News broke today that indie star PCO, the former WWE Superstar in the midst of a hughly successful comeback on the indies, had signed with Ring of Honor going into 2019, and Ring of Honor isn’t stopping there. With the expected departure of The Elite (Cody Rhodes, Young Bucks, and Hangman Page) come the new year, and the loss of ROH stars like Punishment Martinez and War Machine this year, Ring of Honor is looking to revamp their lineup going into the new year. They recently signed one of the hottest indie stars of the year, Jeff Cobb, to a deal – winning the ROH Television Championship early on – and recently re-signed ROH World Champion Jay Lethal to a new deal. “The Villain” Marty Scurll is the only member of The Elite to re-sign with ROH, although it’s believed to be a short extension through April 2019.
PWInsider has reported that one of the indies biggest monsters, Brody King, has signed with Ring of Honor and will be finishing up his indie commitments before heading exclusively to ROH for January. He’s already finished up with Major League Wrestling, much like PCO and much like PCO, could make his debut as early as the December TV tapings for Final Battle Fallout. King’s signing with ROH has been rumored for a short while, and his recent pairing with Marty Scurll in a new faction called Villain Enterprises would be a smooth transition into ROH for King, who only debuted on the indie scene in 2015. The lead vocalist in metal band God’s Hate entered the world of pro wrestling through the West Coast scene three years ago, and has emerged as one of the scene’s best big men, with a style reminiscent of Bruiser Brody, with such promotions as Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), Bar Wrestling, MLW, EVOLVE, and many more.
Silas Young, who had been rumored to start with NXT in January, closed down those reports this week, saying instead he had chosen to re-sign with Ring of Honor, the company he’s been with the past five years. In an interview with PWInsider, Young told them “(t)here’s been a lot of news going around. A lot of rumors and whatnot about my future here in wrestling. My contract here with Ring of Honor expires at the end of this year, 2018. Like I said, there’s a lot of rumors about WWE. I’ve even had people coming up to me months ago saying, ‘Hey I hear you are leaving to WWE. I hear you are leaving.’ It’s always great from my perspective or any of the wrestling talents’ perspective to have there be interest in you, you know? In saying that,” he continued, “it’s good to have people talking about you when it comes to contract time. I think anyone can figure out why. With all that being said, I have decided that after five years with Ring of Honor, five years of them investing in me, I have decided I’m going to sign a three-year contract with them.” Silas also stated that a big part of his decision not to sign with the WWE was the relocation to Orlando, as he owns a ranch in Wyoming and has a 10-year old son.
The recent signings of Brody King and PCO, as well as Jeff Cobb earlier, adds to a busy free agent signing frenzy with major indies in the past month or so, that has seen IMPACT Wrestling add Jordynne Grace and Dezmond Xavier’s Rascalz teammates Zachary Wentz and Trey Miguel, as well as MLW recently announcing the signing of Dragon Lee and DJ Z. WWE is also still in signing mode, having reportedly signed WALTER, Shane Strickland and Trevor Lee for their January class of recruits.
