Entry tags:

child predators, douchebags, wrestling

Ending My 4 Year Boycot of ROH (Ring of Honor) Wrestling

Rob Feinstein Fleeing NBC10

On March 3^rd, 2004, the owner and operator of RF Video & Ring of Honor (ROH), Rob Feinstein, was caught in a Perverted-Justice.com internet sting designed to catch internet child predators. He initiated and engaged in an adult-themed conversation with a person he believed to be a 14 year-old boy. Throughout the conversation, Rob Feinstein repeatedly acknowledged the subjects minor status, and concerns he would get in trouble. The conversations lead up to Rob making plans to meet the child, and him showing up to an NBC10 (based in PA) media bust.Click for chat transcript - Click for video from NBC 10 broadcast
Although Rob Feinstein managed to avoid any charges, due to the unwillingness of the local prosecutors office to do their job, it rocked the reputation of both RF Video and Ring of Honor wrestling. I was immediately involved in the follow-up for the Rob Feinstein bust, and joined a number of people boycotting both products until Rob Feinstein was removed. I got rid of a considerable number of wrestling tapes, and wrote many letters to industry insiders and performers to discontinue working with Rob Feinstein. This actually garnered a lot of support, as wrestling is very-much a family-friendly business, and many performers have young children.

Shortly after the media bust, Gabe Sapolosky and Rob Feinstein announced that Feinstein would "step down" as president of both RF Video and Ring of Honor. However, this was just a

Rob Feinstein as "Fun Athletic Guy"

ruse. For months, Gabe Sapolosky and Feinstein's lawyer Jeffrey First blew a whole lot of smoke to cover up the fact that Rob Feinstein was still 100% owner of both entities. They flat-out lied to many in the industry, and many people just accepted it. Still, some dedicated people saw through the ruse, and continued to apply pressure.

The biggest source of pressure was NWA-TNA (Jeff Jarrett & Dixie Carter - now collectively known simply as TNA Wrestling), who prohibited their contracted talent from working ROH shows (including A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, Homicide, Ron Killings, Low-Ki/Senshi, Alex Shelley, and more). NWA-TNA insisted that before the ban would be lifted, the so-called "new" executive owners all had to sign an affidavit that swore that Rob Feinstein was in no way involved in Ring of Honor... Of course, ROH "executives" balked, because Feinstein remained the 100% owner - and the fake execs were all just a smokescreen (Sapolosky didn't have a dime to his name, despite being the alleged new president of the company).

It was during all this nonsense, where ROH intentionally lied to wrestling fans and industry insiders to cover up that child predator Rob Feinstein was still in charge, that I decided to boycott Ring of Honor until Feinstein was genuinely terminated, and continue my boycott for some time. It wasn't until the end of June 2004, particularly under the weight of NWA-TNA's ban, that ROH officially parted ways with Rob Feinstein and RF Video. By then, I was up to my eyeballs in bullcrap from Feinstein, Sapolosky, Jeff First, ROH zealots, and a handful of pedophile supporters... That's when I decided I would continue to boycott Ring of Honor for a minimum of 2 years.

Too bad I can hold a grudge much MUCH longer than 2 years...

A full 4 years after my initial boycott of ROH, I've finally decided that this March 3 - on the dark anniversary of Rob Feinstein's bust - I will end my boycott of Ring of Honor. And, I can say, it hasn't been an easy boycott for me. ROH has had some of the best matches and talent in the entire North American wrestling industry for the last 3+ years. I would still catch the occasional clip of a match on YouTube tribute videos, featuring the likes of Samoa Joe, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, Roderick Strong, Austin Aries, Kenta Kobayashi, and more. Most of the time, even little 10 second clips of these performers were out-performing most of WWEs product. The rise-to-mainstream of TNA Wrestling helped a lot, as I could at least regularly watch many other top performers and ROH acquisitions. Still, it hurt knowing I was missing out on a lot of good wrestling action. That just shows you how much more contempt I have for child predators and liars, than love for anything else (with the exception of pets).

Although my busy schedule will prevent me from getting too deeply immersed in ROH, any time soon, at least I can start picking up a few DVDs to watch at my leisure. There's over 4 years of matches for me to catch up on.