Gabe Sapolsky comments on losing Samoa Joe, Colt Cabana, Homicide

ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky was asked about losing several of the promotion’s top wrestlers in 2007 in a feature story by Slam Sports. “It was really hard on a personal level because I enjoyed working with those guys,” Sapolsky said. “Samoa Joe is a friend of mine and we always joked around and had fun in the locker room...

“We had a number of new players come in. Some of them are young and working their way up and some are right on the verge of stardom an just needed that opportunity. When those top guys leave it creates that opportunity, and really freshens things up. As a booker it’s nice to have new talent come in that I can push and build up, and that for me was the most personally satisfying.” The article identifies Joe, Christopher Daniels, Homicide, Colt Cabana, Matt Sydal, and Austin Aries as wrestlers who left the company last year.

Powell’s POV: It’s easy to forget how much talent ROH lost in 2007. Of course, Aries returned to ROH when his relationship with TNA fell apart. Even so, it’s absolutely amazing that ROH rebounded from these major talent losses so quickly. That’s a testament to both Sapolsky’s booking and the talent who stepped up and took those spots. This is a good, long article and features more quotes from Gabe on Takeshi Morishima, Nigel McGuiness, and the working relationship with Japanese promotions. If you’re an ROH fan, I highly recommend this article.