV shows and the recent appearances from the Four Horsewomen including UFC Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey gave PWG a ton of exposure in mainstream press, it would seem management needs to be told a little bit more about PWG before making a decision like this. We will be discussing this and a lot more LIVE tonight after Raw (roughly 11:15PM EST) at http://mixlr.com/pwponderings/ for our Weekly Newscast recording.

[Big Red Machine]

Source: pwponderings.com

Also there is no evidence that the situation between Elgin and Trevor Lee is what caused this though the connections seem obvious.

I've actually found myself thinking several times that it is kind of dickish for PWG, who book sh*t just because, to do a match or storyline that ROH is clearly building to (and I'm sure' they've done this to CZW, Gabe, and others over the years as well). Even by mid 2011, it was pretty clear that ROH was building up to Steen vs. Davey, and that one of Steen's first matches back was going to be with El Generico... so PWG gave both of those away for no reason, and even made Steen vs. Generico a ladder match for their title with no build or anything at all. Obviously you can't fault them for trying to make money, but it still comes across as kind of a dick move when they have a million other crazy matches they could have done.
I've also gotten the feeling that because of PWG's booking (or more specifically, their lack thereof) that they often just mooch off of what other indies are doing, and I can definitely see other indies get upset that PWG is diluting the market for matches that they have put a lot of time and thought into. I realize that this has always happened in indy wrestling, but I really feel it has been toned down over the past few years (probably because of ROH and Gabe's contracts, both in terms of exclusivity and in terms of money), except in PWG, because they don't really do much "booking" of their own.

Source: pwponderings.com
This just follows a string of ROH talent issues involving management and communication that we’ve reported on in the past. It should be noted that this is not necessarily coming from Joe Koff or Delirious who are the two most prominent people of the ROH office. This could be coming from higher up the food chain from men who don’t truly understand indie pro wrestling.

Based on stuff I've heard about the New Japan/ROH/GFW situation, I'd believe that it is guys higher up on the food chain than Koff and Delirious, as Koff and Delirious seem to be all for that, and Delirious in particular should understand both the desire to wrestle for fun and to make some extra money.

Source: pwponderings.com

Hopefully the wrestlers can have a voice in this and state the obvious that PWG just has that special culture and the popularity of the promotion only serves to help ROH talent exposure.

Yeah... I'm calling bullsh*t on that second part. ROH has SO MUCH MORE exposure than PWG. ROH has been, for lack of a better term "THE indy promotion" in the minds of mainstream fans. If a mainstream fan over the past ten years has heard of one of an indy promotion that isn't their local promotion, it is ROH (or if they are looking for hardcore stuff, it's CZW).
When a mainstream fan talked to his one pal who watched indy wrestling, that guy always mentioned ROH. When you searched for guys who have come up the ranks in WWE and TNA in the past ten years: Punk, Joe, Aries, Shelley, Homicide, Lethal- ROH gets credit for all of them. Perhaps unfairly in some cases, but that was where they got their first BIG exposure. Punk vs. Hero was cool and all, but I'd bet that a lot more people first heard about Punk from Punk vs. Raven (and to give CZW some credit, I'd bet that a lot more people first heard about Hero from Hero vs. Kingston).
Mike Tenay, Don West, and Matt Hardy all plugged them on the in 2005. Punk did in 2011, in possibly the most-watched promo of the past ten years.
They were the first indy on PPV and the first with sustained national TV, and all this time, they cultivated the image of being THE indy. When Bryan Danielson debuts in WWE, he is constantly put over an "internet darling," and being "all about the wrestling," which was basically code for ROH.
Since then, they have been cultivating a relationship with WWE which has resulted in their footage being used on WWE DVDs and a big deal being made out of them in WWE DVDs and articles. They get credit again, perhaps unfairly) for being the place that made Dragon, Punk, Rollins, Zayn, Cesaro, Ohno, Kevin Owens...
Just like Colt Cabana is the one indy wrestler that every mainstream fans knows, ROH is the one indy promotion that every mainstream fan knows.
PWG doesn't have anywhere near that recognition. To be fair, part of that is their own design- but that doesn't change the fact that they don't have a fraction of the exposure that ROH does. ROH should be looking at PWG like a feeder league. If there is a guy like Trevor Lee who is putting on great matches in PWG, then ROH should give him a look. I totally understand the idea of ROH not wanting their champ to get beaten in PWG (and they shouldn't let it happen), but the idea that the popularity of PWG will get ROH more exposure than it already has is ludicrous.