Gabe Sapolsky out of ROH
Oct 26, 2008 6:07:24 GMT -5
Post by Mr. Dashbee on Oct 26, 2008 6:07:24 GMT -5
I was up late thanks to the kids, thus I saw this:
Reported here, and I'd say the company's website is fairly reliable...
You all know how big of an ROH mark I am, and I must say I'm shocked. Kudos to ROH for keeping it quiet, as I haven't seen it reported anywhere before ROH announced it. They pulled that off with the PPV announcement, too. I think the middle of the night announcement isn't a bad New York Mets manager firing, it's a combination of making the announcement after their event in Edison and not letting any other websites trump the news on them. That also likely means no announcement was made to the talent out of fear that it'd get out. Hopefully they all understand that it's the nature of the business.
I've seen two reactions already: 1) people saying this is the beginning of the end for ROH (Gabe IS ROH, close up shop now, CHIKARA is the new ROH, etc.). 2) the show will still go on, the product will change a little, but the show still goes on.
For me, as I already posted on the ROH board, I think Gabe got hired by Vince, or maybe TNA. He's likely been declining offers for a while now, and finally got an offer he couldn't refuse. There is a possibility that it was creative differences between Gabe and ownership (i.e. Cary Silkin), and one of them had to go. I surely hope not. And thereis that 0% change pipe dream that it's a work, or a way for Gabe to work incognito. But I'll stick with option one, and assume he's already boarded a plane from Newark to Phoenix to be backstage at Cyber Sunday.
What's funny is that everyone assumed that after CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Homicide, Matt Sydal, Colt Cabana and others, everyone assumed Bryan Danielson was the next ROH talent to get stolen. Not the booker!
Personally, good for him. I hope he's getting paid. He might hate working for the WWE or TNA, but I'd look at it as getting paid for his almost 7 years of hard work in ROH. He deserves it.
Interesting to note that no announcement has been made, or (according to ROH) will be made about a replacement. It's long been said that Dave Prazak (commentator for ROH & IWA: Mid-South and SHIMMER booker/possible owner) would be the next in line for holding the book in ROH. The next few days should obviously be very telling. I just hope it's a move up for Gabe, and not some ugly bad break-up of a situation.
MTA:
--Interesting of note, there is a new member to the ROH message board: "ROHAdmin." They have already replaced the board rules that ROHGabe had posted with their own. Not sure if they've changed the rules at all, since I haven't read them since they were last updated, in March I think.
--Someone else pointed out that the ROH World Tag Team Champions Kevin Steen & El Generico didn't have the tag title belts on them at either show this weekend. Both of their matches were non-title, but it's weird to not carry them out. Likely unrelated to Gabe's departure, but still weird.
--FIP is the "sister promotion" to ROH in Florida. Gabe is the booker there, too. No mention of it anywhere, but I wonder what this means for them. I know they sometimes mention the promoter of the events, but you gotta wonder what Gabe's stake in FIP is/was.
--The thread related to Gabe leaving hasn't been deleted from their message board. ROH usually deletes things like that, but I'd imagine this would warrant an exception for the ROHbots.
Reported here, and I'd say the company's website is fairly reliable...
Ring of Honor Announcement
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Ring of Honor is announcing that Gabe Sapolsky will be leaving the company effective immediately. Everybody at ROH would like to thank him for his contributions and wish him well in all future endeavors.
Going forward Ring of Honor will be focusing on the stories and the talent in the ring. The company will have no further comments on this issue or a replacement for Mr. Sapolsky. We would like to thank all of the fans and media who have supported us over the years and look forward to bringing you more great wrestling excitement in the future.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Ring of Honor is announcing that Gabe Sapolsky will be leaving the company effective immediately. Everybody at ROH would like to thank him for his contributions and wish him well in all future endeavors.
Going forward Ring of Honor will be focusing on the stories and the talent in the ring. The company will have no further comments on this issue or a replacement for Mr. Sapolsky. We would like to thank all of the fans and media who have supported us over the years and look forward to bringing you more great wrestling excitement in the future.
You all know how big of an ROH mark I am, and I must say I'm shocked. Kudos to ROH for keeping it quiet, as I haven't seen it reported anywhere before ROH announced it. They pulled that off with the PPV announcement, too. I think the middle of the night announcement isn't a bad New York Mets manager firing, it's a combination of making the announcement after their event in Edison and not letting any other websites trump the news on them. That also likely means no announcement was made to the talent out of fear that it'd get out. Hopefully they all understand that it's the nature of the business.
I've seen two reactions already: 1) people saying this is the beginning of the end for ROH (Gabe IS ROH, close up shop now, CHIKARA is the new ROH, etc.). 2) the show will still go on, the product will change a little, but the show still goes on.
For me, as I already posted on the ROH board, I think Gabe got hired by Vince, or maybe TNA. He's likely been declining offers for a while now, and finally got an offer he couldn't refuse. There is a possibility that it was creative differences between Gabe and ownership (i.e. Cary Silkin), and one of them had to go. I surely hope not. And thereis that 0% change pipe dream that it's a work, or a way for Gabe to work incognito. But I'll stick with option one, and assume he's already boarded a plane from Newark to Phoenix to be backstage at Cyber Sunday.
What's funny is that everyone assumed that after CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Homicide, Matt Sydal, Colt Cabana and others, everyone assumed Bryan Danielson was the next ROH talent to get stolen. Not the booker!
Personally, good for him. I hope he's getting paid. He might hate working for the WWE or TNA, but I'd look at it as getting paid for his almost 7 years of hard work in ROH. He deserves it.
Interesting to note that no announcement has been made, or (according to ROH) will be made about a replacement. It's long been said that Dave Prazak (commentator for ROH & IWA: Mid-South and SHIMMER booker/possible owner) would be the next in line for holding the book in ROH. The next few days should obviously be very telling. I just hope it's a move up for Gabe, and not some ugly bad break-up of a situation.
MTA:
--Interesting of note, there is a new member to the ROH message board: "ROHAdmin." They have already replaced the board rules that ROHGabe had posted with their own. Not sure if they've changed the rules at all, since I haven't read them since they were last updated, in March I think.
--Someone else pointed out that the ROH World Tag Team Champions Kevin Steen & El Generico didn't have the tag title belts on them at either show this weekend. Both of their matches were non-title, but it's weird to not carry them out. Likely unrelated to Gabe's departure, but still weird.
--FIP is the "sister promotion" to ROH in Florida. Gabe is the booker there, too. No mention of it anywhere, but I wonder what this means for them. I know they sometimes mention the promoter of the events, but you gotta wonder what Gabe's stake in FIP is/was.
--The thread related to Gabe leaving hasn't been deleted from their message board. ROH usually deletes things like that, but I'd imagine this would warrant an exception for the ROHbots.