Joe Koff says it’s all about controlling what you can control and Ring Of Honor did a great job of taking care of talent during the pandemic.
The Ring Of Honor COO recently spoke with Kenny Herzog on his new podcast, Outside Interference with Kenny Herzog, and shared some details about ROH’s voluntary shut down and restart during the pandemic. In regards to initially shutting down in March, Koff says the current pandemic is about what you can control and while they could have run tapings somewhere else, they made a good decision by waiting and they had good results at the most recent tapings in Baltimore last month.
“I think this whole COVID pandemic is really about controlling what you can control. And there were so many different ways we could have wrestled. We could have wrestled in Florida where the other two major promotions wrestle, where there seems to be no real rules. The governor says, you know, just be careful.”
Koff added that they knew the risks involved with starting back up again but things went well in Baltimore, noting that they took great care of talent before and at the tapings.
“If there were more than three positive tests, we were going to shut it down. We knew the risks. Fortunately, everybody was good. Everyone was healthy. Everyone took care of themselves. And I think that’s because we took care of our talent [during the shutdown], so they weren’t forced to do other things to maintain whatever lifestyle we provided them. [The taping] was one match at a time, cleaned the entire ring, changed the mats.”
Recently, ROH star Flip Gordon came under fire for his social media posts that downplayed the effects COVID-19 is having on the world. In regards to his skepticism, Koff said Flip took part in their tapings and followed the proper protocols so he could work, but he’s not going to focus on what’s going on in the social media bubble.
“That’s one person tweeting whatever he’s tweeting. Flip understood what he needed to do to be part of the taping or not to be part of the taping, and that will continue. I’m not going to be influenced by the Twitter world or what people say or don’t say. We’ll do the right thing based on proper protocols and governance and common sense.”
The latest episode of Outside Interference features the full interview with Joe Koff, as well as Herzog’s take on the Mysterio family, MLW’s restart, IMPACT’s resurgence and much more. New episodes premiere every other Tuesday on the MLW Radio Network.
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