Ian Riccaboni chats it up ahead of Ring Of Honor's 17th Anniversary pay-per-view.
Streaming live tonight on 'HonorClub' and FITE TV will be Ring Of Honor's 17th Anniversary Show from the Sam's Town Hotel And Gambling Hall in Las Vegas, Nevada. On the call for tonight's show is ROH's lead commentator Ian Riccaboni and ahead of tonight's show, Riccaboni spoke with 'Comicbook.com' and shared his thoughts about 17th Anniversary and talked about the growth and future of Ring Of Honor.
ROH has been without The Elite (Cody, Adam "Hangman" Page, The Young Bucks) for two months now and replacing those names have been the likes of PCO, Bandido, Mark Haskins and Brody King. Riccaboni went in-depth about The Elite's departure from ROH and stated that after the company got through their television tapings in Atlanta, the feeling within was that things were going to be okay.
"Wrestlers can be replaced but people can't, and sometimes that's the most jarring part of losing a great talent, is that not only are the great talents usually awesome wrestlers, but they're also usually really great people," Riccaboni said. "That's how you get longevity in the locker room, and so to lose them as people hurt a lot. From the moment that we knew they were leaving, that's when you saw PCO for the first time. That's when you saw Brody King. That's when you saw Mark Haskins, PJ Black, Luchasaurus. That's when you saw all these new talents," he said. "Stuff like that was major confidence boosters because I think there is a little bit of the unknown out there. I hope those guys do awesome. I think they will. But I also hope Ring Of Honor does awesome too, and I think there's enough room in the ecosystem for everybody. But there's a little bit of uncertainty and to pick some of the new young talent to replenish the ranks, who might not have the star power yet, but have the potential. Those were big boosts, and those were uplifting." He continued, "The feeling coming out of Atlanta after our first event was, 'Hey, I think we're gonna be okay. I think we're gonna be alright,'" he said. "Those guys are super talented, it's gonna be incredibly tough to make up for their talent," he added. "I think we might be able to do that. I think we have guys and gals with potential to do that."
Ring Of Honor is on the road to their G1 Supercard joint-show with New Japan Pro Wrestling and after tonight's pay-per-view, more matches will be confirmed for the event. To stay up to date with the G1 Supercard match card, head over to Fightful's "events" page.