10 Backstage ROH Stories That Blow Our Minds

The legacy of Ring of Honor is that it allowed many of the future top stars of the wrestling industry to become relevant names. Talents like Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Samoa Joe, and Seth Rollins started gaining momentum with incredible performances in ROH. Most of the top ROH stars would eventually move on to bigger promotions like WWE, NJPW, TNA, and AEW. However, the promotion known for great wrestling had quite its fair share of controversial moments.

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Every wrestling promotion will have some drama to an extent, given the nature of the business. Huge egos and backstage politics can always cause a rift between certain wrestlers. We will look at some of the more shocking stories to come from the backstage element of ROH. Find out just how wild things got with ten backstage ROH shows that will blow our minds.

10 ROH not informing NJPW about Enzo & Cass moment

The working relationship between Ring of Honor and New Japan has been the strongest asset for ROH in recent years. Even with the loss of talents from The Elite forming AEW, ROH had a huge show at Madison Square Garden with NJPW during WrestleMania weekend.

For the show, fans were primarily excited for NJPW, while not caring as much for ROH. Things grew worse when ROH refused to inform NJPW management that they were running an angle with Enzo and Cass attacking wrestlers after a match. It reportedly angered NJPW and their relationship in question moving forward.

9 Jim Cornette sending Kevin Owens home with no return date

In the early 2010s, Jim Cornette’s power in ROH would see him rub many talents the wrong way. Kevin Steen, aka Kevin Owens, was one of the wrestlers who Cornette didn’t like due to his look and unconventional wrestling style. The feud between Owens and El Generico led to a loser leaves town match.

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Cornette reportedly told Owens that he would be back within a few months, but it turned into half of a year. Owens returned as the hottest star in the company after months of stress from not being booked. Cornette didn’t anticipate him having such momentum, as Owens became too valuable to bury.

8 Flip Gordon having a fight with enhancement talent

Flip Gordon got into one of the few fights backstage in Ring of Honor history. A local talent reportedly refused to give up his seat for locker room veteran Christopher Daniels after his match, causing an argument between them.

Gordon stepped up to the enhancement talent, starting a fight with him. Members of The Elite like Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks joked about it, including posting photos of the Chipotle meal damaged in the scuffle.

7 ROH trying to block Kyle O'Reilly from signing with WWE

One of the strangest stories in Ring of Honor history featured Kyle O’Reilly losing the ROH Championship just weeks after winning it. O’Reilly lost the title back to Adam Cole at WrestleKingdom in early 2017. The reasoning for this was O’Reilly’s intended to join WWE.

It took O’Reilly many more months than expected to join WWE. Reports indicated ROH tried to hold him under contract via a loophole, despite the timeline expiring. WWE waited a while before feeling comfortable about signing him. The wait was worth it as the Undisputed Era formed at the right time.

6 Impact trying to prevent Hardys from using Broken gimmick on ROH PPV

Jeff Jarrett gaining control of Impact Wrestling in 2017 led to a huge shift. Matt and Jeff Hardy decided to leave the company after finding massive success with their Broken characters. Impact claimed they had ownership of the characters.

Matt and Jeff first appeared for ROH after leaving Impact. The reports indicated that Impact tried to prevent them from showing up on ROH PPV while using the Broken characters. Matt and Jeff still showed up to have a great match against the Young Bucks and Best Friends.

5 Backstage heat between Austin Aries and Seth Rollins

Austin Aries and Seth Rollins, aka Tyler Black, had a long feud over the ROH World Championship. Their biggest match came at Final Battle 2009, but fans were left disappointed when it ended in a 60-minute time limit draw.

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This would be the equivalent of WWE having the WrestleMania main event end in a draw. Rumors circulated that Aries refused to lose the title, causing the draw to be pitched as the finish. Shortly after, both men threw shade at each other in interviews.

4 Kenny King leaves for TNA during ROH Tag Team Championship reign

The All Night Express tag team of Kenny King and Rhett Titus found great success in Ring of Honor. King and Titus won the ROH Tag Team Championship to become the top duo in the company when King’s contract expired.

Instead of re-signing, King jumped ship to TNA when a bigger contract offer came his way. ROH was forced to vacate the tag titles, with Jim Cornette holding a strong disdain for King due to it. This was a huge story at the time and caused the game of politics between ROH and TNA to resurface again.

3 Nigel McGuinness struggling to walk after intense matches

Nigel McGuinness created a legacy as arguably the greatest ROH World Champion of all-time. The injuries suffered during his title reign led to McGuinness continuing to work through the pain while having hard-hitting long matches every show.

McGuinness revealed in his personal documentary that there were nights he could barely walk or stand after coming through the curtain. The injuries played a role in WWE rescinding a contract offer to him following testing that showed signs of serious injury.

2 Bully Ray intimidating fan backstage for booing Velvet Sky

The recent story to showcase the rough state of Ring of Honor right now featured Bully Ray threatening a fan backstage. This fan shared his account of the story that he heckled Velvet Sky and the rest of the Allure like many do with heels.

Velvet got into an argument before spitting at the fan. Bully asked for security to bring the fan backstage leading to a confrontation. According to both sides of the story, Bully talked down to him before telling him to go be a fan. The story would lead to many fans mocking ROH for harassing the few fans that still show up to events.

1 CM Punk yelling at Kevin Owens for wanting to wrestle in a t-shirt

Kevin Owens getting his start in Ring of Honor led to one of the more surreal experiences of his career. Upon agreeing with the promoter to not wrestle in a t-shirt like his preferred look, CM Punk made a comment before his match about looking professional.

Following a disappointing match, Owens made a comment to Punk about the t-shirt. Punk responded by yelling at him in front of the locker room according to Owens. Punk's status as the face of the company allowed him to deliver harsh rants to those wrestlers he deemed deserved it.

NEXT: 10 Best Promos Of CM Punk's Career

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