ROH Fires Adam Pierce as Head Booker

[Thriller Ant]

The Wrestling Observer is reporting that Ring of Honor has fired Adam Pearce as head booker of the company, and he has been replaced by Hunter Johnson, who is known in ROH as Delirious. We were the first to report several weeks ago that Delirious was offered a tryout match with TNA, however it appears as if he's staying with ROH for the time being. It's also being reported that Adam Pearce was recently offered a TNA tryout match, however he turned it down. Pearce was fired by Ring of Honor owner Cary Silken.

Source

This is kind of surprising to me. ROH has been a roll, the likes of which we haven't seen from them in a few years. There are really only two reasons for this to happen that would make sense, unless there is something we don't know about. Either they see Tyler Black and possibly Roderick Strong leaving, plus Davey talking about potentially retiring, and they want to completely start fresh.

The other explanation is that they are using the booking job to keep Delirious/Hunter Johnson in ROH. He had a tryout match in TNA, and apparently TNA really likes him. Even though I'm not a fan, Delirious is over in ROH and is an over-the-top character in a company that doesn't really have any over-the-top characters.

Neither of those, of course, account for any issues behind the scenes or Pierce making the NWA a priority over this job. So, how big of a deal is this for ROH? Will Delirious do a good job? Should we be worried about where the company will go from here?

 

[Josefien]

I was pretty surprised by this decision as well and I don't get it at all. I always thought ROH valued Adam Pearce for what he was. Of course he was criticised by many, but he really wasn't that bad, was he? After reading your possible explanations, I might understand it a little more. But not really.

In all seriousness, there might be stuff going on we don't know about, I also heard Adam Pearce was doing more booking in the NWA. Maybe he'll even be more of an on-air talent in ROH (I wish, but it's unlikely).

I'm not exactly worried about ROH's direction just yet. While I'm not thrilled with Pearce's firing, I'm sure Delirious will do a good job. He's been in the business long enough and he has booking experience through his own league, PWR. I hope they didn't give him the job as a booker just to make him stay with Ring of Honor though, that'd really piss me off.

Furthermore, I read that he's supposed to be booking in close collaboration with Jim Cornette. Before anyone starts complaining, we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

 

[Deexter Jorgan]

I see reason for this as three fold:

Pierce knew that this job was temporary.

He has stated in many interviews that he wasn't actually booking, just filtering ideas through different points of contact, he was never there full time to talk to any of the talent and plan the television tapings.

Dave Lagana was also added to the creative team and may have been the reason for the progression of storyllines such as the bloody battle between the kings of wrestling and the Brisco's.

Thirdly Delirious was on the cusp of joining TNA, he is already the head of Ring Of Honor's school and they need to do all they can to keep him and by adding the title of booker will allow delirious to gain a sizable pay increase.

Now, if I was Cary Silkin I would do whatever I can to keep my investment from runing to two of the bigger promotions, TNA isn't the WWE but they need to put an offer on the table that could at least beat TNA's pay per appearence deal and with this offer they can keep one of their bigger stars from leaving the company.

Pearce's main focus is his own career not Ring Of Honor so what's the point of playing chinese whispers with creative, when they can use homegrown talent to push the company into a new direction and remember Delirious isn't on his own they still have Dave Lagana helping the company compete on Television.

 

[Josefien]

Okay, guys. Adam Pearce released an official statement:

Spoiler

Oil and water don’t mix.

Cary Silkin gave me the chance to live a lifelong dream two years ago, and I will forever be grateful to him for having the faith in me to give me that opportunity. I’ve never had a better boss, probably never will, and I’m glad to be able to call him my friend. I’ve certainly never met a more generous person, and I wish him personally nothing but the prosperity that I believe he deserves.

Ring of Honor has always represented to me what the “future” of professional wrestling could be, and it is my sincere hope that through the continued tremendous partnership with HDNet that that “future” may one day be realized.

