During a recent appearance on the Kenny Herzog on the Outside Interference Podcast, Ring of Honor COO Joe Koff commented on ROH’s COVID-19 protocols for their TV tapings, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On restarting the tapings in Baltimore: “It was in Baltimore. You know, one of the things that I wanted to make sure is that we had as much control about the situation as we could possibly have. And I think this whole COVID pandemic is really about controlling what you can control. And there were so many different ways we could have wrestled. We could have wrestled in Florida where the other two major promotions wrestle; where there seems to be no real rules. The governor says, you know, just be careful. It was too far from my group, you know we’re a Balitmore-based company and a lot of my support people, and a lot of my production people are in Baltimore. So it was decided by me as well as with people in the company that if we were going to do an event, it would be in Baltimore. Which put us under the auspices and the aegis of the Maryland State Athletic Commission and the governor of Maryland Larry Hogan, who has been very, very cautious through this whole pandemic. But I will also say to praise him, he’s handled it extremely well.”
On protocols for the first taping: “Everybody that was in that building was subject to the test … I think the fact that we were able to learn from what the NBA has done and what the NHL has done in creating this bubble, it was worth attempting. But I have to tell you, one of our protocols and this was known. If there were more than three positive tests, we were going to shut it down. We knew the risks. Fortunately, everybody was good, everyone was healthy, everyone took care of themselves. And I think that’s because we took care of our talent and our people, so they weren’t forced to do other things to maintain whatever lifestyle we provided them. And I’m proud of that as well. And we were meticulous in the way that we structures this. It was one match at a time, one match at the building. Cleaned the entire ring, changed the mats. I was the dad in all of this. It was so responsible, I’m so proud of that. And everybody just adhered to it, and everybody respected it, and respected one another.”
