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MIKE JOHNSON LOOKS AT JAPW VS. ROH AND ISSUES A REMINDER OF PAST LESSONS THAT HAVEN'T BEEN LEARNED

When I received the statement from Jersey All Pro Wrestling's Frank Iadevia that James Gibson had been pulled from a JAPW event due to issues with how he could be used since he held the ROH championship, all I could think was "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

It was several years ago, during the Philadelphia wrestling wars that left the City of Brotherly Love as a piece of scorched earth for anything beyond ECW nostalgia shows, that I wrote numerous times about how all the infighting was going to do nothing but hurt the local companies and their business. There were talent jumps, there were issues with the local commission, there were companies running each other down on TV, and there were a lot of independent promoters spending more time complaining about the others when they should have been booking the best quality shows they were capable of.

It all made for good copy and interesting times for the local fans, but once the dust settled, the Philadelphia wrestling bubble was never, ever the same. XPW is gone. 3PW is gone. ROH's worst drawing city by far is Philadelphia. CZW is still trying to maintain their former levels, at times bringing in outside independent companies for matinee events. There are other companies that I can't even recall the names of, because it was such a whirlwind and they are long defunct. Without pointing blame at anyone involved from that time period, the bottom line is that everyone suffered because no one had the foresight to actually wake up, pull their head out of the clouds and say, "This is doing no one any good. We aren't making any money this way."

When Ring of Honor and Jersey All Pro Wrestling had their spat this week over how ROH champion James Gibson should be used on a JAPW show, I had flashbacks to the silliness of that time period. I can see both points of view on this one. Yes, ROH should want their title to be protected but at the same time, JAPW should have the right to do anything they want on their shows. The funniest aspect of all of this is two independent companies are arguing over a WWE contracted talent who could and would be gone in 30 seconds if he got the phone call from Stamford, CT. Gibson isn't signed to anyone else. The bottom line is, no matter who is trying to play big fish here and no matter who thinks they are the big shot on the indy scene, the WWE is still the shark in this ocean, and they always will be, long after every other independent company, including JAPW and ROH, are dead and buried.

The bottom line is neither side should have even commented publicly on the situation and simply worked it out, but instead we have the 2005 version of a wrestling war, verbal spats over the Internet, which do nothing but scorch the earth of goodwill towards the fans.

Whether they were looking for publicity or to tear down Gabe Sapolsky because they rightly felt he was hurting their show, the second JAPW brought ROH's name up publicly, they took the focus off their own product. They put ROH over when they would have been better served to create a storyline to explain the change, or better yet keep pushing the fact that they have the first-ever Rhino vs. Samoa Joe dream match on their show. JAPW should be all about promoting Charlie Haas vs. Jay Lethal, not ROH's booker.

ROH shouldn't be posting about JAPW on their message board, not claiming that there will be no war (especially when there isn't one) and not discussing the politics of when and how champions from other companies can and will do jobs in the ring. It's a professional wrestling company website! The whole point is to market the company and build synergy with the fans, not expose the silly politics that pervade the business. The second ROH posted about the situation, they took the focus off ROH and put it on JAPW. They should be promoting AJ Styles vs. CIMA, not making masturbation references about another independent company.

Both sides look equally silly for the entire situation and it's easy to see why fans throw their hands up and don't want to go to independents, because the egos that pervade the shows often overshadow the wrestling. ROH and JAPW both publicly made their cases for why they are right and that's up for fans to decide who they want to side with, but if both sides were to stop swinging and issuing statements about the other for even a minute, they should realize that the only ones getting hurt in the entire situation are THOSE SAME FANS, some of whom don't want to see interpromotional spats and spend their money on both companies.

I mean, think about it for a second: If those same fans are smart enough to read about a JAPW-ROH "war" on the Internet, aren't they smart enough to know that what happens in JAPW means nothing to the ROH universe, and vice versa? Neither of these companies have contracts or television beyond the Internet, so what the hell are they fighting for? If ROH doesn't want their champion doing jobs on shows, they should sign him to an agreement where they will cover his pay for any missed independent bookings. If JAPW wants to prevent problems like this in the future, they should start asking name talent to sign contracts agreeing to the terms of their appearances. If either side isn't going to go through the trouble of a signed agreement, then they shouldn't be complaining about anything because they put themselves into that situation willingly.

Now that both sides are already cat fighting, it's time to call a truce and work out a solution. If I was mediating, I would highly suggest that both sides issue offers or apologies to the other and then DO NOT MENTION EACH OTHER EVER AGAIN, unless they are co-promoting a show. Ring of Honor should offer to pay for James Gibson to come to the show and wrestle someone else (that they pay for) as a goodwill gesture, to add a match to the show, even if it's not a ROH title bout. JAPW should then book a substitute for Homicide, so in the end, the fans are getting MORE then they originally expected when they bought the ticket, not something less.

Now, I doubt this will happen, but why bother to care about the fans who spend money on you and about the future growth of your companies when you can instead keep fighting, promote the same night and markets against each other, ban talent from working for each other, and whatever other silly promotional tactics you can use to scorch the earth, right?

After all, it worked so well for Philadelphia.

Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.

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