With Ring of Honor having booked Madison Square Garden for WrestleMania weekend next year, many are wondering if WWE plans to retaliate. There has been talk that many ROH talents have contracts which expire before the event and that WWE may attempt to sign-away ROH’s bigger attractions.
If ROH is worried about losing their top draws to WWE, they aren’t saying it. Ring of Honor General Manager, Greg Gilleland recently spoke to CBS Sports. He was asked about the possibility of losing guys like Cody or the Young Bucks.
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ROH GM Not Worried About Losing Talent To WWE
“They’re our top guys, right?” Gilleland asked. “Of course, we’re going to do everything that we can to keep them. And we have fair offers and fair plans to retain them. With that said, I don’t think we ever operate in fear. We always operate with solid backup plans. And we have to always think about what if this, and what if that.”
Gilleland admits there’s a chance the talent could leave before the MSG show but he’s not too worried about that.
“If they go to the WWE, and they very much deserve that opportunity, we’ll continue to offer the best wrestling that we can,” he continued. “There’s other talent out there. And we will continue as our brand has for the past however many years. We’ve lost top guys before.”
He then mentioned several times in the past when the promotion has had to overcome losing their top stars to WWE.
“Think about Kevin Owens and even going back to Bryan Danielson and CM Punk and all of them. They all went to the WWE, and the brand has continued to grow and prosper.”
“Do I wanna lose the Young Bucks and Cody? No. Of course not. Why would I wanna lose them?” Gilleland continued. “Am I gonna make an aggressive attempt to retain them and sign longer-term agreements? Of course, we are. But, at the end of the day, the ROH brand is about the ROH experience, and that’s how we continue to grow.”