I have never been more proud to be part of a locker room, and I want to publicly thank each and every member of the ROH roster, contracted and otherwise, for working so hard with me to make this year a huge creative success. You all allowed me to grow into a position that I was unqualified for, stayed with me every step of the way – low and high, and at the end of the day made the stories in my head come to life better than anyone else ever could have. You are the most creative and hardest working locker room in the industry, and you all deserve more than what is available to you now. I’m happy to have spoken to all of you in the last 24 hours or so, and I terribly wish that I was going to be with you all at TV this weekend.

I want to publicly acknowledge and applaud the efforts of David Lagana, who in my opinion deserves more credit and praise for his contributions to the company than he has ever received, and it is my hope that he continues to work with HDNet to produce the television product that he and I have worked so hard on since it began. I give thanks to Adam Swift and Andrew Simon at HDNet for their network support during my tenure, as well as to Scott Ferrier and Andy Edwards - the unknown magicians that make our TV world go ‘round. Thanks to all of our camera and lighting crews and everyone else that brought ROH to the television stage. I will always appreciate the hard work you’ve done and what you’ve all made possible for me.

So many people deserve thanks now that this chapter of my life has come to an end. Guys like Chris Maurer for all of his work on the creative end of things. His written word helped to bring my stories to life, and his hard work in so many of the ‘not-so-glamorous’ areas of the company need to be acknowledged. Bobby Cruise is more important to the ROH production than anyone really knows and I thank him for being my ‘right hand man’. Wayne Fitzgerald and Mary Gage deserve credit for their stalwart efforts, making the music and lights do what we need. Thank you both.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t publicly thank Jimmy Cornette for being the best mentor I could have ever asked for, and an even better friend. If any man could have upstaged me and went over my head to do things his way, it was him, but to his credit he NEVER once did. He stood by me and allowed me to be the boss, for better or worse, and I’ll always remember that. I hope he can be the same for Delirious, who now finds himself in that very scary and exciting spot. I wish them both nothing but the best; I’m sure we’ll cross paths again.

I’ve loved nearly every single second of my time with Ring of Honor, regardless of the capacity. Perhaps one day I’ll be back again. But if not, I am humbled and appreciate all that my time in the company has taught and afforded me.

The wrestling in Ring of Honor always has been (and in my opinion, always will be) second to none, and if/when the end truly does come for the company, the wrestling won’t be the reason why. The way I see it there are two sides to the Ring of Honor coin: The ‘creative/in-ring’ side, and the ‘business’ side.

The ‘water’ and the ‘oil’.

No matter how long and no matter whom does the stirring, they don’t ever seem to truly mix the right way.

It's pretty long and honestly, a lot of it is blah blah but obviously his water/oil-creative/business comparison sticks out. Storylines that he or others may have looked at as entertaining just didn't bring in the money and sales figures. I won't say the numbers lie because they don't, and it's just a fact the business is declining for ROH. There's another interesting thing I read though:

Update on yesterday’s story about Ring of Honor changing the direction of their booking with the departure of Adam Pearce. Apparently ROH management has been unhappy that Pearce’s inability to create new stars, in addition to poor business numbers. The promotion was not satisfied with recent advances. Dave Meltzer reports that Delirious with handle the booking duties, with the assistance of Jim Cornette.

Source here.

The business numbers get brought up again, but in addition to that... seriously? His inability to create new stars? Can any of you explain that to me?
I think that, from 2008 till now, many 'new stars' have stepped up to the plate, made it to a higher level, and are now regarded as superstars.

 

[The Bearded One]

This shocked me because ROH has been on fire this year. Pretty much everything about it has been great and a blast to watch. I've liked Pearce's time booking the shows, even though I question how much he actually booked. I've read that Austin Aries of all people used to make sure the Friday shows ran smoothly when Pearce couldn't make it. I'm not sure how much truth that holds, but still I find it interesting. Also, how much influence has Jim Cornette had over the booking process since he joined? If I were a betting man, I'd bet he's had a good amount of influence. Delirious seems to be a company man, and as long as he doesn't book himself to win the championship next week, I don't see what it could hurt.