Joey Mercury goes on Twitter tirade after being released from ROH

Joey Mercury goes off on Ring of Honor and its general manager Greg Gilleland after his departure from the company as ROH heads towards their last four big shows of the year.

Ring of Honor has had another bad week.

On Thursday, Joey Mercury’s release from Ring of Honor was made public. Hours later, Mercury apparently went on an electronic diatribe on Twitter, lambasting ROH General Manager, Greg Gilleland.

Mercury implied that certain Ring of Honor talents, including Bandido, Shane Taylor and PJ Black, are soon to be out the door once their contracts expire in coming months for various reasons. He also complained that Gilleland has been negligent with talent regarding injuries, and pointed out three recent instances where he felt that the Gilleland didn’t provide adequate care to those in immediate need.

Former Women of Honor champion, Kelly Klein, has spoken up on Twitter in defense of Mercury, as well as former ROH wrestler and producer BJ Whitmer, among others in the industry. Neither Ring of Honor, Sinclair Broadcasting nor Gilleland himself have commented publicly on the situation.

Onwards and (hopefully) upwards

As the company struggles to retain their fanbase after eroding much of it in April at G1 Supercard, and over the summer with more disastrous PR at a card in Portland, Oregon, ROH heads into the home stretch of this year’s live event calendar. The Experience, which took place on Friday, is the show where fans reportedly were able to vote on the matches and stipulations. As of this time, online voting for the Experience is closed; poll results were never released on ROH’s website, either.

On Saturday, ROH holds its first Unauthorized event, a special one-off card in Columbus, Ohio featuring CMLL’s Ultimo Guerrero against Jonathan Gresham, and ROH alumnus Dan Maff, who returns after 14 years away from Ring of Honor to face PCO.

It has become clear that to fans that there is a serious mismanagement problem within ROH. With only four more shows to go in 2019 — two shows in Texas have been rescheduled due to an “operational conflict” — ROH must try to win back the fanbase they ran off at G1 Supercard earlier this year.

The company will have money, and quite a bit of it next year, because of the advertising revenue the company will receive from Sinclair Broadcasting’s recent acquisitions, but for how long will it matter with an eroded fanbase, particular if it is managed the way that Mercury has alleged.