“Re-signed with AEW/ROH. Very grateful and excited for what is to come! Celebrated by eating some hot dogs at the IronPigs at various points since reaching an agreement which was a while ago at this point so a lot of hot dogs for me & my family. AEW Dynamite #300 is TOMORROW! See you in California!,” he wrote.
Riccaboni also took time to thank people for the response.
“Holy smokes. A little overwhelmed by the response,” another post read. “The generosity in this deal will be paid forward: part of this will continue to go toward Salisbury Youth Association as part of a community effort to reduce or eliminate cost as a barrier for kids to play sports like we did for baseball.”
Joining the company in 2014, Riccaboni gradually became the lead play-by-play announcer of ROH. When the promotion was bought by Tony Khan, Riccaboni continued his role on ROH programming as well as occasionally doing work for AEW Dynamite and Collision.
Kevin Kelly has publicly given his side of the story on why he was fired from AEW this past March and how his soured relationship with fellow commentator Ian Riccaboni was a key factor in that happening.
That comment came after Kelly was asked about his relationship with Riccaboni which began years ago when he was introduced by mutual acquaintance and wrestler Bob Evans which led to Riccaboni going on the road to do Ring of Honor dark matches and Women of Honor bouts.
Years later, Tony Khan reached out to Kelly about doing AEW Collision on Riccaboni’s recommendation after Khan told him he couldn’t due to his day job.
Kelly said weeks later around the time he was calling the G1, Riccaboni began talking badly about him on a NJPW Discord, making accusations that he had never heard about, including being a QAnon conspiracy theorist, and trying to turn NJPW fans against him due to the public nature of things. Kelly had previously said during the signing that Riccaboni was “putting the mouth on him” in the ROH offices after he had left the company which he shrugged off.
“The part that bothers me so much is that I thought we were friends and if he would have called me, we could have talked about it,” he said, later adding he feels terrible that Riccaboni was mad at him for reasons he still isn’t sure about.
Kelly said he reached out to Riccaboni about the problems and that Riccaboni said Kelly did some things to him over the years that he was pissed off about. Kelly offered to talk, but claims Riccaboni would only do so if Kelly agreed to not record the call. Kelly agreed while scoffing at the notion he would ever record any conversation, but they never talked.
He said he still doesn’t know what the problems are, but that Riccaboni did spell out one incident where Kelly made a comment about him wearing a cowboy hat sitting next to Jim Ross when Collision was in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
“I was, like, saying it because guess what? You’re gonna get heat with J.R. if you’re wearing a cowboy hat sitting next to him at the announce desk. Whether he says it’s okay or not, that doesn’t matter,” he said. “And it was born in Calgary, it was born at the Stampede and he’s the one who wears the f*cking cowboy hat. Why would you do that? Whatever. Listen, Ian got upset about that. Give me a break,” he said.
The end of his AEW run
Around that time is when things began to go awry in AEW where he started in June 2023 with the launch of Collision.
Kelly said in NJPW, he was left alone because he knew what he was doing but in AEW, he had “all these people in my ear and I’ve got all this format stuff” and questioned why the show had to be the same as Dynamite.
“Whether it was split because of CM Punk and the (Young) Bucks, I have no idea. That was never even brought up. But it was a separate show: Saturday night, great. Let’s make it different, let’s do some different things,” he stated, later questioning that perhaps because Punk was eventually, they could then get rid of him as well.
He said he talked to the AEW office about the Riccaboni issues and that mentally, he was getting into a bad spot. He referenced going public on X with what he called libel from Riccaboni, saying he also “vented” on a voicemail to an unnamed VP of HR who he said he never met or spoke to before. He said he was kept in the dark about his complaints to HR about Riccaboni and that AEW’s disciplinary committee would handle it to make a decision. He pressed for what the decision was after they met, but was unable to be told what the outcome was.
