ROH Blocks The Briscoe Brothers From Signing With WWE

[Poop Master Flex]

I understand both sides of the story.

If the Briscoes did get offered and ROH blocked them then if I was the Briscoes I would be right upset. When there contract ends its very possible WWE will no longer be interested in them and they could very well lose their 1 and only shot making it to the big time because of ROH.

I know ROH would want to keep their top talent from a business point of view but I don't think its a good idea for ROH to do that. If I was Jay and Mark I would probably be very resentful against ROH for doing that. They not only possibly screwed with their careers but they also screwed with their bank book as there is no way ROH could pay the Briscoes as much as WWE did.

I think its a bad idea on ROH's part because it could have a definite backlash with other talent. Frankly it might make other talent not want to sign contracts and work on a per appearance basis because they don't know if ROH will pull the same thing with them.

If I was ROH I would be happy for the Briscoes, let them get their opportunity in the WWE and see what happens. It keeps a relationship open with WWE and in the long run could very well help them instead of hurting them.

 

[yoshi_doce2006]

WWE would eventually split them up and destroy their characters. The only one I remember they didnt do that to was Punk. I wouldn't want to work for WWE.

 

[Headman]

The Briscoes knew what sort of payment they were getting when they inked that deal with ROH. Where I come from, you hold your end on any deal you make or you don't make the deal in the first place. The Briscoes have been around for quite some time, so they have been able to make a living wage on the indy circuit.

ROH is a business and The Briscoes are an attraction of theirs. It would be a ******ed move for them to give up one of their draws to their competition. ROH can't "block" somebody from signing with another company, but they can force their talent to honor their side of the agreement.

And for the record, there are plenty of indy wrestlers who would still sign with ROH even if ROH flat out tells them they wont release them from their contract to go to their competition.

No indy wrestler with aspirations of going to the WWE would sign. It wouldn't make any sense. Besides, this is how the world works. The WWE would likely compensate Ring of Honor by either buying out their contracts or giving them a finders fee like the did with Jerry Jarrett when he brought them Koslov. As for ROH's star attraction? ROH is it's own attraction. ROHbots won't stop coming to shows because they rewarded two of their longest tenured stars with a chance to make a real living. It also goes against what Joe Koff said only last year. Was he lying? That's not good for business either to start promising guys you'll release them if WWE comes knocking and then take that back a year later. All this talk from supposed Ring of Honor fans, but I was a fan long enough to watch Punk, Joe, Spanky, Danials, Danielson and so on all leave the company and ROH didn't miss a beat. It's ethics my friend. It's not good business to paint yourself as the glass ceiling. It's not good business at all.

As for the Briscoes knowing what they were doing when they signed can I just paint you a picture of two undersized, banged up, not particularly good looking tag team wrestlers who wrestle a very indy style and probably never thought they'd be given a chance to sign with WWE in the first place. So they sign a contract with Ring of Honor, a company they've been with their entire careers. And say they do so with the understanding that ROH's position was to allow guys to move on if the chance to make it to the "Big leagues" (their COO's words) arised.

Based on what Koff said, if the Briscoes wanted to push it that far they could probably sue to get out of their contracts.

 

[Trill Co$by]

As for the Briscoes knowing what they were doing when they signed can I just paint you a picture of two undersized, banged up, not particularly good looking tag team wrestlers who wrestle a very indy style and probably never thought they'd be given a chance to sign with WWE in the first place. So they sign a contract with Ring of Honor, a company they've been with their entire careers. And say they do so with the understanding that ROH's position was to allow guys to move on if the chance to make it to the "Big leagues" (their COO's words) arised.

Based on what Koff said, if the Briscoes wanted to push it that far they could probably sue to get out of their contracts.

No, they couldn't sue. Independent contracts in wrestling are generally all the same. Whether verbal or written, what it comes down to is that the company will pay you x Amount of money for you to do y Amount of shows. At that point, when both parties have agreed to said amount of money and shows, everything must be followed. So if Briscoes signed on for a 30 show deal for say 3,000 a piece (and yes, indy stars can get that much) then they have to abide by that agreement.

ROH isn't saying "You can't go to WWE" they're saying "You can't go at this minute while we're still building shows around you." The only reasonable action, would be for WWE to do something similar to Daniel Bryan where they "released him" to allow him to make prior engagements. But even then, if ROH doesn't want to agree to that, they don't have to. Legally they can keep them for the amount of shows they need and then after that, they're free to go. That's how virtually all independent contracts work, not just in wrestling but in every field of work force. If you pay a repairman to fix your home in two weeks, he can't leave at week one to go work on another house while yours is still fucked up.

 

[Trill Co$by]

As for the Briscoes knowing what they were doing when they signed can I just paint you a picture of two undersized, banged up, not particularly good looking tag team wrestlers who wrestle a very indy style and probably never thought they'd be given a chance to sign with WWE in the first place. So they sign a contract with Ring of Honor, a company they've been with their entire careers. And say they do so with the understanding that ROH's position was to allow guys to move on if the chance to make it to the "Big leagues" (their COO's words) arised.

Based on what Koff said, if the Briscoes wanted to push it that far they could probably sue to get out of their contracts.

