Ian Riccaboni Says ROH Was In A Vulnerable Position But Is Rebuilding

In an interview with Wrestling Inc, ROH announcer Ian Riccaboni said the company was in a vulnerable position after losing several wrestlers several months ago (notably names like The Young Bucks and Cody), but is currently in the process of rebuilding. Here are highlights:

On ROH rebuilding after losing talent: “I think right now we have a lot of stars that are hungry and looking to make an impact. There’s been the word rebuilding and anytime you lose 7-8 stars to do whatever purpose they’re doing, that puts you in a vulnerable position. But we’ve had the luxury of leadership that’s went out and signed guys. We’ve done an admirable job of getting wrestlers that fans that have followed ROH for a long time may not have heard of yet. We’re getting exposure to these talents that some of the hardcore wrestling fans have known.”

On looking forward to the future: “We’re gonna do big things with CMLL coming up whether that’s in Mexico or the US. I think there’s a lot of super-positive stuff on the horizon and I’m excited to be a part of this era where there’s a little bit of uncertainty because every time ROH has been in this position before, there’s been guys and girls that have broken through and taken ROH to even bigger heights.”

On calling Alex Shelley’s match at Summer Supercard: “I think about some of the huge names that I’ve called this year for the first time: The Great Muta and several CMLL stars…Alex Shelley is a guy who I have called matches for before. But I’ve called very few single matches for Alex Shelley. He’s really a trailblazer but I equate Shelley to the [rock band] MC5. They’re both from Detroit and the MC5 are on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot and I bet if you polled 100 people walking around in Toronto here, they wouldn’t know who the MC5 are. That’s where I see Alex Shelley at. He can go from the class of the MC5 where his contributions to ROH can’t be understated…he can go from that class to the class of Alice Cooper. He can go from consensus all-time great trailblazer to consensus all-time great, period.”

On a cause in his hometown that ROH is supporting: “I have a t-shirt right now on ROHwrestling.com that says Happy Wrestling which is my sign-off. That money goes to the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. ROH has been a great partner in really helping the wrestlers, commentators and crew. They help advocate for the causes in which we personally believe in so thank you to ROH for allowing me the platform to do that. We put it up for Pride Month and it was super successful so I thank everyone that bought one. We’ve decided to just keep it up in perpetuity so any money made off that will go to Bradbury-Sullivan. So thank you to everyone that bought one and if you haven’t, check it out at ROHproshop.com or ROHwrestling.com and you can check it out there.”