‘Okay, what was the decision?’ ‘Well, we can’t tell you because it’s private.’ ‘Wait a minute, I was the one who was the victim here. I need to know what happened so I could put this to bed in my mind.’ ‘Well, we just can’t tell you.’ ‘Okay, this is very upsetting for me. You have to understand this.’ ‘Nah, we really don’t understand and we don’t care.’ So, whatever. They’ll get theirs,” he said.
He knew the situation with AEW wasn’t going to work and told management he was getting into a bad spot with everything going on. He said after he aired his grievances, he was let go by AEW VP Mike Mansury and the aforementioned VP of HR.
Kelly said his mental health has improved since the firing, but was not good during his AEW run as it was taking a physical and mental toll on both himself and his marriage. He said he had set up an appointment with an AEW-appointed psychiatrist on a Thursday and then was fired the day before.
While he has forgiven Riccaboni, Kelly still has taken umbrage with the public nature of things and related it to Hana Kimura, a popular Japanese wrestler who committed suicide in part due to negative things said about her on social media.
“Because when you bring down the force of social media onto a person, wrongly accusing someone, there are consequences. You can’t do that, you shouldn’t do that and I mean, what happened to Hana, of course was much worse than what happened to me. I’m not even comparing those but, again, it’s the same type of thing and that’s really just it. I was not a fit for AEW. I just felt like it was a very different kind of place and very stressful. So many people…there was so much chaos and it just really stressed me out a lot. I was much happier in New Japan, except for the flights and the travel,” he said.
AEW & Ring of Honor lead commentator Ian Riccaboni is now a member of his local school board.
Riccaboni took to Twitter Monday night to announce the news that he is a member of the board for Pennsylvania’s Salisbury Township School District.
As part of a special meeting on Monday to fill a vacancy, Riccaboni appeared before the existing board as one of four candidates looking to fill the spot, answering questions from various members.
He said he saw the opportunity to join the board as an opportunity to help continue to instill the values he learned coming up through the district that have enabled him to enter college and have job readiness.
The 36-year-old was born in Allentown, PA, and lives in Salisbury Township with his wife and two children. He graduated from Salisbury High School in 2005 as class president.
In addition to his announcing duties, he also works in the pharmaceutical industry which he discussed during his interview with the board, citing his extensive work with budgets and his ability to make the hard decision as reasons he would be a good fit.
Because he is filling a vacancy, Riccaboni is serving a partial term through December 1st and said on Twitter afterward that he will “intend to explore my options to seek a full term.”
Longtime Ring of Honor play-by-play announcer Ian Riccaboni will be staying within the Tony Khan companies for years to come.
Fightful first reported Sunday that Riccaboni recently signed a multi-year deal with AEW that will see him call in-ring action for both AEW and ROH.
Riccaboni called Saturday’s Collision from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, as Kevin Kelly is handling the English commentary duties in Japan for the NJPW G1 tournament. Riccaboni will continue to be the lead announcer on Collision until Kelly returns when the tournament concludes next month.
Riccaboni indirectly acknowledged the news Sunday on Twitter, joking about the cowboy hat he wore Saturday night:
The report stated that Riccaboni was considered for the Collision lead play-by-play role, but that he preferred to stick with ROH instead so he could spend more time with his family. It was said he actually recommended Kelly for the Collision role and has mainly done the weekly ROH TV shows from home.
Riccaboni will fill in for both Kelly and Excalibur on AEW programming when they need time off.
He has been the lead announcer for ROH since 2017 and continued in that role after Khan acquired the brand, including his contract, in March 2022. He has appeared on AEW TV since then in addition to work for NJPW Strong and Impact Wrestling when the ROH title was defended there at last year’s Hard to Kill.
ROH commentator Ian Riccaboni took part in a virtual signing on Facebook with K&S Wrestlefest recently and spoke about the promotion’s streaming service.
“A lot of folks ask me about Honor Club. You used to be able to watch pay-per-views on there, that might be relaunching soon. There might be some news coming your way about that,” Riccaboni said during the signing. “But to get Final Battle this year you got to order on pay-per-view.”
