Ring of Honor has found itself in an interesting place in 2019. A year prior it hosted some of the hottest stars in all of independent wrestling, a growing relationship with the National Wrestling Alliance and a string of well-received shows. But by the start of the year the company had lost big names like Cody Rhodes, Adam Page, SCU, The Young Bucks and The Best Friends all to AEW, and over the summer the NWA parted ways with the organization in order to launch its own television product out of Atlanta.
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But to the company’s credit, Ring of Honor officials did not sit on their hands as talent walked out the door. Since mid-2018 the promotion has brought in news stars like Jeff Cobb, Rush, Bandido, Mark Haskins, PCO, Tracy Williams, Angelina Love & Velvet Sky, Brody King and PJ Black to reload the roster. Matt Taven, the reigning Ring of Honor World Champion, recently spoke with ComicBook.com and emphatically stated that fans will look back positively on the current era of ROH.
“The amount of talent that has come in the past year from the Bandido’s to the Rush’s to Mark Haskins, Tracy Williams,” Taven said ahead of a recent Ring of Honor event in Nashville. “I mean, PCO, jeez, I could sit here all day and talk about all the new guys that are just awesome. And I honestly truly believe it’s one of those things where people are going to go back and look at this time and realize how freaking good it was. It’s just one of those things, the business is cyclical and we will keep going in that circle and just keep the good times rolling.”
After years on the roster, Taven captured the ROH World Championship at the G1 Supercard event at Madison Square Garden in early April. Reports recently popped up, despite his status as the company’s top heel and world champion, Taven’s contract is on the verge of expiring at the end of September. Taven addressed his upcoming decision in a recent interview with the Orlando Sentinel.
“You don’t get to have too many surprises in this business, but I’m keeping this one close to the vest,” Taven said. “This is a life-changing decision and a million different things go into it, so I have to weigh my options. No matter what, I’m grateful for every opportunity I’ve been given so far in my career and I don’t forget where I came from. I’m just going into this with an open mind and let the chips fall where they may.”
Taven is booked to defend his ROH World Championship against Rush at the Death Before Dishonor XVII event on Friday night.
Death Before Dishonor XVII will take place at Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall in Sunrise Manor, Nevada (just outside of Las Vegas) and is available to purchased via pay-per-view, ROH HonorClub and FITE TV. The show begins at 9 p.m. Eastern.
Photo courtesy of RING OF HONOR
