ROH Talent Contracts Won’t Be Renewed At The End Of 2021, Contracted Talent Will Still Be Paid

A dark day for Ring of Honor. 

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that Ring of Honor has released all talent from contracts. 

Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp reports that the releases are effective at the end of the year and if a contract goes beyond 2021, talent will be paid until March 31. 

Sapp added that, “Joe Koff told talent he had multiple meetings trying to fight for ROH, but ultimately Sinclair made the call. Talent was told there was some type of TV show that will be in place after Final Battle but weren’t told what that would be.”

ROH announced on Wednesday afternoon that the company would take a hiatus from live events for the first quarter of 2022 with hopes to return in April for the Super Card of Honor. According to PWInsider, ROH does have a venue in place for the event. 

In an interview with Mike Johnson at PWInsider, ROH COO Joe Koff was asked what the hiatus meant for talent. He replied, “We care very deeply about our people and our talent. This is contractual and an individual conversation. I’m not going to comment on it at this point.”

When asked if talent could take bookings elsewhere, Koff said, “We’ve had a conversation with them and we will certainly work with every talent for whatever needs they need to fulfill what they’re looking for.”

Fightful reports, “ROH talent was told to contact Greg Gilleland if they want to work elsewhere, and if they’re under a deal they’ll work on making that happen.”

Koff said the company will continue to run original programming on television, though archived footage will be used, and are taping television leading into Final Battle next week.  

Fightful will continue to update this story as more is known. 

If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.