Riccaboni was also asked if he feels ROH will land a TV deal in 2023.
“I don’t have any inside information but I’m very hopeful because if you look at the folks that are coming in, we have, it’s very public, we have Matt Taven & Mike Bennett, Maria, they are all signed. You have Brian Cage earmarked with Ring of Honor. Samoa Joe’s got the TV belt, Chris Jericho’s got the world belt. FTR with the tag titles, Mercedes Martinez who has been a fixture in wrestling for a long time, she’s got the women’s title. If you look at where the chips are being positioned…”
“There’s all these folks who were in the last, kind of, era of Ring of Honor that are suddenly in the AEW umbrella in the fold.”
“I don’t think there’s any reason why there wouldn’t be an appetite for a Ring of Honor broadcast especially as you see the army that’s being built right now that has the Ring of Honor ties.”
Honor Club has not been accepting new subscriptions since July. Those interested can sign up for updates on the service here.
“Ring of Honor is currently revamping its HonorClub program with enhanced elements and functionality. During this ongoing transformation, there will be a pause on accepting new memberships. Current memberships (as of July 16, 2022), will be extended at no additional cost until the refreshed HonorClub platform is launched in early fall 2022,” reads ROHWrestling.com.
Ian Riccaboni and Bobby Cruise are both set to be at tonight’s Impact Hard to Kill event.
Impact announced on social media today that Riccaboni will call the ROH World title match between champion Jonathan Gresham and Chris Sabin. Cruise, the long time ring announcer for Ring of Honor, will be the ring announcer for the match.
“Hello @IMPACTWRESTLING! Thrilled to announce the @ringofhonor World Title Bout Tonight! #HardToKill,” Riccaboni wrote on Twitter.
Ring of Honor has gone under a hiatus since the Final Battle event that took place on December 11, with the company saying they will be back by April. Gresham, who won the ROH World title at Final Battle, has defended it against the likes of AJ Gray and Adam Priest in the last month. He is scheduled to defend the title against Blake Christian at GCW’s event at the Hammerstein Ballroom on January 23.
Impact Hard to Kill will take place live tonight at The Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas.
Ian Riccaboni will commentate the ROH World Championship match next month at GCW’s debut in the Hammerstein Ballroom.
GCW announced tonight that Riccaboni will call Jonathan Gresham defending the ROH World Championship against Blake Christian at GCW’s The Wrld on GCW on January 23. Riccaboni has been the lead commentator of Ring of Honor in recent years. Ring of Honor is currently going under hiatus through April of next year after holding Final Battle on December 11.
The company released a video on Monday that had Christian saying that this was not about the ROH title, it’s about being accepted as one of the best in the world. And when he wins the championship from Gresham, everyone will have no choice but to accept him as among the best in the world.
Riccaboni is also set to be at NJPW New Beginning USA on January 15, where he will call the action as Kevin Kelly will be in Japan.
“I will be starting with New Japan Pro Wrestling on January 15th. I’ll be headed to Seattle, Washington, and I’ve interpreted this as a tryout,” Riccaboni said. “I’m calling the main card, I’m calling what will air on New Japan Strong.”
“I’m going to somebody else’s house. Even though I’ve been invited, even though I’m told there may be more, I’m going to do my best and I’m taking this as a tryout.”
Riccaboni said that he is familiar with NJPW given their years-long business partnership with ROH, but that he has been brushing up on the product of late.
“I’ve watched 41 out of the 69 currently existing New Japan Strong episodes,” Riccaboni said. “I’ve re-watched them so far once I found out. I intend to get to 69 through January 14th before I get on the plane to Seattle.”
Riccaboni has been with ROH since 2014, becoming the lead play-by-play voice in 2017. ROH’s future remains in question following their “end of an era” Final Battle pay-per-view this weekend. The company has stated an intention to relaunch in April 2022.
