Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Honor: good name or public esteem
Bootlegger. Jerk. Arrogant. Goofy. Aloof. Loser.
All of these words have been used to describe Ring of Honor owner Rob Feinstein in the past by online critics. To be fair, Feinstein has had his share of immature moments and silliness so not all of the criticisms were unwarranted. For better of worse, Feinstein has shrugged off the insults and built himself a successful video business over the last decade and a half. When ECW went down, Feinstein's video business was hurting and Feinstein needed to fill the void. That void was filled with the birth of Ring of Honor. Over the past two years, since the formation of ROH, Feinstein had redeemed his image as a person to many online through the sterling operation of his wrestling promotion. Even his harshest detractors couldn't rip ROH for their product or their professionalism. Throw in the sheer fact that the promotion had begun to do something that no one else could hope to accomplish. They grew, they broke even, they built a following, in part due to their synergy with the RF Video machine at their side. They were the teflon wrestling company. Feinstein had gone from dirty tape dealer to legitimate wrestling promoter.
ROH was the saving grace for fans who wanted their fill of good wrestling. It was for fans who missed their ECW, the better parts of WCW. It was for fans who wanted a taste of the Japanese style in their local venues. It was for fans who didn't want to be talked down to by promoters. It was for fans who had respect for the wrestling business. It was for fans who believed in the concept of Honor in professional wrestling.
ROH is one week out from their biggest event ever. Held in the shadow of Wrestlemania, fans from across the country and the globe were to converge in Elizabeth, New Jersey to get their taste of Honor. The promotion had peaked their storylines. They had worked hard to get their backlogged video releases out in an attempt to maximize profits. The hard work of the wrestlers, the staff, and even the loyalty of fans who had supported ROH with their dollars for over the last two years were about to be rewarded as the promotion was moving towards a fever pitch. 2004 was looking to be the biggest year ever for ROH as they were going to be moving into new markets, and 3/13 was the springboard to get there.
Then Monday happened.
Honor: A showing of usually merited respect
To say the last several days of following the Ring of Honor-Rob Feinstein situation has been surreal is an understatement. In a whirlwind of Internet and then mainstream media hoopla, Feinsten was snared by anti-pedophile website Perverted-Justice.com while seeking a private audience with what he believed to be a 14 year old boy for his alleged sexual purposes. According to the chat transcript, Feinstein used photos from ROH's website and even claimed to be a "wrestler" while talking to the would-be child. Only when he arrived at the house, a news crew was waiting for him. Feinstein fled, leaving behind whatever life he knew prior to exiting his car and walking up to that fateful house.
Rob Feinstein shattered his life on Monday. On Wednesday, when he was publicly outed for his actions, he shattered the lives of everyone who believed in his promotion. He spit in the faces of his staff. He crapped on his wrestlers. He slapped his fans. He was caught on video, with tons of proof against him building to that video, in what one can only call the worst scandal to ever hit a wrestling promoter, because that's what it is.
There is no way to spin this. OJ Simpson can walk around free as a celebrity after being absolved of criminal guilt in the murder of his ex-wife and another, but allegedly want to touch a child? You are done. Be a person known publicly in some circles, and things are even worse than that because now everyone you are connected publicly to is hurt as well due to guilt by association. That includes Feinstein's businesses, Ring of Honor and RF Video. As long as they are associated with a man who went to a 14 year old's house with alleged criminal intent, they too, are done.
Imagine the remainder of the ROH staff, trying to fix this problem because one person they are all connected to is alleged to be doing among the worst things one could get caught doing. This isn't a public relations nightmare. It's the death knell for a promotion and rightfully so. ECW's Mass Transit situation doesn't seem so bad now does it?
Honor: A person of superior standing
On Wednesday morning, Perverted-Justice.com posted Feinstein's picture and chat transcripts on their website. Links ended up posted on ROH's message board shortly thereafter. The board was shut down and has since been deleted. With rumors swirling around message boards as commercials for that evening's NBC Affiliate in Philadelphia's 11 o'clock news promised a story about online child predators, RF Video was quiet. Can you blame them? Who knew how bad the fallout was going to be?
It was worse than anyone could have envisioned.
At 11 PM Wednesday, the story aired and outed was Rob Feinstein, complete with photos of him holding the ROH championship belt. Feinstein was portrayed as running away from the news crew, peeling off in the same Lexus he had bragged about in the chat transcript. The story also reported he refused to talk to the news crew twice afterwards. An ROH staffer spoke to me right after the story aired. "I have tears running down my face," the staffer said. What could one even say to console this person? One cannot feel anything but sadness for those who are forever affected by the terrible actions of someone who desperately needs help.
