Charlie Haas Talks Picking ROH Over TNA, WWE Dropping "Wrestling" From Name & More
ROH Tag Team Champion Charlie Haas was on Busted Open this week to promote the ROH shows in Dearborn, MI and Toronto, Ontario, Canada this weekend. Here are some excerpts:
Why he and Shelton Benjamin picked ROH: "We just wanted to take a look at one, where our styles are appreciated... which is wrestling. We're not in the entertainment business, we're not wrestlers trying to be actors. We grew up wrestling, we grew up amateur wrestling, we grew up being fans of professional wrestling and that's our passion. You look at the other organizations that are out there... now they (WWE) want to drop the name wrestling from their company, one is not sure what mode they're going in right now (TNA), so Ring of Honor... I think a lot had to do with Jim Cornette. We worked with Jim back in OVW. If anyone knows anything about wrestling it would be him, especially when he is putting a show together. He knows how to put it together, he does it the old fashioned way. You book your PPVs and you work backwards... it's a formula that's been around forever. Some people like to try to reinvent the wheel and that's why you see its such a mix up in different organizations.
"And another thing is that every championship in Ring of Honor means something. You don't have 100 guys on the roster and they're only gonna use 10 and the rest are going to sit in the back and hope to get noticed. If you're not being used, you're not on that roster. They have a smaller budget and that's the way they gotta work so you gotta stay on top of your game every match, every internet PPV, so they don't look to replace you. And that's something that we like because we thrive off of competition. But when he (Cornette) said he wanted to put us back together and really help out the tag team division which we got there, we were really excited about it... my whole thing is the tag team division didn't need much help because every tag team in that division in my opinion is one of the greatest tag teams in the world today. There's not a better tag team division in the world than Ring of Honor's right now."
How different would things be if he and Shelton picked TNA over ROH? "We've talked TNA on and off. We just feel that ROH is in a good place right now. There's gonna be some really big things coming up. It's all about being in the right place at the right time. We feel that's where we are. We love working for ROH... I just think that is the right place for us.
"I just don't think they (TNA) protects their tag team division as well. When I mean not protect them... they keep them on TV to keep their faces out there and their names out there but they're not running a program around their tag team title. They have in the past but all of a sudden, they quit doing it. I thought the matches with Motor City Machine Guns and Beer Money were great but Alex Shelley gets hurt and they kind of just drop it. I know Ink Inc. had a little run with Beer Money but they're not doing anything to elevate those titles or mean anything. If you're not gonna run storylines around those championships and you're not going to keep building teams and make people watch it, those titles are going to mean nothing and you can see that at WWE."
On WWE dropping 'wrestling' from its name: "They're in the entertainment business. They want to be an entertainment company. If the formula isn't broke, why try to fix it. For you to say you're not gonna wrestle, what are you going to do, a dog and pony show? Maybe he (Vince) is getting a little senile in his old age. I don't understand it either. It is what it is. I don't work for him. I'm glad I don't work for him. I stay in touch with a lot of guys up there and it's just one of those deals you're still walking on eggshells. You want to keep your head down, chin up, and just want to fly under that radar so you get paid. You just hope you get noticed and get used. It's a shame that they just want to eliminate the word wrestling. That's something that his grandfather, his dad helped establish, and for them to change it... only he would know. Only he would give you the answer."
You can listed to Busted Open Mondays and Wednesdays, 2-4 PM ET on Sirius 92, XM 207.
Source: Busted Open