There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, as is the case for the recently released talent from WWE and Ring Of Honor, if you ask Jeff Jarrett.
Jeff Jarrett recently appeared on the ‘It’s My Wrestling’ podcast and discussed how the independent promotions will benefit the most from WWE’s recent string of talent releases.
“I’ll just say this — for WWE to have that many talent to release is quite remarkable, as much as the releases are, but it’s the industry and the world we live in. Especially with the pandemic and the ebbs and flows of our industry, but I’m not going to let you know who I would pick. I’m going to keep that between my ears. But I will say this, I do not believe when you look at pre-pandemic, 2018/2019 leading up to the pandemic and then now, the amount of uncropped, uncontracted or independent contractors that that out there that are available and aren’t tied down contractually because WWE, yes they are the first and foremost largest organization, but there are also talent in Ring Of Honor as of late, the ebb and flow of talent on the market, into Mexico, into Japan as well, so I don’t believe it’s been a better opportunity for the open market. You know, like in the real estate business, there can be buyer’s and seller’s market. I think this industry, I’ll just say there’s a lot of opportunity out there for all involved.
“The independent promotions are going to benefit from this and I think at the very core, the territories were the lifeblood, but it doesn’t matter. An independent promotion right now has the opportunity that they’ve never ever had. When you go back to when we started TNA in 2002, coming off the demise and the close of WCW, there wasn’t a lot of talent quote-unquote, on the market but as time has gone along, and like I said, Ring Of Honor and all the different promotions and the connectivity with social media and digital age, the opportunity for independent promotions today has never been this great.”
Ring Of Honor currently faces an uncertain future as the company will go on hiatus after Final Battle, but talent will be available for more opportunities in the industry. One example of this change is Jay Lethal, the “franchise” of ROH signed with AEW this week and made his debut at Full Gear on Saturday.