The Hana Kimura memorial show that will be held later this month will air on FITE TV.
FITE TV has added the show to their site, which will air on May 23. Ring of Honor’s Ian Riccaboni, Fumi Saito, and World Famous CB (Cheeseburger) will be on commentary. The description reads as follows:
On May 23rd live on FITE is Hana Kimura Memorial “MATANE”. The event will honor the one year anniversary of the untimely passing Hana Kimura. The memorial evening features wrestlers such as Super Delfin, HUB, Yuko Miyamoto, Munenori, Sawa, Kaori, Yoneyama, Cherry, Hanako Nakamori, Yuki Miyazaki, VENY(ASUKA), KAGETSU, Mio Momono, Mika Iwata and much more.
The tribute show was announced earlier this year and is scheduled to be held at Korakuen Hall. Kyoko Kimura, Hana’s mother, is organizing the show.
Kimura, 22, passed away on May 23 of last year, taking her own life following cyberbullying and harassment based on her appearances on the Japanese reality show Terrace House.
ROH’s lead announcer, Ian Riccaboni, has re-signed with Ring of Honor.
Riccaboni confirmed a report by Fightful that he has re-signed with the company. He wrote the following on Twitter:
[Ring of Honor] and I quietly extended our agreement during the early stages of the pandemic. With the timing of the pandemic and overall great loss we collectively experienced due to COVID-19, it was a conscious decision not to celebrate this publicly at the time the agreement was reached although I and extraordinarily thankful.
ROH has always accommodated my work/family balance and my other commitments and provides generous compensation.
The agreement puts me on pace to call more ROH TV episodes and ROH events than any previous announcer and I am humbled by this. I appreciate everyone who has supported ROH and look forward to calling The Best Wrestling on the Planet for a long, long time.
Riccaboni has been calling Ring of Honor matches since 2015. In 2017, he became the company’s lead broadcaster, replacing Kevin Kelly.
ROH was in Columbus, OH Sunday night for ROH Unauthorized: Hanukah Comes Early, a mostly comedy show hosted by Colt Cabana. He explained that that Unauthorized essentially meant he was going to book the show tonight. He promised the crowd that the wrestling would be great, but weird. One of those statements turned out to be true.
Cabana brought out Joe Hendry to do guest “singing commentary.” He sang everything he said. He and Ian Riccaboni were the first broadcast team of the night.
Ultimo Guerrero defeated Jonathan Gresham
Guerrero is CMLL Heavyweight champion but he didn’t have the belt with him this weekend. Gresham has a crazy new octopus mask and is a heel now but cool things like that get over. It’s hard not to cheer the guy.
The match itself was really good but was absolutely butchered by Hendry’s awful singing commentary which made this hard to watch. It was mostly tight technical wrestling, Guerrero played face, sort of, while Gresham would throw in something sneaky behind the referee’s back. At one point, he landed what I have only known to be called as the “sack tap” behind the ref’s back. Cabana, who was sitting on stage, got on the mic and told on Gresham. Hendry was rhyming all of his singing commentary. Riccaboni started singing midway through, too. Guerrero won after he used the Guerrero Especial, a reverse superplex from the second rope, to pin Gresham in about 12 minutes.
El Villainisto (Marty Scurll) and Jéfe Cobbo (Jeff Cobb) defeated Delirious and Mini-Delirious (Swoggle) in a loser must lose their mask match
Cabana made a facetious claim after the previous match insisting that he booked everything that happened in the ring just now. ROH flashed entrance banners for Delirious and Mini-Delirious on accident while Cabana was talking to the audience.
Cobb came out in a black El Santo mask and Scurll had one that looked like a Masked Superstar mask. Swoggle came out in a Delirious mask but his pants still read SWOGGLE on the sides. This was supposed to be a comedy match but it wasn’t funny at all. Scurll pretended to be one of the Deliriouses and then snapped their fingers. Delirious and Swoggle then bit Scurll and Cobb’s fingers. Swoggle did German suplexes to both Cobb and Scurll. Cobb pinned Swoggle after a standing moonsault. Swoggle unmasked after the match and Cabana said it was Little John Studd. This was bad.
