Ring of Honor has emerged as the number two American wrestling promotion, 16 years after it began in 2002. However, their talent retention can sometimes be an issue.
ROH COO Joe Koff is the public face of the company, which features big stars that come and go, and others that hang around. When speaking to Brian Fritz of The Sporting News, Koff said that despite WWE often signing away some talent, he's not surprised that guys like The Briscoes and Jay Lethal are still around.
No, I'm not surprised at all. A lot has to do with career maturity, I'll call it. The younger guys, they've grown up idolizing the WWE and they've always felt they need to get their start on the indie circuit. That's not going to stop. There's always going to be people that feel that's where they need to be because, in their minds or the minds of some of their fans, that's the epitome of success. I don't know whether it is or it isn't. I've been in broadcasting a long time and I've never worked in New York City. I don't know that I need to, and don't know that it ever really crossed my mind. My job was to be the best at what I did wherever I was.
When you look at a Jay Lethal and you look at the Briscoes, they have perspective. They have a little more perspective than I guy that just came through the business five years ago. And I think they realize what Ring of Honor represents to them. It represents a good living. It represents not (working) 200 dates a year. It represents an appreciation. I use our talent far greater than people know because we have a huge organization, but they've gone on sales calls with me. They've appeared in front of training classes. This is a little different or an organization than a wrestling promotion and that's because it's part of our business and this business happens to be wrestling. I think, from that perspective, if people understand that, it makes more sense for them to stay in Ring of Honor. But at the end of the day, people have to do what's best for their families and what they think is best for their career and I will never stand in the way of that. I love all the guys that wrestle for me and I only wish them the greatest success when they leave Ring of Honor.
ROH moves forward to ROH Supercard of Honor during WrestleMania weekend, which will feature stars like Lethal, The Briscoes, Cody Rhodes, Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and others that have had WWE or Impact Wrestling interest.
You can check out the full article with the Sporting News at this link.