TK O'Ryan is going to bat for ROH.
On Friday night, TK O'Ryan sounded off on Twitter on some of the criticism ROH has been under in recent weeks. While the issues weren't specific in which he addressed, Fightful reached out to gain some clarity on his personal situation, and his feelings about the reception to ROH of late.
"You just have to understand the frustration. I mean RoH was around before The Elite, before AJ, before anybody. People now want to act like nearly 20 years of progressing wrestling to the point it is at now suddenly means nothing?," said O'Ryan.
To provide context, Women of Honor Champion Kelly Klein has been dealing with concussion issues, and was informed this week that Ring of Honor would not be renewing her contract. The move created significant buzz and had wrestlers in and out of ROH talking.
Fightful has spoken to numerous members of the Ring of Honor roster, many of which sympathize with the situation Kelly Klein has been in, but are still happy with the company. We specifically heard of some who prefer the schedule and have passed up deals with other companies to stay with ROH and plan to when the year is up.
O'Ryan himself was sidelined with a concussion months ago, and hasn't wrestled since then. He clarified that he was the person that brought the concussion up to management himself. O'Ryan says he was then told that he'd be out of action until he received medical clearance.
"I was concussed a few months ago in a match. When I woke up on Monday morning I felt really in rough shape. I made one phone call and then was sidelined as per my request because I knew I needed some time. I knew I was concussed as soon as the match was over. Nothing egregious happened it was just an accident. When I brought it up that I was hurt I got an immediate response," said O'Ryan. "Ring of Honor has been wonderful in checking in on me and making sure that I was ok. I'm not anti-Kelly or anti-Joey (Mercury). I am pro-RoH. Thats an important distinction. No one really needs to go after her. A person can stand by what they believe in without condemning someone else. I feel like any adult can understand that. Experiences may vary. I will leave it at that,"
A few weeks ago after Mercury's public criticisms of ROH took center stage, O'Ryan posted a Facebook update, stating his loyalty to the company he works for. When speaking with us, he doubled down on that and provided more of his feelings that lef to it.
That was not directed at anyone in particular and I put that out before the real nasty twitter stuff started happening. That picture and my comment was 100% directed at Ring of Honor fans that were jumping ship because of perceived negativity. To me, the strength of RoH is the insane fan base that we have. And to see people suddenly turn on the company over a few PRIVATE texts and emails that were leaked? Unacceptable to me. The truth is that wrestlers make an actual living through that company these days. No person or company is perfect, but that doesn’t mean that the place needs to be torn down with pitchforks by people that have no idea how many lives are being hurt by the mob mentality," said O'Ryan.
O'Ryan closed by saying that he considers Ring of Honor one big family, and mentioned that it hurts ROH as a family when one of them gets hurt or moves on to other career opportunities.
Fightful will continue to monitor the story and reach out to those associated with and close to the company for more information.
Photo Credit: Ring of Honor Wrestling.