Kenny King, Flip Gordon & Dalton Castle defeated Cheeseburger & The Bouncers in Colt Cabana’s Punderful six-man tag
This was another messy comedy match. The theme was Cabana wanted to give everyone a burger-related name. Kenny King was Kenny “Burger” King and came out with a Burger King crown. Amy Rose came with him to the ring. Rhett Titus was on commentary with Caprice Coleman and Riccaboni for this one.
Dalton “White” Castle and “Double Cheeseburger” Beer City Bruiser were in first but all they did was shake hands. Castle tagged Gordon in next. Cheeseburger was wearing a cheeseburger hat on the apron. King later arm dragged ‘Burger so hard that the cheeseburger hat flew off. Cheeseburger used a drop-down and it actually worked, the one of very few times I have seen it work as a move and not part of a bigger rope-running sequence. There was a spot where Milonas laid on top of Castle and had to have everyone in the match had to peel him off.
King did a big Arabian Press to the floor at one point like a regular Christopher Daniels. He and Cheeseburger were the highlights of this match, if you can believe that and Gordon to an extent too. Gordon teased a dive off the stage towards the end but flipped the crowd off and walked to the back, which got a good heel reaction. “Double Cheese” Bruiser did a cross body off the stage, and later did a somersault senton onto his own partner, Brawler Milonas. Riccaboni said Bruiser may have had too many brews beforehand. King cradled Cheeseburger to win this. Everyone but King and Gordon drank beers and ate cheeseburgers from a cooler afterwards.
The Allure defeated Sumie Sakai and Jenny Rose in a no disqualification match
Sakai and Rose attacked the Allure before they made it to the ring. Sakai brought out her Daryl, Hiromu Takahashi’s stuffed animal mascot. It was over. Rose used a snap suplex to Leone on the stage that looked good, albeit brutal. Sakai missed a moonsault from the top and landed knees first onto a chair. Angelina Love scored the pin after landing the Botox Injection kick on Sakai. Maria Manic came out afterwards and threatened Love, saying “At Final Battle, you’re dead, b****.” Manic has serious potential to be a megastar. Her in-ring debut will be at Final Battle.
Mark Briscoe (w/ Jay Briscoe) defeated Josh Woods (w/ Silas Young) in a partner must drink after kickout match
Jay Briscoe and Silas Young did live commentary during this match, and every time Woods or Mark Briscoe made a pin attempt, the two out at ringside had to take shots of whisky. Cabana announced every time they had to take a shot on his mic. This was the focal point of the match, unfortunately. Briscoe and Woods had a decent match earlier this year in Portland at what’s now known the infamous Bully Ray “Be a Fan” show. Woods powerslammed Briscoe into the barricades. The crowd made some noise here but they were mostly quiet throughout much of this.
Young started complaining about the ref’s count and then Jay Briscoe and he started jaw-jacking until both got into the ring. Young flew out of the ring after missing Jay Briscoe on a tackle, and then Woods tried throwing Jay Briscoe out but the whole thing was botched. Woods dropped Jay, who was flailing in the ropes before rolling under them to the floor. Mark Briscoe landed a Froggy Bow to win the match. I don’t know what this was supposed to accomplish since the Briscoes are already booked against Jonathan Gresham and Jay Lethal for Final Battle. Not good.
Rush and Dragon Lee defeated LifeBlood under Lucha Libre rules
This was the best match of the show so far. It was “lucha libre rules” which just meant there weren’t any tags or too many countouts. Haskins and Lee meshed well together. LifeBlood worked Lee over in their corner until he could tag out to Rush, who wrestled like the place was Madison Square Garden. He did a good job at waking the Columbus crowd up.
