ROH x PCW is no more: A Postmortem

The two year relationship between Ring of Honor and Preston City Wrestling has come to an end. Marking Out looks at the reasons behind the breakdown and what comes next for both parties.

In November of 2014, the city of Preston bore witness to the first Supershow of Honor weekender. Steven Fludder’s Preston City Wrestling played host to one of North America’s most popular wrestling promotions and both sides went all out to make the shows memorable. And memorable they were, with their success leading to a second joint weekender one year later. In November 2016, however, there will be no such collaboration. The third annual Supershow of Honor weekender that we touched upon in our previous look at this November’s wrestling climate will not be taking place. The relationship between the two promotions has come to an end and bloody hell, PCW have bounced back in style.

“Bloody hell” indeed.

Not one, but three promotions will be making landfall in PCW’s backyard for this year’s November weekender. Two of them — wXw and CZW — are no strangers to British shores. The arrival of the USA’s Beyond Wrestling however comes as a huge curveball, and throws this revamped World Triangle League in an entirely different direction. With the shows billed as the “Wrestling World Championships”, PCW have made a major statement that they’re not to be overlooked amidst a massive month for wrestling in the United Kingdom. Two eight-man single elimination tournaments — in openweight and cruiserweight classes — will be the main event of the massive weekender, and no side is pulling any punches with the talent they’ve selected to take part.

Representing the home team will be Rampage Brown, Dave Mastiff, Martin Kirby and Bubblegum. The four Preston City stalwarts are worthy adversaries for those coming in from overseas: Jurn Simmons, Da Mack and Axel Dieter Jr. from wXw (with one openweight name TBA); Keith Lee and Chris Dickinson (openweight), Tracy Williams and AR Fox (cruiserweight) from Beyond, with CZW bringing Joey Janela and Dave Crist (openweight) along with Desmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz (cruiserweight). A lot of UK and European debuts are on the cards, and there’s nothing to suggest just yet that these are the only names set to appear.

But what of Ring of Honor? The Sinclair-backed promotion don’t come off looking too great from PCW’s break-up letter, but this is far from a snap decision for the British indie. The last year is littered with a laundry list of signs that the relationship may not be running as smoothly as it had done in the past, and this decoupling has been predicted by numerous outlets since ROH announced their own Reach to the Sky tour to take place very close to the Supershow of Honor weekender, even in one case running against PCW in the same city. In fact, it seems to be this latter point that came as the final straw at this time, but the Ring of Honor office’s inability to sufficiently return any attempts at contact made by the PCW team appears to be a running theme in recent months.

ROH could have had the UK invasion before others even considered it…

Fludder is unabashed in his explanation of how exactly the relationship has come to an end. Unable to justify “$15,000 of PCW money towards flights and visas” is an understandable complaint when your partners running against you in the same city on the same night. CagesideSeats’ Keith Harris was quick to condemn this move back in July, though it seems to have been an even more detrimental decision than was realised back then, with Fludder citing a “negative effect on the draw of the following weekend (November 25th & 26th) events too… reflected by poor ticket sales as of late”. Despite past claims that PCW had wanted Ring of Honor talent to remain exclusive to their shows when in the UK, it’s difficult not to feel sympathy for the British independent. Especially while speaking of frustration on the wrestlers’ end “when told by ROH that PCW talent is wanted to be used on shows and given intended dates but it never happened”. Dave Mastiff, Bubblegum, El Ligero, Martin Kirby and Lionheart are listed as examples of names Steven Fludder is at a loss to understand ROH’s lack of interest in, claiming “ROH could have had the UK invasion before others even considered it”.

The issues surrounding the PCW Cruiserweight Championship would prove another roadblock to the relationship as 2016 went on. Fludder claims to have been “promised that Adam Cole would wear it on ROH branded shows (including TV) in the USA” after he won it on the first day of last year’s Supershow of Honor weekender. That weekender, however, would be Cole’s final appearances for PCW and the title would never appear on Ring of Honor programming. ROH, it would appear, viewed themselves as above such things. This stance, it would appear, has cost them a very loyal partner within a market they are clearly intent on tapping into further. The Reach for the Sky tour and the signing of Marty Scurll are clear statements of intent from Ring of Honor but what seems to be a borderline arrogant attitude towards their existing ties to the British scene is questionable to say the least.

Ring of Honor’s loss would appear to be four promotions’ gain. With Cole stripped of PCW’s Cruiserweight Title back in June, the British company are free to embrace their new friendship circle. And what a circle it is. wXw make their first return to Britain since last year’s More Than Wrestling tour stopped off in Tonbridge eighteen months ago. CZW are back on this side of the Atlantic for the first time since a Southside weekender back in October 2014. That month also saw the final instalment of the wXw/CZW/BJW World Triangle League, an annual event which may hold a lot of parallels to what this new partnership has in store.

The dark horse in all this is Beyond Wrestling. The Rhode Island promotion has played a big part in opening American talent such as Donovan Dijak, Biff Busick, JT Dunn and more to a wider audience and giving them a gateway to various successes elsewhere. Their quartet of tournament entrants include some of the most fastest rising stars in US indie wrestling today, and one of the country’s most underrated big lads in Keith Lee. They are a worthy member of this new independent quadrumvirate, and while Beyond teams up with other American promotions like EVOLVE and the WWNLive network along with New York’s House of Glory in their home country, they’re on the brink of making a big splash in front of a whole new audience.

In the end, Ring of Honor’s attempt to Reach for the Sky may prove to be the grandest irony, as their failure to keep up appearances with their British former partners may allow PCW along with three other fantastic independent promotions to do just that.

Two years ago, the first Supershow of Honor weekender became the biggest announcement Preston City Wrestling had ever made. The relationship breakdown between themselves and Ring of Honor, however, may have given Steven Fludder’s promotion the chance to surpass even that. They’re not without stiff competition for wrestling fans’ money this November, but once the inaugural Wrestling World Championships is said and done, it’s unlikely that any company involved will be looking back.