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Over the past twenty four months, Ring of Honor has blazed a path that has made it's the most noted "Niche Wrestling" product in the United States. Based on a business plan of having good matches and selling them to the wrestling fans who were lost without a cause when ECW and WCW went down in 2001, ROH has grown from a monthly show in Philadelphia to a promotion that runs up to 3 shows a month across the Northeast. In the next several months, they will be pushing toward the Mid-Western States, including Minnesota and Illinois. This coming weekend, the promotion will introduce their new "Pure Wrestling" championship as they celebrate their Second Anniversary show in Braintree, MA.
I sat down with Ring of Honor booker Gabe Sapolsky over the weekend to discuss a reflection back on ROH so far, a look into the future, comparisons to his old employer in ECW, and a definition of what exactly a "Pure Wrestling" title is.
MIKE JOHNSON: Ring of Honor is about to have its Second Anniversary. What shaped ROH over the second year that was different from the first?
GABE SAPOLSKY: When Ring Of Honor had its first show on February 23rd, 2002 it was like a new born baby. As the child grows it develops into different directions, gets scarred, learns lessons and has things happen that shape its future. In 2002, ROH was like that baby. In 2003 it grew up a little and got scars, learned lessons and went in new directions that couldn't be predicted. The product was meant to evolve just like a human life and 2003 saw it evolve into more storylines, more characters, more gimmick matches and different styles. ROH must always evolve so it always stays fresh so things like the riots, scramble matches, four corner survivals, blood feuds, heavy storylines shaped ROH in its second year and made it different than the first one.
JOHNSON: Who were your MVPs over the last year?
SAPOLSKY: It would be so hard to just name one or even two or three for that matter. So instead I'll name four or maybe five or six (Laughs). You have the World Champion Samoa Joe, who brought prestige to that belt and can main event any show and still get the crowd, no matter how tired, into the match while at the same time getting his opponent over. You have Homicide, who was so versatile this year and really stole show after show with his matches against the likes of CM Punk, AJ Styles, BJ Whitmer, Samoa Joe, Steve Corino and the four corner survival matches he was in. Then there is AJ Styles, who produced so many great matches and really grew as a worker.
Finally, 2003 saw the emergence of CM Punk, who carried the Raven feud. That feud was significant to ROH because it showed that we could have a soap opera like story and blood feud that was really entertaining and really gritty and really had a lot of substance. Of course I have to mention Chris Daniels and how he became a true superstar in 2003 and had one great match after another. I also have to mention Loc and Devito who can fill in any spot on the card and produce in addition to making the scramble matches as good as they were in 2003. If I don't stop now I'll probably just keep going because so many people made significant contributions to ROH over the past year.
JOHNSON: Anything you would have done differently if you could go back in time?
SAPOLSKY: There are little things here and there, but honestly no besides making sure we ran in better venues in some towns.
JOHNSON: Who do you see as your "Go to" guys over the next year?
SAPOLSKY: I'm looking for a lot out of the above crew that I mentioned in our 2003 MVP question. I'd say Jay & Mark Briscoe are going to have a lot of weight on their backs. It's up to everyone else on the roster to step up as "go to" guys. There are so many guys that really have the potential to break out over the next year like John Walters, Matt Stryker, BJ Whitmer, Nigel McGiness, Alex Shelley, Jimmy Rave, Jimmy Jacobs, Backseat Boyz, Colt Cabana, Dan Maff, Xavier, Chris Sabin and the list can go on and on so we'll see who steps forward out of that bunch. If you produce in ROH, you get pushed. It's that simple. There are no politics holding you back. I believe that is one of the reasons you see the incredible efforts guys give in the ROH ring.
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