The match spilled to the floor early. Back in the ring, Rush and Lee used some impressive tag team combinations on Tracy Williams. They sort of functioned like heels here. Rush shouted “Viva Mexico!” to the crowd midway through. Lifeblood did crisscrossing dives to the floor. Rush pinned Williams after the Bull’s Horns to win this one in a good match.
For some reason, Cabana interviewed ring announcer Bobby Cruise in the ring next.
He asked Cruise what his favorite match to announce was. Cruise said Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi. That was pretty much the whole interview. Cabana said if he ever did a podcast, Cruise would be his first guest. ROH World Television champion Shane Taylor’s music then hit and he walked out with the Soldiers of Savagery and another unnamed male and talked about how upset he was that his match was changed for tonight in his home state. He challenged Cabana to a TV title match. Cabana agreed to a match, but said it’d be a 4-on-4 match, and since it was his show, Colt would prove that he could pick literally anyone in the building to beat Taylor.
His first choice was Mike Gator, the cameraman. They made an entrance video for him and it just read GATOR with pictures of alligators behind it.
Cabana’s next choice was senior ROH broadcaster Ian Riccaboni. This isn’t a joke. Riccaboni had a cool bobblehead entrance video and his theme sounded like something from The Price is Right. He looked excited to wrestle, unlike most others on this show who seemed like they couldn’t have been bothered to be there in the first place.
ROH promoter Gary Juster was the final team member. For those who aren’t aware, Juster was a promoter for WCW and has been with ROH for years. He was also one of the vital names behind All In last year in Chicago. He got pyro here tonight.
When Cruise went to announce the teams for the match, he stopped early and asked who the one guy was with Taylor who wasn’t one of the Soldiers of Savagery guys. “That’s Ron! Ron Hunt! The CEO of Shane Enterprises!” That’s what Caprice Coleman had to say about it. Riccaboni probably got the biggest pop of the night, and deservedly so. He’s arguably been the best part of ROH this year.
Brian Johnson, a bald, bearded guy from this year’s ROH Top Prospect tournament, came out and cut a promo, a decent one, basically saying he felt slighted, that he should have headlined tonight. He said that he’s the Mecca and people need to know that “it’s everyone vs. Mecca.” He didn’t care which team he had to wrestle on, so Cabana immediately pointed to the opposite corner and insisted he be with the heels. He picked referee Todd Sinclair instead, who also had his own entrance video, a custom one that sounded like U2 but started with a three-count.
Colt Cabana, Mike Gator, Todd Sinclair, Ian Riccaboni and Gary Juster defeated ROH TV Champion Shane Taylor, Brian Johnson, Ron Hunt and the Soldiers of Savagery
Coleman was on commentary with Joe Dombrowski for this. Johnson and Cabana were in first. Taylor’s heel team left the apron and refused to tag Johnson. The biggest pop of the night came next from Cabana tagging out to referee Sinclair, who happened to be quite good. I didn’t expect to type that tonight. He did a leapfrog to Johnson and then did the Ricky Steamboat kung fu pose and the crowd was on their feet and lost it. This is where ROH is at these days.
Juster threw one ginger chop tp Johnson, then tagged out to Cabana and was back on the apron.
Next was Riccaboni, who landed a flying elbow drop onto Johnson, which got an even bigger pop. It looked great. He tagged out to Cabana who pinned Johnson. The ROH All-Stars won. This was insane but fun. I think this crew would draw more most of the regular roster at this point. That’s not a joke, either. Riccaboni, Sinclair and Gary Juster were the highlights. Cameraman Gator was in the match but also filmed the match, so we couldn’t see him.
PCO defeated Dan Maff in an unsanctioned no DQ match
Brian Zane from the Wrestling with Wregret YouTube show joined the Coleman and “Macho Madness” Riccaboni on commentary for this match.
