Tim’s Take 10.28.08: See You at the Crossroads

You’d think that with Sunday’s news of Gabe Sapolsky’s firing as head booker, Ring of Honor actually bit the dust. But much like the New York Jets, rumors of its demise are unfounded. Fans are talking about Sapolsky losing the book as if the head of a dragon has been cut off.

I’m going to say this much. When Reborn hit in April of 2004 after the scandal with Rob Feinstein, it was a huge breath of fresh air for the company. Sapolsky took over the book and he allowed a bit more freedom to be expressed, and that Reborn weekend gave ROH the momentum it needed going forward. It’s somewhat of a misnomer that ROH was always about the hard-hitting and stiffness and such (although that was definitely a major part of it) as that weekend saw Homicide turn into a sadistic heel and burn Samoa Joe’s face with a fireball, something that set up a great feud between the two throughout the summer. It was something that was unexpected, but in the era of honorable competition, Homicide’s heel turn was a welcome change. Heels had been done before in ROH, but nowhere like what Homicide did.

Then, the four years that followed brought a prosperous time for ROH. Sapolsky had this way of making each event special in some way, and he really did go all out to get his wrestlers to go out and work their asses off. He did it well, but what people don’t realize is that while Sapolsky was the head booker, a great majority of the wrestlers, especially at the top of the card, booked their own programs. Sapolsky was merely a great overseer and personnel wrangler. He gave the final go-through on how things would go down, he would ok it, and off they went. If anybody would try and give the Heyman comparison to Sapolsky, it was warranted, because while Heyman did have a lot of creative control, he made sure that his wrestlers had a say in what went down. He was a pretty good guy at establishing a connection with the wrestlers and keeping them going. He wasn’t the motivator or manipulator that Heyman was, but he knew how to keep his product going.

I think when people wonder why Gabe was ousted, it’s comes down more to how the product was presented and how much that product brought back into the company. The ROH brand, if you will, was that of wrestling at its purest form, an exhibition of athleticism, skill and toughness, and to leave the carny, superficial world of entertainment in its rearview mirror. At the very least, make it a minimum portion to the big plate in front of you. That’s not to say that ROH was without gimmicks; if you don’t have a gimmick, you really can’t be a wrestler. People need to engage you somehow. Even someone like Bryan Danielson, who people said needed to grow a personality, had a great gimmick with him proclaiming he was the best wrestler in the world, and that he’d do everything he could at any cost to prove it. His subtle heel mannerisms, especially in his world title reign, were phenomenal. Skeptics doubted him, and Danielson proved them wrong. Besides, he has till five, ref.

Gabe’s legacy will be that he was a great manager of creative minds, and that he brought in a lot of great personnel. Although, the second will be debated for a long time to come. When ROH got the Japan bug after bringing in the All Japan guys in 2003, it took them down a road that really diluted the product. It got to the point that ROH wanted to be so much like the Japanese product that they tried to become the Japanese product. I’m all for bringing in outside wrestlers to spice things up, but Gabe did it at a breakneck pace, turning the random appearance of a Naomichi Marufuji into a title reign for Takeshi Morishima. Granted, Morishima’s reign was a favor from NOAH because of their agreement, so that they could set up Morishima’s growth for NOAH’s own singles title, but there’s something about that which didn’t sit well somewhere: the pocket book.

For all of the good things Gabe did, he offset the gains that ROH could have made with the bringing in of talent from overseas. Granted, the exposure he gave them here got people into their style of wrestling, but it was a self-indulging move by Gabe, a notorious mark for Japanese wrestling whose dream of seeing the wrestlers he idolized most come in for a one-shot to pop a crowd, but to also break even. ROH didn’t make enough money to offset the costs of a lot of these wrestlers appearing, and while things like Joe vs. Kobashi sold big, the true gains were far and few between. In fact lately, a lot of the places they extended to didn’t draw well (and I should know, as about 500 people showed up in the 13,000 seat Cow Palace for the San Francisco show) which put ROH in the tough position of stopping a lot of their expanding. Their trips to Japan always made them break even instead of actually making money. There is a big difference between doing shows to stay alive and doing shows to make money, and lately, it was to stay alive.

However, Gabe doesn’t deserve all the blame. The economy right now isn’t that advantageous for wrestlers, who pay their own way on a lot and don’t get paid too much in the way of appearances unless they’re higher on the card. That, along with an increase in ticket prices and DVD prices has made it harder for the wrestling fan to stay involved. The pay-per-views are a nice change of pace, but in the end, what truly matters is that if you want to run a successful business, you find a way to make money. Gabe stopped doing that, and now ROH believes they need to move in a new direction.

The man who takes over at the top is Adam Pearce, the same Adam Pearce who left ROH when he was told they had nothing to offer him after his run with Brent Albright. He has previous booking experience at smaller levels, and with the perceived notion that ROH wants to venture into TV, Pearce brings the experience of running a TV show. He’s someone who lives for the old school, but the main problem that people have with him as the booker is that he’d book himself at the top. I’m going to give Pearce the benefit of the doubt of him knowing he had a niche within ROH and he did well with it. He wants to push a 70’s oriented type of booking style, more old-school, if you will. However, that style will have to fight up against the newest of new-school, the brand of American pro wrestling that has staked its claim as pro wrestling at its purest form.

Granted, Pearce’s arrival as booker should allow ROH to make a move towards television, but it will not do it at the expense of what made it great. You might see storylines that seem familiar, or you might see some of the older wrestlers get a shot at being a major part of the show, but I think that if you completely change what ROH is about at this point in its lifespan, where they are losing money and could be on the verge of folding, you’re not going to be able to come back. You need to be able to sustain some level of marketability, along with a semblance of originality. ROH definitely has the latter, but the former needs some work. Pearce’s booking style should work if he doesn’t try to Dusty Rhodes the book, and let the other wrestlers do what they do best: express their own creativity. It’ll be something to see over the next couple months, but rest assured that ROH will go in a different direction, and that it won’t be the wrong one.

At the very least, Bone Thugs ‘n’ Harmony got it right. ROH, we’ll see you at the crossroads.

(Addendum: It has to be said that the base of all ROH fans is that they are attuned to the wrestling business and know all about what goes on behind the scenes. Everyone knows now that Pearce is the new booker, and chances are we will find out right away how much people like Pearce’s booking stylings. Whatever the change will be, ROH’s fanbase will let the company know right away what they think of the product. This could be a very quick change if this doesn’t work out, but I’ll also say that Pearce has a good track record of knowing what a fanbase wants.)