The Kelly Klein situation with Ring of Honor has had a lot of fallout, and ended up with Fightful Select learning of several plans for their division in 2018 and 2019.
Though the Women of Honor Championship went between Sumie Sakai and Kelly Klein in 2018, originally one of the champions in the interim was supposed to be either Kelly or Deonna Purrazzo winning it from Sakai, according to several people familiar with the booking plans. Depending on who you talk to, Kelly Klein was either supposed to win the title back at Final Battle last year, or lose it to Deonna after a feud. This didn't end up happening as Purrazzo signed with WWE.
However, several in the company were frustrated with Purrazzo's second round exit from the championship tournament, as those in charge said that Klein vs. Purrazzo in the finals was "too predictable," and they wanted to switch things up. Among the plans mentioned was Purrazzo working as a babyface to battle Klein, who would ridicule her early exit from the tourney.
In addition, we're told that AEW star Britt Baker had about a half-dozen dates remaining with Ring of Honor, but they were cut when she signed with All Elite Wrestling. The word backstage was that Joe Koff specifically told members of ROH staff that the company didn't feel like they owed Baker anything as it related to keeping their dates. Others had to go to bat for Baker in order to get her a five minute match with Kelly Klein, when she arrived at a venue unaware that the dates had been cut and she'd been removed from the show.
As mentioned on Fightful Select, the initial offerings for Women of Honor talent was $12,000 a year at this point -- the start of 2018, which were said to be non negotiable. This was later bumped to $20,000. There were multiple women who say they tried to explain to the ROH office how women's matches took off on the company's digital platforms, as they tried to get more screen time. Prior to the $12,000 number, the base rate for non-exclusive, non-contracted talent was $150 for male or female talent, and lower at times for enhancement talent or one-offs.
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