On January 5, 2013, we exclusively reported that ROH officials were growing increasingly frustrated with Charlie Haas. As that time, Haas thought that he should have been going for the title instead of BJ Whitmer and also said he wanted a Tag Team Gauntlet Match to be postponed until Shelton Benjamin came back.
As previously reported, Shelton Benjamin asked for and received his release from Ring of Honor in December. While he asked for the release, he did not sign a WWE deal and was expected to return to ROH in the near future.
During the ROH Final Battle iPPV last year, ROH played up an injury angle, saying it was “recommended that Shelton take time off from the ring.” ROH left the door open to use Benjamin on a pay per appearance basis in the future but also allowed Benjamin to seek a possible return with WWE. That never happened.
Fast forward to last night with Charlie Haas.
Haas came to the ring and announced that he was retiring during Ring of Honor’s house show before his match with Jeff Louis Neal. Haas came out to the ring and cut a long promo about his time in wrestling, saying that he had done enough in the industry. Haas worked the match and then after it was done he cut another promo without a microphone, yelling it to the crowd while someone from the ROH staff tried to get him to come to the back and got flipped off for their efforts. We’re told ROH officials refused to give him a microphone following the match so he cut a promo on his own.
Haas took shots at ROH booker Delirious and Kevin Kelly during the promos “for all the things they say” about him and called Kelly a “fat piece of shit.” As noted earlier, he was reportedly shaking and cried during the match as well as later in the locker room. We’re told following the match, Haas changed and left quickly after he was done. He did not say goodbye to anyone and was legitimately pissed off. There were also people concerned about his well being.
Haas later tweeted:
Officially retired. No match against [Shelton Benjamin] next week NYC. Time to be a full time dad and husband. I’ve turned my spandex in for scrubs. Thanks to all the fans throughout the years. I love you all. Stay safe and God bless. WGTT will always be a top Tag Team, forever.
We can now confirm that this is NOT a work. It appears as if things finally boiled over last night and he went to the ring and performed a live “shoot”. This is part of the reason ROH officials refused to give him a microphone following his match. Instead, he refused to leave the ring and cut a promo without a microphone. You can see that below thanks to @Jamie98TV3.
My guess is that ROH officials will try to talk to him but that remains to be seen. More as we get it.