No, they couldn't sue. Independent contracts in wrestling are generally all the same. Whether verbal or written, what it comes down to is that the company will pay you x Amount of money for you to do y Amount of shows. At that point, when both parties have agreed to said amount of money and shows, everything must be followed. So if Briscoes signed on for a 30 show deal for say 3,000 a piece (and yes, indy stars can get that much) then they have to abide by that agreement.

ROH isn't saying "You can't go to WWE" they're saying "You can't go at this minute while we're still building shows around you." The only reasonable action, would be for WWE to do something similar to Daniel Bryan where they "released him" to allow him to make prior engagements. But even then, if ROH doesn't want to agree to that, they don't have to. Legally they can keep them for the amount of shows they need and then after that, they're free to go. That's how virtually all independent contracts work, not just in wrestling but in every field of work force. If you pay a repairman to fix your home in two weeks, he can't leave at week one to go work on another house while yours is still fucked up.

 

[Xumer]

Like always I think it comes down WWE bias. If the Briscoes were saying they wanted to go to TNA, this thread would be one page tops. The idea behind a contract is very basic and simple and all involved knew what they were doing when they made it. Whatever contract deal they have with ROH, I can promise you is nowhere NEAR the ironclad legal lockdown they'd have to agree to if they signed with WWE. Fact is it has to be this way otherwise you could never run a company. If any of your talent could just pick up and leave at any time, how the hell are you going to run any storylines? Think about the chaos and disappointment when a WWE star in a major storyline gets injured or suspended. It'd be like that all the time if ROH just let their talent come and go so easily.

 

[Headman]

No, they couldn't sue. Independent contracts in wrestling are generally all the same. Whether verbal or written, what it comes down to is that the company will pay you x Amount of money for you to do y Amount of shows. At that point, when both parties have agreed to said amount of money and shows, everything must be followed. So if Briscoes signed on for a 30 show deal for say 3,000 a piece (and yes, indy stars can get that much) then they have to abide by that agreement.

ROH isn't saying "You can't go to WWE" they're saying "You can't go at this minute while we're still building shows around you." The only reasonable action, would be for WWE to do something similar to Daniel Bryan where they "released him" to allow him to make prior engagements. But even then, if ROH doesn't want to agree to that, they don't have to. Legally they can keep them for the amount of shows they need and then after that, they're free to go. That's how virtually all independent contracts work, not just in wrestling but in every field of work force. If you pay a repairman to fix your home in two weeks, he can't leave at week one to go work on another house while yours is still fucked up.

The grounds to sue would be based on whether or not they can successfuly argue that they were lead to believe they could leave ROH if the WWE came calling. Based on their COO's statements last year, it wouldn't be very hard to prove that. They said one thing and did another. I don't know if they'd win, but they do have grounds to take this to court.

Like always I think it comes down WWE bias. If the Briscoes were saying they wanted to go to TNA, this thread would be one page tops. The idea behind a contract is very basic and simple and all involved knew what they were doing when they made it. Whatever contract deal they have with ROH, I can promise you is nowhere NEAR the ironclad legal lockdown they'd have to agree to if they signed with WWE. Fact is it has to be this way otherwise you could never run a company. If any of your talent could just pick up and leave at any time, how the hell are you going to run any storylines? Think about the chaos and disappointment when a WWE star in a major storyline gets injured or suspended. It'd be like that all the time if ROH just let their talent come and go so easily.

It's not WWE bias. Most WWE fans don't give two shits if the Briscoes make it to the WWE or not. I'm honestly shocked the WWE was interested in them to begin with. This is about ROH saying one thing last year and doing another. They said they wouldn't stop talent from going to the WWE because it was "The major leagues". Some of you seem to think a contract is something that can't be broken. That's not true. Contracts are broken and changed all the time. You would think they would make an exception for two guys who aren't getting any younger to finally make a little money in the business. This once again brings us back to business ethics.

 

[Notorious718]

Jay Briscoe tweeted the following the other day:

Just to set shit straight, ROH didnt block us from gettin signed to the WWE. The internet is fucking stupid

Source: https://twitter.com/#!/jaybriscoe84

Take that for what it's worth. I'm not an avid follower of ROH but based on the responses in this thread, I can look at the issue in two ways. On one hand, I can understand ROH not wanting to let go of two of their top talents (assuming that Jay's tweet is false) but I also feel that the talent would resent the officials for doing this sort of thing. Assuming ROH officials are indeed blocking the Briscoes from joining WWE, I would also wonder what their thoughts would be on that. If I was them, I'd be upset but based on Jay's tweet this doesn't seem to be the case. Now I'm not usually one to buy tweets as a reliable source... but then again, I don't usually take internet reports all the seriously either.

 

[Xumer]

Some of you seem to think a contract is something that can't be broken. That's not true. Contracts are broken and changed all the time.

Unless both parties agree, contracts can only be broken or changed under rare circumstances and a written contract always trumps any verbal agreements made during, before, or after. The reason it has to be like that is because otherwise people would just lie and say "Oh he said I could do this and that so the contract is null" and then get out of the contract. If the two parties agree to different terms then the written contract must be amended.

That's the whole point of having a contract. When's the last time you heard of WWE waiving the no compete clause for talent who wants to leave and go somewhere else? When someone signs a contract with WWE, they are STUCK with that contract and the only way out of it is if WWE agrees to do it. I don't know why it would be considered ruthless for other companies to do the same thing.