Ring of Honor has been surrounded by a common narrative since Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks and several other notable competitors left the company at the end of 2018.
In a nutshell, many fans have argued that the company doesn’t have any top stars. (The unofficial voice of Ring of Honor, Ian Riccaboni, rejected that stance during an interview with WrestleZone.) During an appearance on the Wrestling Perspective Podcast, former Ring of Honor World Champion Matt Taven acknowledged the company’s rebuilding phase and explained why he has always been confident that Ring of Honor will bounce back.
“We knew, especially going into 2019, what we were getting into, as far as, we were probably going to have to rebuild,” said Taven. “We’ve never had a time, as much as people have come and gone in Ring of Honor, we’ve never had a time when seven-plus guys, almost 10 guys, leave at the end of one night. And we definitely knew looking forward that there was going to be a drastic change, and as we led into [G1 Supercard at] Madison Square Garden, we could see what the future was gonna be like.
“But I kinda found that as a sense of pride as like, yeah, I know that this is gonna be some tough times, but I am 110% willing to put this company on my back or represent it in any way possible because I believe in this company. I’ve seen it have its ups and downs and always come back up.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ring of Honor went on hiatus for a few months in 2020. But the company returned with the Pure Tournament in September. Since then, its weekly television show, ROH Wrestling, has garnered plenty of positivity. Ring of Honor Chief Operating Officer Joe Koff has stated that the product is the best it has ever been.
Taven doubled down on that argument, and he shared his belief that Ring of Honor is producing content that’s just as good as that of any other company, bar none.
“…We’re at this position where, if you continued to do things that we’re doing here, producing as good, quality product as we’re doing here, it eventually will catch fire,” said Taven. “It’s never at the time when it begins that people just jump on. It’s once that snowball starts rolling downhill and growing. And we definitely did that with the Pure Tournament, coming back from the pandemic, and I would put our product against any other product and say it’s the best one out there since the pandemic because these guys are hungry in this locker room.
“We know what’s going on, we live in reality. We know that Ring of Honor isn’t as hot as it was in 2018, and that goes up our a– sideways. We wanna show everyone exactly why we are the best wrestlers and the best wrestling on the planet. We truly believe that, from the top to the bottom around here. And if anyone’s curious on why we’re so confident about that, they just need to tune in.”
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