During a recent interview with It’s My Wrestling Podcast, former WWE and Ring of Honor Superstar Charlie Haas was asked to share his thoughts on the recent Ring of Honor news. The promotion recently announced it would be going on hiatus at the end of 2021 with a view to returning in April 2022, but had to lay off it’s entire roster in the process.
Charlie Haas had the following to say:
“It’s sad because I firmly believe this is the best time to be a wrestler and a fan. With the pandemic everybody was starting to cut cords and use Internet TV, which I never thought would take off. It took something like the pandemic to hit. So Internet TV took off like Pluto, Plex, Crackle and Fite TV. Then on top of that you have every promotion that has their own network. AAA, Ring of Honor, impact, WWE, NWA. What I’m trying to get at is that there are plenty of channels that need content. So it’s giving all the wrestlers from all over the world a different platform. Somewhere to perform and hone their craft, learn how to work in front of crowds. That way they can make it to WWE or AEW. It’s sad but it’s also good for all those other promotions.”
Haas believes Ring of Honor paying their talent throughout the pandemic is what caused the eventual problems:
“The pandemic was bad for Ring of Honor. They’re owned by Sinclair Broadcasting, but the pandemic meant people had to cut costs. People weren’t sponsoring or they weren’t paying for ads. That’s how those companies make money. So for 18 months they didn’t have any type of production. But they were able to keep the wrestlers afloat, healthy and were able to pay them. Then it finally caught up to where you know, it hurt them in the long run.”
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