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RADICAN'S TAKE
RADICAN: McGuinness and Danielson's departures mark the end of an era for ROH Sep 4, 2009 - 12:48:26 PM
One of the issues ROH has always had to deal with during their existence is the possibility of their roster being gutted by WWE. TNA also forbid their contracted talent for a long period of time from appearing in ROH and eventually TNA contracted talent only appeared sporadically in ROH before disappearing altogether from the ROH scene once the HDNet deal was inked.
Today's news that Nigel McGuinness has agreed to a preliminary deal with WWE marks the end of an era in ROH. McGuinness leaving combined with Bryan Danielson's signing with WWE that was announced several weeks ago is the biggest blow the ROH roster has ever received in such a short period of time.
When the TNA talent was pulled from ROH and C.M. Punk signed with WWE in the past, there were other wrestlers on the roster that were capable of stepping up to the plate and keep fans interested in the product ROH was putting out on DVD.
In 2009, the landscape in ROH is totally different. The popularity of the company has declined and the once rabid fanbase has died down to an extent. The problems were there before former ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky was fired last October, but they have rapidly accelerated under the new booking regime lead by Adam Pearce.
In recent months, it seems as if ROH has made some inroads on creating new stars, but the company struggled for several months after Sapolsky left to create new stars and storylines for their niche fanbase to sink their collective teeth into as the company made the move to HDNet.
Despite those flaws, ROH still had the best collection of talent on the independents that put on excellent matches for fans to purchase on DVD and watch on HDNet to a limited extent.
The two constants in ROH during all of the changes and talent coming into and leaving the company have been Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness. The one thing that jumps out at your first when looking at their ROH careers is the remarkable runs each of them had with the ROH World Hvt. Title.
McGuinness and Danielson put on a collection of matches any fan of wrestling would be proud to own during their respective lengthy title reigns.
Once their title reigns ended, Danielson and McGuinness continued to be a vital part of ROH. Danielson has been used to put over other talent this year and McGuinness was just beginning to find his niche on the roster after taking some time off for injury after dropping the title to Jerry Lynn in April.
If you bought an ROH DVD and saw a match with McGuinness and Danielson on the back cover, you knew you were going to see something worth watching on the DVD you purchased.
Danielson and McGuinness leave a void in ROH that's going to be extremely difficult for the company to fulfill. They are collectively two of the best in-ring performers in North America today. ROH could boast of having both of these men on their roster and their constant presence is recent years has given ROH fans something to hang their hat on.
This could just be the beginning of WWE signing ROH talent to contracts. From my point of view, they couldn't go after a more talented group of performers to enhance the WWE roster.
From ROH's point of view, this has to be a time where they take a look at their roster and start pushing guys like Tyler Black, Claudio Castagnoli, and Davey Richards as major singles stars before its too late. ROH is at a major crossroads right now. The DVD sales aren't doing great, live attendance isn't increasing noticeably, and the company is still trying to sort things out with how to present the product on HDNet.
In order for the company to survive at this point, ROH needs to take the reigns off the talent they still have and let them go back to putting on the best matches they can. There's a niche for great wrestling on DVD and if HDNet becomes available in more homes in North America and a deal comes about overseas, the company could find some money flowing in.
McGuinness's signing today marks the end of an era, but ROH could still carve a niche for themselves by finding creative ways to push the talent they still have access to on the roster.
Contact Sean at PWTorchSean@gmail.com
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