This was a hoss deathmatch battle from the get-go. Maff, who dresses in Hellraiser bondage gear now, took his trenchcoat off and whipped PCO in the face with it before the match. They traded big punches at the top and Maff used a massive tope early on. He hasn’t wrestled in ROH for 14 years. PCO was back in the ring quickly and used a cannonball suicida to the floor onto Maff. They started pulling cinder blocks out from under the ring. A good chunk of this match was either of the guys walking around the ring looking for or preparing weapons while the other guy sold. There were about eight inside the ring by the time they were done.
The two chased each other around the ring and ran into each other with shoulderblocks. PCO started slamming his head into the barricade, then Maff did, and then they both started doing it until PCO poked Maff in the eyes. There were a few young kids down in front going crazy for this, but the rest of the crowd sounded quiet at times. Maff spiked PCO onto the floor with a Burning Hammer. PCO responded in the ring and put Maff through a table with a spear. Maff reciprocated a few minutes later and then put PCO through another table with a Death Valley Driver. Maff threw a number of chairs into the ring next. PCO did a French-Canadian Destroyer onto a pile of chairs in the ring onto Maff. PCO missed another cannonball from the top rope onto the apron and a kid down in front screamed “ARE YOU OK?!”
Maff poured out a bag of thumbtacks but was chokeslammed onto them by PCO. Maff had so many shiny silver tacks in his back after this. Maff returned and back body dropped PCO onto the thumbtacks, then shoved thumbtacks into his mouth, and superkicked him in the head. When Maff set PCO up onto the cinderblocks near the corner of the ring, PCO got back up and blocked whatever flying move Maff was going for. He grabbed him by the groin after Maff started biting his fingers, then press slammed Maff onto the cinderblocks. It was sick. A lady shrieked in the crowd. The crowd started their first “this is awesome” chant of the night.
Maff sat up like the Undertaker and then planted PCO with a Burning Hammer onto the cinderblocks but PCO kicked out. The crowd was loud at this point, and most people were chanting “He’s not human” in support of PCO. After one more chokeslam and a moonsault, PCO won the match. People chanted for PCO after the bout.
After the match, Marty Scurll came out to shake PCO’s hand. He built PCO’s match with Rush for the ROH World Heavyweight title and put him over like crazy, explaining how he’s 51 and has gave everything up for the wrestling business. The crowd started chanting “next world champ.”
Final thoughts:
ROH Unauthorized can be thought of as either a fun, out-of-canon exhibition show meant to lift company morale or as a bright marker pointing out to fans that ROH has entered its late-‘90s AWA/late ‘00s WCW phase. Guerrero vs. Gresham was great but ruined by Hendry’s singing commentary. Dragon Lee and Rush vs. LifeBlood was higher quality and the best pure match of the show. PCO vs. Maff was a textbook example of a “plunder” match with all big weapon spots and general brutality.
I don’t know what to say about the match with Cabana, Gary Juster, Riccaboni and others. Nonplussed is the feeling I’m left with, considering ROH’s bad string of PR in the post-G1 Supercard world. I’m not sure if this was the best time to do a show like this as it will be used as fuel for the narrative that ROH is unraveling before our eyes, because there’s surely an argument to be made for this being one of the worst shows of the year.
While Ring of Honor has entered 2019 with an overhauled roster, the promotion’s play-by-play voice will be remaining consistent.
Ian Riccaboni announced on Thursday that he has signed a multi-year deal to remain with ROH. Riccaboni tweeted: “@ringofhonor means the world to me; the wrestlers, the crew, and the fans. We’re a family. I approached our office and producers about staying. They shared the same sentiment. I am excited to announce that I signed a mult-year deal to stay with ROH. Happy wrestling, indeed!”
Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are paired together on the ROH commentary team, with Cabana serving as the lead color commentator.
Riccaboni re-signing with ROH was first reported by Pro Wrestling Torch.
The NWA also confirmed that Riccaboni will be part of the announce team for the Crockett Cup tournament, which is taking place in Concord, North Carolina on Saturday, April 27. The NWA and ROH are partnering together for the tournament.
