After the main event of the ROH Glory By Honor event taking place at the Hammerstein Ballroom on September 26th in New York City, a new era in ROH will begin, and a storied era in ROH’s history will end. “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness, both former ROH Champions, will be heading to a bigger pay day in the WWE. After that day, many have written off ROH as to be ”dead”, but in this column, I’m going to show you why ROH will be just fine. No doubt, losing the “best wrestler in the world” in Danielson and someone pretty damn close to the top in McGuinness will be a blow to ROH. No one can deny the fact that when Adam Pearce took over booking duties from the fired Gabe Sapolsky late last year, ROH lost some of it “pizzaz”, there are less focus on highspots, and more focus is put on telling stories. But ROH still is a very entertaining product, putting on fantastic matches regularly, and with these guys I’m about to mention stepping up, I think ROH will be fine in the long run. Danielson has been with ROH since day one, in that small gym in Philly wrestling Low Ki and Chris Daniels in ROH’s first main event. Nigel had one of ROH’s best world title reigns in the company’s 7 year history, lasted for almost a year and a half, and he went all out every title defense, wrestling in Japan, wrestling in Canada, and wrestling in Mexico defending the title. I’m going to analyze the men who are going to benefit from Nigel and Bryan’s absence from the red and black squared circle.

Austin Aries – A Double is the current and only 2 time ROH World Champion in the company’s history, he has always been able to put on great matches, given the right opponent, a great champ can have a good match with just about anybody. Even with him having the World Title, and in ROH, unlike the Big Two, the World Title actually means something, he always took a back seat to the attention to Bryan and Nigel. Back in his first ROH World Title reign, although being a part of the hottest stable in wrestling at the time, Generation Next, he took a back seat to CM Punk who was on his way out of ROH as well, and he was just on fire. Now with Bryan and Nigel on their way out, and really no other distractions in sight, it’s a prime occasion for “The Venemous Vegan” to grab a hold of the spotlight and hold onto it.

Chris Hero – Despite being internationally renowned as one of the best on the indy circuit, Chris has never held the ROH Title. He came into ROH on fire in 2005, in one of the best storylines ROH had at the time, the ROH vs CZW war. He on occasion would be given an ROH Title Shot from ‘05-’09, but he never stayed at the top of the card on a consistent basis. With the 2 top guys gone, and pretty much an open spot waiting to be taken by someone, “That Young Knockout Kid” has the talent, mic skills, and the “it” factor needed to be the next top guy in Ring of Honor.

Colt Cabana – Colt is going to have the right of being the most over guy in the company when AmDrag leaves. Colt is loved by the ROH crowd for not only being a good wrestler to provide some funny moments, but he is also a very good technical wrestler, and he can put on a show. Colt had a very good send off in ROH in 2007 when leaving for the WWE, well when he came back, he picked up where he left off. Of those guys, that will always be loved and welcomed by the ROH crowd, who have been there since the inagural year (Danielson, Punk, Colt, Homicide), Cabana is the only one left with the company. I think with Danielson gone, he is automatically elevated, and appreciated that much more by the Ring of Honor crowd.

Davey Richards – At the most recent Dragon Gate USA PPV taping, when Danielson said bye to the crowd, he notified Richards it was his turn to prove he is the heir apparent to be known as the “best in the world”. Davey is a lightning bolt of passion and just amazing wrestling gifts. He is one half of the American Wolves (with Eddie Edwards), the ROH Tag Team Champions. The second Davey came to ROH, he has put amazing matches with everyone he has faced in the ring. Since his “explosive” debut match against Jimmy Rave to his most recent almost 5 star performance against KENTA in Houston in April. Davey truly is the “best in the world” and with AmDrag leaving that is going to be put in the spotlight and embraced. Davey is going to have that ROH Title within a year, it’s a guarentee.

Jerry Lynn – The former ROH World Champ has been battling an injury lately, but before that he was extremely over with the crowd. This was mainly brought upon because of the similarities he had with Mickey Rourke’s character in “The Wrestler”, Randy “The Ram” Robinson. Nonetheless, he showed he can still tear the house down at the age of 46. Lynn had a great feud with Nigel McGuinness for the ROH Title. When Lynn comes back, don’t expect his age to show, and he’ll be able to have more people to work with, more variety, with Nigel gone.

Tyler Black – Black was in line to get the ROH Title eventually, under Sapolsky’s booking, obviously that was held off with Gabe’s firing. Black is an extremely talented wrestler. His mic work are getting up there, he is a former ROH World Tag Team Champ, and he is one of the top babyfaces in ROH. Oh and did I mention he is only 23 ? He has lit wrestling world on fire with an amazing trilogy of matches with Bryan Daneilson. The sky is the limit for him. With two more obstacles that were blocking his way gone, when he comes back from his minor injury, nothing can stop him from getting that ROH Title.

Tag Team Wrestling – The Briscoes, the hottest tag team in indy wrestling in The Young Bucks, Kevin Steen and El Generico, The American Wolves, Super Smash Brothers, and the various members of the Embassy. There is no lack of talent in this group.

Occasional Wrestlers – Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt, everyone knows what these people are capable of on the mic and in the ring. Katsuhiko Nakajima and KENTA, easily 2 of the top wrestlers in Pro Wrestling NOAH, regularly light the house on fire when they wrestle in ROH, go on Youtube and watch the match Nakajima and KENTA had , and watch if you don’t believe me.

With everything I just said, ask yourself again, is ROH dead ?