The Rise, Fall And Rise Again Of Ring Of Honor

In the ring, the product was far different from any other wrestling being presented in the United States at the time. Gabe Sapolsky, former protege of Paul Heyman, was the booker and instituted The Code of Honor which saw the wrestlers shake hands before and after each match and respect the official, establishing the promotion as a more grounded product and creating a built in way for heels to get heat, simply by not respecting the code. In addition to the extra rules, the style of Ring of Honor’s wrestling was much more akin to what was seen in Japan at the time. Sports-based presentation with the emphasis put on strong technical wrestling. Not only was the promotion a breath of fresh air compared to the corporate sheen of WWE, but the different styles on display gave hardcore fans a promotion that they could latch onto with matches that were more like what they were looking to get out of their wrestling with promotions like ECW now out of business.

You had rivalries like CM Punk vs. Raven which was very different from anything WWE was putting on television at the time. For those who are just now getting their first taste of this blood-soaked, passionate, emotional CM Punk, that was Ring of Honor and more specifically this rivalry with Raven. Punk would berate Raven on being handed success and flushing it down the toilet in favour of pills and booze. Yeah you could see technical wizardry from Bryan Danielson, Christopher Daniels, and a myriad of other great performers, but you could also see a violent dog collar match or steel cage match and it helped ROH develop an identity as a promotion with variety. If you were a disgruntled wrestling fan upset with what WWE had to offer you, odds are you could find fulfillment in ROH. Unless you were just a really big fan of WCW in 2000 in which case don’t worry TNA was starting at just the same time.

Ring of Honor was rocked by scandal while it was still in its infancy as owner Rob Feinstein was implicated in an online sting operation where he reportedly had made plans to meet with a 14 year old boy. Feinstein has maintained his innocence through the whole thing and was never charged, but in March 2004 ROH released a statement saying Feinstein was gone from the company. While this scandal could have easily sunk the fledgling company, what came next was perhaps their greatest period to date.

ROH would be run by Sapolsky, Doug Gentry, and Cary Silken, a New York ticket broker who would serve as the company’s new owner. To this day, Silken is remembered as being the man who really gave ROH a chance to spread its wings and continues to be thanked and respected for it. The Feinstein scandal cost ROH its working relationship with TNA resulting in stars like AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels choosing to work for TNA full-time, but that didn’t stop ROH from experiencing their best years. Under Silken Ring of Honor presented matches and stories that are still talked about to this day.

• Ring of Honor
• Bryan Danielson
• Samoa Joe
• ROH

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