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Since that time, Bryan Danielson (who has been the MVP and face of ROH from day one) and Nigel McGuinness (who may be the most deserving talent to be signed by WWE in the last decade, Danielson included, based on the level of work and the amount of damage he did to himself during the course of his ROH title reign) agreed in principle to deals with World Wrestling Entertainment.
In the case of Danielson, there was interest in him several months back by WWE and one creative plan was to debut him as Bryan Kendrick's "perfect partner" (if you remember that shelved storyline) but once Kendrick ended up on the chopping block, that idea was iced. Danielson opted not to sign a new ROH deal this past Spring, at which point the decision was made to de-emphasize him in storylines and use him to prepare the next level of talent, particularly Tyler Black.
In the case of McGuinness, WWE was aware of him and in the past, once instructed Ohio Valley Wrestling to stop using him on their TV because he wasn't a contracted talent but had never made a strong push to sign him, although there were times talent, including William Regal, had suggested him. The irony is that in the past, TNA had strong interest in McGuinness and when he wasn't available to them, they instead signed Doug Williams, who went unused for a long time before the British Invasion stable was launched. TNA had begun tossing McGuinness' name around internally in the last month, only to see WWE sign him.
Now, as far as whether this ends WWE's interest in ROH talent, I can confirm that is absolutely not the case. Members of WWE creative have been told to watch the ROH TV product and come up with ideas for talents they feel would be "WWE-worthy" (the term used to me) performers.
In my initial report on my Hotline, I mentioned there were 3-5 names being discussed. In the last week, there were three other names who WWE had at least taken a mild interest in beyond McGuinness and Danielson. Now, that doesn't mean they are going to absolutely sign anyone else, but I know there's interest.
Some ROH talents are under long-term contracts. Others, including one who claimed to me on Thursday that he had the option to give ROH thirty days notice in order to be released, may not be. So, it's going to be interesting to see how the story develops and whether any other talent signs.
It's also going to be interesting to see if ROH can develop a new crew of talent to replace the established names that choose to depart, like Danielson and Nigel. In the last ten months, the American Wolves have picked up a ton of momentum, but ROH's battle will be similar to ECW's in the mid-1990s in that they need to be a "teflon" company, not showing the signs of loss while getting new talents over to an audience that deeply loved the departed names.
As of September 26th in New York City, a new chapter truly begins for Ring of Honor.
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