In 2012, Kenny King left Ring of Honor despite being one half of the ROH Tag Team Champions at the time.
In a 2013 interview, King said about his ROH departure, "I left because there was a bigger opportunity. I also left because I had given ROH what I felt was a long enough period of time to convince me to stay and they did a pretty piss poor job of that. Not everyone. Just probably one person in particular. I personally feel like I handled it the best way I could based on what I was looking at."
The "one person in particular" King was referring to is Jim Cornette, who has publicly ripped King for how contract negotiations were handled between the two parties. King ultimately left ROH for TNA/IMPACT.
"There was one main [bleep] where it wasn't amicable. There was never any heat between me and any other members of the ROH office except for that one main [bleep]. I never hear any undo slander on my name come from Joe Koff, Greg [Gilleland], Delirious, or anyone else," King said when discussing his departure from ROH on the ROH Strong podcast.
By 2015, Cornette was gone from ROH and King was welcomed back by officials.
"ROH came to Vegas and in February 2015 and I had just signed a new deal with TNA. I talked to guys and said, 'I don't know if I should come, I don't want it to be odd.' They said it was fine. I went, show up, and it's going great. The first face I see is Cary Silkin and that's my guy. I used to negotiate on my contracts with Cary over a cigar and a handshake. The second person I see, and my heart just drops, is Joe Koff. He couldn't have been nicer or more welcoming. He looks at me and says, 'Are you ready to come back home?' I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I said, 'Thank you, I just signed a new contract, but the fact that you say that, you have no idea how that makes me feel.' Fast forward to August, there's restructuring in TNA and things aren't going great. They gave me the option to opt-out and I did. A week after that, I go to the ROH show in Vegas, I see Joe Koff, he asks me, 'Are you ready to come back home?' This time, I said, 'Yes, Joe, I'm ready to come back!'" King excitedly expressed.
King said he handled himself professionally during his time away from the company and if he didn't he wouldn't have been brought back.
"I was welcomed back and he never was and never will be," King said of Cornette.
King was regularly featured on ROH television and events before the company shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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