Marty Scurll On Staying With ROH Instead Of Joining AEW: A Big Part Was Loyalty And Opportunity

Marty Scurll swerved everyone to begin the year when he decided to stick with ROH rather than join AEW. Being friends with The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Cody, and Hangman Page, most fans expected Scurll to join them in AEW when his ROH contract expired at the end of 2019.

Despite teases of Scurll joining the promotion, “The Villain” took a different path, not only sticking with ROH, but gaining power as the new lead booker.

“A big part of it is loyalty,” Scurll said on the ROHStrong podcast when asked why he chose to stay with Ring of Honor. “ROH gave me such a great opportunity when they signed me, really changed my life for the better. They’ve always been so good to me. That’s a lost thing in wrestling; loyalty. I understand it’s a business, but loyalty is part of it. And it came down to opportunity. I considered competing for AEW. The Elite are some of my best friends. I talk to The Bucks and Hangman daily, still to this day. But for me, I’ve always liked to take a different route and standout. Everyone expected me to go to AEW. Why don’t I do something different? Maybe it’s time I stand on my own and do something else. I’ve also felt I had a creative mind so when the opportunity arose to have a hand in the creative, it was too much of a good opportunity to turn down. I could just be a wrestler in AEW, which I’m sure would be great, or maybe I can take something like ROH and make it in my vision and help the wrestling scene. That was a big part as well. They’re controlling AEW, maybe I can take ROH to the next level. I can’t wrestle forever, so I have to think of different routes. This was my dream. Creating something as a whole package, rather than just focus on myself, having a whole company to focus on. Being able to help talent and change talents lives. It was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down.

“It’s funny, fans were like, ‘No, go to AEW.’ It’s like, damn, these fans don’t believe in loyalty either,” he joked. “I’m being loyal to the company that gave me these opportunities. Hopefully, they can appreciate that. I think a lot of fans are happy I stayed in ROH and they’ve been happy with what I’ve done so far. I’m very happy with my choice.

Scurll also noted that ROH COO Joe Koff had a lot of faith in him, which played a role in his decision as well.

Despite not joining AEW, Scurll did make a cameo appearance in a recent episode of Being The Elite.

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