Bryan Danielson: It Will Benefit A Lot Of People If Ring Of Honor Can Stick Around

Bryan Danielson has revealed his sadness at the news about Ring Of Honor's hiatus in the first quarter of 2022.

As previously reported, ROH announced last month that all contracted talent would be released from their deals at the end of the year, with the promotion undergoing a period of strategic review in early 2022 as they seek to bounce back from the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Danielson, who rose through the ranks in ROH, is sad to see so many people out of work and is hopeful the promotion can make some form of return in the future.

Talking to Busted Open Radio, Danielson said: "I was just sad. Especially, I guess what the hard part with all of it is, I think of the people and the jobs, right? They're not going to do the full-time contracts or anything like that anymore, that sort of thing. Then this is coming in the year where we've still got a pandemic going on, we've got a lot of people getting cut from the WWE sides, you know what I mean? There's not a ton of full-time jobs out there. You know, people sign these contracts, and they buy houses on these contracts. They think it's guaranteed money and all that kind of stuff.

"Where that really hits hard for me is like, I was fired twice by WWE. It's funny because both times I was fired shortly after I had bought a new car. None of these are nice cars, and they're used cars or whatever it is, you know what I mean? But like, in both of them, I wasn't able to pay it off in full, but, but like, the first time in 2001, when I got fired, I had a $350 a month car payment. All of a sudden that car payment really I was having to work two jobs between that and insurance and all that kind of stuff. I bought the car with the idea of being like, 'Oh, I'm gonna make $500 a week for the next three years, or whatever it is, you know what I mean?

"So, then all of a sudden, you don't have that guaranteed money coming in, and you're trying to find stuff and you don't have a college education, and you're making $50-$75 per indie show, and whatever it is, you know what I mean? Like, it can put you in a rough spot. Now, if those contracts are much higher, I assume than my developmental stuff, and that's why — the Ring of Honor, and the WWE cuts, people are buying houses based on that [income]. Then all of a sudden, they've got a mortgage, all that kind of stuff.

"There's just a sadness there of like, if it weren't for Ring of Honor, I probably wouldn't be where I'm at today, because that was the main platform where people got to know me, and that was the main platform where I was able to show my ability to wrestle and all that kind of stuff. It makes me a little bit sad, but what I hope is that they'll come back with a sort of, like a reinvigoration kind of, with a plan and come back and be awesome, because I think the more awesome wrestling companies there are, the better it is for everybody.

"I think that's one of the things that's been great now is that AEW has been great for wrestling fans, but it's also been great for wrestlers, you know, it's been great for me, it's been good to be able to have like that, you know, that kind of choice when my contract was out because it stayed WWE or go do something else, you know. I think it would benefit a lot of people if Ring of Honor were to be able to stick around and then and then be a great promotion."

H/T Fightful