Rob Feinstein's actions haven't just damaged his own life, but the life of everyone who depended on him to be a responsible employer, on everyone who put their heart and soul and trust into Feinstein being on the up and up. They put their hopes in Feinstein trying to build a dream into a reality, and to do right in trying to create that reality. Instead, Feinstein has failed to prove he had the one quality that his promotion has been built up around since day one - Honor.
Honor: A keen sense of ethical conduct
On Thursday, Rob Feinstein issued the following statement to his staffers, fans, and the Internet at large:
If that is the best Feinstein has to offer to the public, no matter where his mental state is after the situation of the past several days, his companies are doomed. Ring of Honor, which has had been the model of how to deal with problems publicly since their inception, was now criticized and taken to task for what, at best, is a stumbling statement that did little or nothing in the way of explanations to their fans or their staff. The teflon promotion is scorched badly and everyone who is associated with ROH in any way, shape, or form has been disgraced.
Rob created this snowball with his irresponsible actions. He needs to take the ultimate responsibility to atone to the staffers who have worked hard for him. It's time for Rob Feinstein to permanently resign from RF Video and Ring of Honor. Now.
No one will believe the company can save itself otherwise. It's a long shot as it is. Even once he resigns, many won't believe he is gone to begin with anyway so this is not the easy answer for the short term. It is, however, the only hope for the long term.
For Feinstein to say he is "stepping down as a partner" in the companies he founded and then to turn around and say he is doing so while the "allegations are resolved" is yet another sign of disrespect for his staff and wrestlers. He left the door open that he at best, may return one day, or at worst, is still around without an official title. No one truly believes he will be able to remove himself from what has been the center of his life for the last decade with a statement like that. No one believes he is trying to repair his life. Just what does the "allegations being resolved" mean, anyway? That no criminal charges will be filed? That it's been six months? How can these allegations ever truly be resolved in the eyes of the anyone who knows or will know about that broadcast?
This statement isn't damn near good enough. Rob Feinstein needs to remove himself from the company, effective immediately out of respect for everyone who worked for him that he wronged with his actions. There is no other way out of this one. There is no turning this around. There is no positive spin. There is no way to babyface being outed as an alleged pedophile on your local NBC affiliate. None. It's disgusting and there is no defense. None.
This is not something that will blow over. This is not something that will end up with business back as usual. Whether charges are filed are not, this is not something a sizable donation to a children's charity will "make right." Feinstein's life is over as he knew it.
Ring of Honor and RF Video though, have grown to be more than Rob Feinstein. There is a crew in that office that do not deserve to see their hard work and really, their dreams of making a living in this business, destroyed for one person's actions. ROH did not go to that house. There are workers who have risked their bodies, hell their lives inside the ROH ring, to build his company into what it is. They did not go to that house.
Ring of Honor posted the following on their website today:
"ROH has never been about individuals.
ROH is a team concept. It consists of the most dedicated professionals driven by pure pride to deliver the best performances ever witnessed in a pro wrestling ring. These athletes devote their lives to their art. All is sacrificed from family to friends to personal health for one goal- to produce the best show you'll ever witness in the spirit of ROH. The competitors in the ring feed off the energy of the crowd to produce the special atmosphere that can only be experienced at a live ROH event. We live for that moment when you people are awed, amazed and ignited by the action, spirit and pulse so unique to ROH.
Most importantly ROH is made up of survivors. People who persevere and perform at their best when the pressure is on. We can take the hit because we know how to survive. We have been hit hard and we have survived every time. We are a team that can't be broken. We have a bond that extends from all the wrestlers to the fans and nothing can destroy that bond because we have dedicated our lives to it. The ROH team remains intact - our athletes, our staff, and most importantly, all of our fans."
It's time for Rob Feinstein to take the ultimate hit for the team he disgraced. It's time to be gone forever from the company, publicly and privately.
This is not an easy decision for Feinstein to make by any means. To walk away from everything he built for himself over the last ten years is not something anyone can do without regret and confusion. However, he needs to understand that his actions this past week instantly eradicated all the work he has done to build his company. He needs to understand he gave every prospective enemy, past, present, and future, the ammunition to use against the company. Most importantly, he needs to make this decision for himself, knowing it is for the good of the company.
Feinstein needs to hope that leaving now is enough to make up for the heartbreak and hurt he has inflicted on those associated with him. Feinstein needs to sell his interest in the company, walk away, and sign up for whatever counseling he so deeply requires to deal with his problems. Then, he needs to publicly announce it, disappear, and hope for the best in putting his life back together. He's lost everything. He needs to make sure those who worked for him have a fighting chance to not lose the same.
It's the one honorable act left he can commit.
Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
