Cary Silkin Reveals His "All-Time Favorite Match" From Ring Of Honor

Cary Silkin recently spoke with Talk Is Jericho and he reflected on how wrestlers would leave the company. Silkin admitted that it was not a problem because as one person moved on, another ended up taking their spot.

"What I learned and what I saw happen right before my eyes, and you've seen it 1,000 times. It elevated other guys," Silkin admitted. "It opened up space for other guys so this way the Jamie Noble's, the Austin Aries, the Seth Rollins and the Kevin Steens/Owens and the El Generico/Sami Zayns and the Eddie Edwards, and we can go on and on. It opened up spots."

When it came to losing talent, the ones Cary Silkin felt made an impact were Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness. However, he was quick to bring in other people to cover empty spots as a band-aid for the situation.

"Both Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness were leaving. I'm like, 'what the hell are we going to do?' I called Cornette, who just got fired from Impact or quit, one of the two," he recalled. "I had Jim come to New York as a surprise, I also had Homicide, I had him come back to that show as a surprise. It was sort of like a magic trick. As bad it was to lose Bryan and Nigel, when they saw Cornette and the way that he was presented, when they saw Homicide and the way that he was presented, it put a band-aid on it."

Cary Silkin then revealed that Ring Of Honor did provide insurance for top talent. He thinks that they were the only place that was doing that for an 18 month period within professional wrestling. However, this was just for the top-tier names.

"I think we were the only company, I think it might have been a 12 or 16, or 18 month period of time that provided insurance. It wasn't all of them but the big names," Silkin said about the situation. "We had an insurance policy in the office."

The Ring Of Honor Ambassador also spoke about how WWE would watch the product regularly. He talked about how Vince McMahon cherry-picked talent from their roster when they were kicking ass, which happened regularly.

"WWE, even more than TNA, was watching us and watching these guys and cherry-picking along the way. There's Tyler Black, Seth Rollins really kicking ass, well, they're calling him. It went on, and on, and on," he said. "Then here comes Adam Cole and here comes Kyle O'Reilly, and this one and that one."

The top stars in Ring Of Honor were penned to contracts throughout their careers. Cary Silkin talked about the deals that they had and what they entailed.

"The top name guys, the Seth Rollins' were under contracts. And the rules of the contracts were you could do anything you want except go to WWE, go to TNA, and you can't do any of the few independent PPVs that exist at the time. But, along the way a guy like, let's just say Nigel in 2006. 'Hey man, I got an offer to go to a tryout, WWE, they want to look at me.' I was like, 'go, go ahead,'" he said. "If these guys got an opportunity, it's not like they'd just jump and run. But if they got an opportunity, I would allow them to explore it."

Cary Silkin has been involved with the product in one form or another since its inception. During that time he has witnessed a lot of great matches. However, his favorite ever match was between Samoa Joe and Kenta Kobashi.

"I'll tell you the greatest match and if you've never seen it, watch it. Samoa Joe against Kobashi in New York City. It was our first New York City show," Silkin recalled. "Samoa Joe was sitting behind the curtain, not in the locker room, for like two hours. Kobashi didn't even show up to the building. If the match started at 10:30, he showed up at like 9:45 and they just went out and they did it. It's an absolute classic, that would be my all-time favorite match."

Another great match that he talked about took place in England between Nigel McGuinness and Bryan Danielson. Silkin stated that they would do anything for the sport as he also discussed the Englishman's career overall.

"Nigel McGuinness, it's just a shame he didn't have a longer career. Him and Bryan Danielson used to have these wars," he said. "There's a classic match from Liverpool where these guys are headbutting each other like billy goats. These are two guys that can wrestle, but they're going to do anything for the sport, and that comes to mind."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.