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| Thanks, Jim Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein |
According to Ari Berenstein on Twitter, Ring of Honor has demoted Jim Cornette from head of their creative department and reinstalled Hunter Johnston, known better as the wrestler Delirious, in the role he held before Sinclair Broadcasting Group took over the company. Rumors had been swirling around Sunday, but now the news is official. Ring of Honor had been struggling to find its creative footing, and many people, including the clandestine group of wrestlers behind the @Wrestling_Truth Twitter account, placed the blame squarely on Cornette's shoulders. On that merit alone, the move is good in the vein of addition by subtraction.
The initial thought would be that Johnston didn't light the world on fire during his tenure, but a closer look would suggest a reputation a bit kinder than remembered. A lot of the Kevin Steen vs. El Generico feud happened under his watch, so that's a major positive for him. He was also behind Roderick Strong's heel turn that made him the most interesting he's ever been in ROH, and he had the stones to strap Eddie Edwards in a legitimate surprise. It could also be argued that a lot of his shortcomings in terms of the personnel department had to be done for reasons beyond his control. The buzz coming out of Saturday night's event in Rahway seems to bode well for him to start.
Still, he's walking into a very delicate situation. Sinclair, despite the fact that it's doing the bare minimum to promote ROH, is going to be expecting big things from Johnston, and I'm not sure he can deliver to their expectation. It won't be his fault either. Big things only happen in wrestling with game-changing ideas. Johnston can be solid, and I think that he can at least get back some of the creative verve that made ROH pretty darn good, even in the waning days of Adam Pearce's tenure as head booker. I'm just afraid he's being set up to fail.
As for Cornette, I'd like to say good riddance, but he's staying on with "input." I don't like that because he's probably going to find a way to get his grimy hands in the pot and make sure that Mike Mondo keeps getting high-profile matches. I don't like to take wish anyone losing their job in this environment, but Cornette clearly isn't good at his job anymore and was doing more to hurt ROH than to promote it. It goes to show that it's not just the big corporate entities that fall into the trap of rehashing guys who don't have it in them to lead their companies. I'd say the only person who has proven he can do well repeatedly has been Paul Heyman, and he's currently spoken for right now. ROH has always been at its best when pressing forward, not living in the past. Here's hoping that Johnston can at least have the good sense to at least try to innovate again and keep Cornette's influence to a minimum.
