Various: Deonna Purrazzo ROH Status Update, Gabe Sapolsky Apologizes for Past ROH Commentary Work, Indies

Impact Wrestling

Mar 26, 2022

Tony Khan & Impact Wrestling in Talks Over Deonna Purrazzo’s ROH Status

A recent episode of the Strong Style podcast had AEW CEO Tony Khan as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Khan stating that he has been in recent talks with Impact Wrestling over the status of Deonna Purrazzo for Ring of Honor and their upcoming Supercard of Honor XV event.

“When Deonna won the Ring of Honor Women’s Title and they booked that match, I did not have an agreement in place to buy Ring of Honor yet and was not booking the matches. It’s not necessarily, with [IMPACT] having a show the night of our pay-per-view, I don’t know how it’s going to work out. Scott (D’Amore) and I are still talking about that. I completely respect their position, they have an event that night too. I question the wisdom, at the time, maybe of doing a match where there is a possibility of someone taking the belt from another company that is running a show the very same night. We’ll see how that shakes out. I would love to have Deonna in Ring of Honor and it’d be great if she could come and defend the title and we can work it out because I think they have their own show that night. I don’t want to put her in a tough position where she has to wrestle twice in the span of a few hours, but it could happen. Scott and I are still talking about how it could work.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Gabe Sapolsky Apologizes for Controversial Issues Over His Past ROH Commentary Work

Former Ring of Honor co-founder Gabe Sapolsky recently issued an official statement on Twitter apologizing for all controversial issues he may have caused from his past commentary work in the company. Sapolsky also asked current ROH owner Tony Khan to edit out his commentary from past ROH shows if possible.

“Since I see classic Ring Of Honor is getting more attention I want to take a moment and apologize for my “in character” commentary. I’ll start by saying I fired myself from commentary as soon as we found a suitable replacement.
It was another era back then. It might be hard to believe but it was hard to find decent commentators who would work the hours we did. We used to do commentary on 2 shows staying up all night on a weeknight in Tampa, FL. Budget was also a concern & I wanted to save Cary $
At the time, ROH was just a growing indie. It’s not like people were clamoring to stay up till 5am to do voiceovers in a living room in Tampa. We went through various commentators and eventually I didn’t cost any extra money as I was there anyway to edit/produce.
I also knew the storylines, directions & characters. Thankfully, we eventually found Lenny Leonard, who lived in the area, and Dave Prazak. We booked Prazak in FIP and combined the expenses to fly him in. They were a great team & still are. They gave us stability.
My commentary skills ranged from bad to embarrassing to deplorable. There were times I tried to do a Howard Stern influenced character (big in the early 2000s) & had an ECW influence. I apologize for anyone having to hear it now.
As you can see from years of EVOLVE, my values and standards changed to being much more family friendly without trying to be “edgy” in a 90s style.
Can someone please ask Tony Khan to see if he can edit out my commentary or at least the worst parts of it. I’m not sure if that’s possible. Maybe he has the original master tapes. I don’t know. I hope my commentary doesn’t ruin people’s enjoyment of classic ROH. Thank you
For the record, I don’t know Tony Khan and have never talked to him. However, I know a lot of people who do know him so feel free to pass on the message —

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

During a recent interview with Fightful Select, Davey Richards revealed that he recently signed a long–term extension contract to remain in Major League Wrestling for at least Summer or Fall of 2024.

Sinclair Broadcast Group reportedly are currently releasing all of their remaining Ring of Honor employees still under contract with them, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that this does not include people who were transferred to another department in the company. Among those recently released reportedly included Hunter “Delirious” Johnston” who had ran ROH’s wrestling school and was their head booker.

Impact Wrestling recently announced that this year’s Under Siege event will be taking place on May 7th at the Promowest Pavilion at Ovation in Newport, Kentucky.

Impact Wrestling also recently announced two new matches for the card of their Multiverse of Matches event on April 1st in Garland, Texas:

Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Championship match – Tasha Steelz & Savannah Evans vs. Gisele Shaw & Lady Frost vs. Decay (Havok & Rosemary) vs. The Influence (Tenille Dashwood & Madison Rayne) (c)
Chelsea Green & Matt Cardona vs. Mickie James & Nick Aldis

WrestleCon recently announced a new match for the card of their Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow 2022 event on March 31st in Dallas: