Greg Gilleland is the “General Manager” of Ring of Honor.  Not sure what his duties are, as that’s usually a sports-franchise term in this regard.  Yet, he’s apparently part of the talent acquisition and development of ROH.  He spoke with CBS New York recently and revealed that despite losing, basically all of AEW’s top talents, that he believes 2019 will see more of the current growth by the Sinclair Broadcast owned brand.

He’s quoted as saying;

I think, if you look at the past five years, each year has been a growth year. I don’t think 2019 is any different.  All those guys leaving had been something that was rumored about and talked about, either behind the scenes or even by some media outlets, for a significant amount of time. So, I wouldn’t say that it caught us by surprise.

If you look at some of our new signings, you can see that we had been planning in case of such a thing. We’re excited to be moving forward. We’re excited with the talent that we have. We’re excited for Madison Square Garden. We’re excited for the things that we have planned beyond Madison Square Garden, and relationships that we have with all of our partners.

What he’s failing to acknowledge though is the talent he’s brought in, Rush, PCO, Bandido and others – combined – aren’t on the same level as Cody Rhodes is as a draw.  Not only that, but ROH has had issues retaining talent for years now; losing the likes of Mike Bennett, Kyle O’Reily, Moose, The Young Bucks, Keith Lee and others.

Their partnership with NJPW, and the western emergence of that brand is the sole reason they’re still where they are.  Let’s be real, the AEW talent that was in ROH and the allure of NPJW sold out Madison Square Garden; not ROH.

So no, I don’t believe at all they can sustain or even keep growing when your two top guys are Jay Lethal, who’s very good, and Dalton Castle.  Castle, by the way, hasn’t made any ways on the ROH in recent months, has been injured and is being pursued by other companies.  Keep in mind that Marty Scurll is likely to leave ROH soon as well, more than likely to land in AEW, and ROH’s hesitance to work with other promotions beyond NJPW, and this could very easily be the year the ROH-bubble bursts.

In Other News…

Cain Velasquez will not be joining the WWE anytime soon, if ever.  MMA Fighting is reporting that Velasquez signed a new deal with the UFC prior to agreeing to fight Francis Ngannou, for four fights.  He’s set to make his return after nearly three years off against Ngannou this upcoming Sunday, the 17th.  The reason this is important to note, is that he’s interested in pro wrestling.  Telling people at the Fight Night Phoenix media event that;

I am (interested in doing pro wrestling) just because the transition for me…it was pretty easy, not pretty easy…but it was. I’m pretty athletic for a big guy, I learned by watching somebody doing something I can do pretty well. I’ve never been a guy to be sitting in a classroom, I try to learn that way. That’s never been me, but to be in a setting like that…where you’re hands on, learning that way is the best way I learn. I did it all, I was there and I did whatever they asked of me. (I wasn’t like) ‘no, no I’m not doing that.’ That wasn’t me, I was in there doing everything they asked. Trying to learn the baby steps and go from there and also have fun in the process, Diamond Dallas Page was there doing his DDP Yoga before every workout session that we did and it was great. Again, everybody meeting up to do that and before, everybody worked out…it was just a great community to be a part of.

In Total Divas News, yup, Sonya Deville has been added to the cast, replacing Lana.  Lana found herself on the outs after it was revealed to her the shows core demographic didn’t like her.  This also leads into rumors that Ronda Rousey could be added to the show as well, as the crew was seen filming on her farm.  It could easily just be a rumor or just a visit from Natalya, whom Rousey is close with.  Either way it’s expected now that Rousey will be on the show, in some form.

Quick Hits – Tom Lawler and Low Ki are gong to have a cage match at MLW’s Intimidation Games, in a MLW Title rematch on March 2nd, 2019.  According to Dave Meltzer, Sasha Banks has been formally cleared to return to in ring action just in time for the Elimination Chamber event.