Silas Young talks about learning of the news concerning Ring of Honor going on hiatus and being excited to hit the independent circuit.
Ring of Honor’s impending hiatus has shocked many in the world of wrestling. Following this year's Final Battle pay-per-view, Ring of Honor will be taking a break for the first quarter of 2022 to re-imagine what the promotion can be. This decision means that many Ring of Honor mainstays will be free agents for the first time in a long time.
One such name is Silas Young. “The Last Real Man” has been a staple of Ring of Honor for half of the last decade and now, he is looking back on his time and Ring of Honor and looking forward to the future in a new interview with Sean Ross Sapp.
Speaking about his time in Ring of Honor, Silas would say that he is lucky to have been with ROH during the pandemic as the promotion never cut a single talent for budgetary purposes during that time. However, he would say that he did not enjoy having to spend the majority of time at home and that he considered 2020 to be a rough year overall.
“I was definitely lucky to be with Ring of Honor at the time, they hadn't cut any guys. Well, at that time, they hadn't cut any guys. Everyone was still getting paid. Granted, what happened a couple of weeks ago was completely different. In 2020, guys on the Indies didn't have the opportunity to go anywhere else to work. Hell they didn't even have the opportunity to get a side job to work. You were just kind of screwed. I was fortunate in getting paid, but sitting at home all the time was a killer. I like being busy and productive. 2020 was no good for me.“
Silas, like many others in Ring of Honor, learned of the impending hiatus while on a zoom call where it was explained what the next step the company would be taking and why they would be taking that step. Ultimately, he would say that he is not happy about the news but enjoyed being given some heads up in order to make decisions about his future with more time.
“I found out like everyone else, we were all in a Zoom call and we all found out together. Honestly, there is part of you that is like, 'what the hell am I gonna do?' Part of you worries about everything, 'am I gonna be able to get a job somewhere else? Is there going to be work for me?' You worry about your friends who are in the same boat. I definitely wasn't happy to hear the news, but after the fact and talking to a couple of friends, we talked about the fact that if it had to happen, it's better to happen now than last year where there really was no opportunity to go out and work. Also getting a little bit of notice. For instance, my contract was up at the end of this year, so getting a couple of months notice and being like, 'we are going to go under but we're giving you a couple of months notice so maybe you can try and start booking things,' which I've been doing good. I have a somewhat decent schedule coming up here and to have a little bit of time where you're getting a couple of paychecks coming in is nice. It sucks and is a crappy situation but if it had to happen, I'm glad it happened like this.”
Ring of Honor had completed one final set of tapings following the news and Silas describes the mood at the tapings as solemn although the talent was still grateful for all of the opportunities and everyone still worked their hardest to put on a great show.
“That was the general consensus of working there; it was great. The tapings were a lot more down, kind of solemn mood. It's hard to come in there and be...it's not that everybody didn't want to work hard, everyone still worked their ass off, I think it was just for a lot of guys like myself, who has been there for nine years, it was the end of an era. It was a real low-key feeling in the locker room last time.”
As for the future, Silas is looking forward to getting back on the independent circuit as he says he's been exclusive to Ring of Honor for the last half-decade and he is looking forward to working with new talent and seeing what the future brings.
“There definitely is (work). After the last couple of years with COVID closing things down and even before that, being exclusive to Ring of Honor and not being able to do Indies for the last five or six years, I'm excited to get back on the Independent scene and getting to work with a bunch of new and young talent, guys I have never worked with before. The fact that there is so much Indie wrestling out there, I'm excited to see what these next couple years bring.”
Before any of that, Ring of Honor still has to get through Final Battle 2021 on December 11. Fightful will have live coverage of the event. However, Silas Young is in action this Friday at AAW Windy City Classic on November 26. It's available on FITE.
