WWE News: Backstage Update On Which Ring Of Honor Stars Are Headed To WWE & Which Are Staying Put

Back in November, we reported that the WWE was planning to raid the Ring of Honor roster in an initiative led by Triple H. The Game has been eyeing an expansion for the NXT brand, and as promotions around the globe continue to rise in popularity, the WWE continues to fortify its attempt at global domination.

Ring of Honor has arguably ascended to the second-most successful wrestling company in the United States due to recent uncertainty surrounding TNA. But Triple H and other WWE officials were zeroing in on their talent because a vast majority of their contracts were set to expire on the final day of 2016. WWE was offering more money to the Ring of Honor talents they’ve pinpointed while maintaining a realistic budget and pay scale in the NXT brand. It’s expected that most of, if not all of the talent they’re able to pry away would first report to the NXT brand.

Notable Ring of Honor alumni who have competed in, or do compete in the WWE currently include Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong and others. Owens and Styles are the top champions of their respective brands on the main roster, Joe is awaiting a promotion any day, and Strong is the most recent signing after earning the nickname “Mr. ROH” during his 13-year run with Ring of Honor.

The WWE was in pursuit of several ROH stars when the calendar turned to 2017, but they were unsuccessful in their goal of signing top targets, Nick and Matt Jackson, who comprise The Young Bucks tag team. The Young Bucks recently agreed to a two-year deal to stay with Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling, as did Jay Lethal, another target of the WWE.

We previously indicated that ROH officials were planning to retain as many performers as they could, realizing, however, that they wouldn’t be able to match every offer the WWE made. One example of that was Steve Corino, who was pried away to work as a trainer at the WWE Performance Center. His deal expired in December, and the word is that ROH did not try to match the offer from WWE because they knew they had to save funds to attempt to re-sign a number of other wrestlers. Corino is also being used by the WWE to help recruit other Ring of Honor stars.

In a further update to the story, Wrestling Inc is reporting that news has developed on six other ROH stars in the last week and a half. Kyle O’Reilly lost the ROH World Title to Adam Cole at Wrestle Kingdom 11 last week, as he declined to sign an extension with ROH before the show. Officials are now expecting him to leave for the WWE shortly. Cole also appears WWE-bound, but he isn’t able to negotiate a deal until his current contract expires in May.

@njpw1972 was a huge success. I've left my mark on @ringofhonor…it's time to do the same in Japan. #AdamColeBayBay #BulletClub #DreamTeam pic.twitter.com/Epq1XAYlv0

— Adam Cole (@AdamColePro) January 6, 2017

Expectations are that Ray Rowe will also be making his way to the WWE soon. O’Reilly and Rowe should be reporting to NXT once their medical testing is completed. However, Ring of Honor did manage to retain three of their other top current stars in Christopher Daniels, Bobby Fish, and Hangman Page. It’s unknown whether Daniels or Page were testing the waters, but Fish did have an offer on the table from the WWE.

There has been a lot of talk recently surrounding The Hardy Boyz, whose contracts are set to expire with TNA in February or March. Though the WWE is interested, the word is that both have enjoyed the creative control they’ve received over their characters, and the WWE wouldn’t allow as much of it. Ring of Honor would, however, so their situation is certainly worth following.

[Featured Image by WWE]