The new era of Ring of Honor wrestling may have hit a big speed bump, two to be exact. Two of Ring of Honor’s biggest stars have reportedly had WWE tryouts and could be finishing up long before ROH TV hits the Sinclair Broadcasting network.
PWinsider.com reports that former Ring of Honor tag team champions Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli otherwise known as the “Kings of Wrestling” worked out for WWE officials this past Monday and Tuesday night. The loss of the Kings from Ring of Honor would be arguably the biggest blow the company has suffered since it lost Nigel McGuinnes and Bryan Danielson around the same time in 2009.
[adinserter block=”2″]I called dozens of Hero and Claudio matches as a wrestling announcer in CZW and various independent companies. If there is anything shocking about this story it is that it took the WWE this long to realize what talented individuals that these two guys were. For the life of me I haven’t been able to understand why these two guys, especially Hero weren’t signed years ago.
The fact that both were brought in together tells me that the WWE is looking at these two as a package deal. The tag team division in the WWE has been bleeding buckets for years. The last time that the division had any relevancy was arguably back in 2002 when you had Edge and Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle, and Los Guerreros feuding over the tag team championship on SmackDown. Just the fact that they are even looking at bolstering the tag team division is a positive sign for fans like me who grew up on classic tag team wrestling in the WWF, NWA, and the AWA.
This would not be Claudio’s first dance with the WWE. Claudio was actually signed by the WWE in 2006 to a developmental deal. In one of the biggest mysteries of the independent pro wrestling scene, Claudio was released shortly after being signed by the company. I worked with Claudio at the time in CZW and knew him well. I asked him about the circumstances surrounding his release and I could never get a straight answer out of him. Regardless, it is one of those stories that come up from time to time that has never been officially answered.
I will be the first to tell you that I don’t watch a lot of independent wrestling today. But I did work for over ten years as a wrestling announcer and commentator on the indies. During my time as an announcer, there was nobody that could touch these two guys as a pure wrestling team. Other than Bryan Danielson, I didn’t think anyone came close to their singles skills either.
These are also two guys that aren’t just your run of the mill independent wrestlers. Both guys have over ten years of experience. I don’t mean ten years of just working local high school shows, I mean ten years of real experience. Both guys have traveled all over the world and are versed in just about every pro wrestling style imaginable. If the WWE lets these guys show off their full potential, you are looking at two major players in the future WWE.
Chris Hero and CM Punk made names for themselves over ten years ago with a great series of matches they had for Ian Rotten’s IWA Mid South Wrestling. Personally, I always thought Hero got the short end of the stick in that series because it was Punk who wound up benefitting more from the publicity. Unfortunately at that time I think it was Hero’s look that kept him back more than anything. I always felt that Hero really made those matches, again just my opinion and something I expressed to Chris years ago. It would certainly be something to see Chris Hero vs. CM Punk on WWE television over a decade later.
Is this a coincidence or just bad timing for Ring of Honor? The tryout comes less than a month after television broadcasting company, Sinclair Broadcasting bought Ring of Honor. Is this a sign that the WWE sees ROH as potential competition or just good timing for a new tag team? Who knows, but I am sure the ROH die-hard fans will take this as a sign of some kind of wrestling war.
[adinserter block=”1″]This is also a big wakeup call for the future of Ring of Honor on Sinclair Broadcasting. I asked the question when I originally reported the story, “What is Sinclair actually buying?” With two key ROH players free to negotiate with the WWE, the brass at Sinclair has to be wondering exactly what kind of contracts they are buying with the acquisition. How many other key wrestlers are free to negotiation with the WWE or even TNA? To be fair, Hero and Claudio could just happen to have their contracts expire at the right time but it is certainly a red flag nonetheless.
Personally, I hope the WWE does the smart thing here and sign two of the best wrestlers on the market. It is about time after ten years of wowing fans around the world that Hero and Claudio get an opportunity to showcase their talents to the mass audience in the WWE Universe. It is also about time that these guys make some real money to compensate for the years of agony they have put their bodies through.
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And yet here you are. Thanks for lowering yourself.
All WWE wants to do is pay some "big name" indy guys some small money and leave/hurt their current place of employment. Those ROH contracts don't mean anything. For THAT matter, neither do the WWE's…I'd do the same thing those indy guys are doing but any student of the game should harken back to 1988 when Anderson & Blanchard were lured to the WWF…the NWA would have been done if Turner didn't love wrestling so much. Anyway, this piece of news and inside dirt sheet style of reporting is low and should be beneath my notice
I have to say, I don't think anything could save the division. At least not without a direct effort. Reform the Dudebusters with Curt Hawkins or Zack Ryder instead of Caylen Croft and give them promo/Raw time, keep Big Show and Kane in the division indefinitely, and bring in some more teams. If this is a matter of weak contracts, bring in the WGTT and ANX. Have tag team title matches every month, higher on the card than ever before. And as much as I hate to say it, get hardcore. It's the only way to cement them as being awesome fast enough to matter in the long run.
I agree. As I said above the big story here is that it took them this long to jump on those guys.
I really hope that workout impressed the WWE brass, because if Claudio and Hero can't make it in WWE, then there's no hope for any indie wrestler out there excepting Austin Aries, who would be one of the biggest stars in WWE despite his small stature.