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» Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
» On Friday, December 26, 2008 at 3:52 PM EST
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Newsday has an interview up with Ring of Honor owner Cary Silken where he talks for the first time about the firing of booker Gabe Sapolsky, ROH's involvement with the movie "The Wrestler" and more.
Here are some highlights:
On the firing of Gabe Sapolsky:
"A lot of it boiled down to simple business and as a company there needed to be some changes. Gabe was a very successful booker for most of his run. I think historically, six years-plus as a booker might be a record. And, you know, things just weren’t working. And it was the right time to make a change. It’s pretty much as simple as that. He did a tremendous amount of good things in his time, but it had sort of run its course and the change was important."
On any hard feelings with Gabe over the firing:
"I mean, you’re never happy about firing someone. It was a close knit group, you know? I’m sure there were hard feelings. You feel bad. I don’t know if “hard feelings” are the right words, but you feel bad. I mean I was friendly with him. So it was rough, but we all move on."
On the problems with ROH in the last year:
"Well, I think the product had become more wrestling move oriented than wrestling oriented. And we have such talented guys and I think there was a lot of redundancy in the matches. You know, it’s funny to think about it because we had so many good shows during his run. But it comes down to dollars to and how we’re drawing and how the DVDs are selling, so we needed to make a change."
On Adam Pearce taking the role as the new booker:
"At this point, we don’t even discuss who’s booking, or I don’t discuss who’s booking or what’s going on in booking. Because it’s not important. What’s important is the bottom line product."
On how things got started between ROH and "The Wrestler":
"I was talking to Evan Ginzburg, who does wrestling radio, he’s been in wrestling for years. He was the liaison between Darren Aronofksy and the wrestling community. And he introduced them to us. The project started just over a year ago when they came to visit us at the Hammerstein. When they came to the Hammerstein – upstairs at the Manhattan Center – that’s when Nicholas Cage was still booked to be in the movie, and they brought Nicholas Cage. And I was like, “Wow, this is cool.” We were hoping the whole thing would take off, as far as just getting filmed. And we were happy to just be part of it. I said to Evan last night, and probably they would tell you the same thing, Darren Aronofsky’s a brilliant guy, and they had a decent script and certainly some good actors and actresses, but I think this has gone beyond anybody’s wildest expectations about how this would be received. So our participation in it – which would be exciting even if it wasn’t a hit – is very exciting now. And I think it’s just the tip of the iceberg. I mean, it’s really amazing. I saw the movie also. I went to New York Film Festival. And it’s great to see us as the pay off, so to speak. And the guys who have bit parts of the movie, and guys who had some major parts, such as Necro, it’s great. I’m just really pleased. I think this is certainly a catalyst for us to get our name out there to some people who do not know Ring of Honor. That’s the key to the whole thing. We know we have the people who know about us. That’s a small world."
To check out the full interview, click here.
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