David Starr On ROH Going Dark During Coronavirus Pandemic: "Credit Where Credit Is Due"
While WWE and AEW have decided that "the show must go on" during the coronavirus pandemic, others have gone dark. That includes ROH which is where David Starr competed in for a couple of years.
Starr talked about ROH's decision to cancel all events when he joined The Wrestling Inc Daily podcast.
"That's great. The way I feel about Sinclair Broadcasting and people like Joe Koff ? I haven't made it a secret that I'm not a big fan but I'll give credit where credit is due. That's awesome. There obviously is motive behind that because Sinclair doesn't care that much about ROH and they use it mostly as a tax write-off," stated Starr.
"So, it is easier for them to make that decision because they don't care that much about it and the contracts given to wrestlers are drops in the bucket for Sinclair. Regardless of the motivation, it still is the best thing to do. Good job Ring of Honor. Kudos."
He added that WWE and AEW shouldn't be doing shows. He said it would be so good if they pulled their shows to show actual care for their talent's health and safety.
"This whole supposed competition between them is billionaire company vs. billionaire company. Who's gonna have the best pretend fighting show on TV? Who cares? But if it gets into a competition of who's gonna treat the workers best? then this is a win. AEW has a chance to put a lot of pressure on WWE by pulling their shows first. I hope they do that," said Starr.
"They can't be the ones who follow and they have to say, 'You know what? This is too much and we're not doing it anymore.' They would put so much pressure on WWE. It's the same thing with all of their benefits. The fact that AEW has given a bunch of people health insurance is great. But you haven't given it to everybody so you're essentially picking. Just get everybody covered and that puts so much pressure on WWE to do the same thing."
Some indie wrestlers, like Suge D, have elected to accept opportunities to perform for bigger companies despite everything that's going on. They cite that they believe it would be good for their career and Starr talked about wrestlers almost having no choice but to accepting these offers.
"Obviously, it's not the best to have matches with no one there. It's weird and can feel awkward sometimes. Of course, the people in the back are able to make an evaluation on a match but it's really hard to gauge what they would see if there's no actual interactive audience," stated Starr. "That's unfortunate and it does suck if you're that talent and you don't feel comfortable traveling, are you guaranteed a tryout to be seen when we're done with all of this?"
Because of situations like this, Starr has encouraged wrestlers to join Equity so they have some security and leverage within their careers. He added that most talent have no safety net because they are afraid to say "no."
"If you're offered a tryout that's been booked for a while and there's no fans there and you don't feel comfortable traveling, if I say 'no' then am I still gonna get this tryout later? Or am I next in line from other people who have all said 'no'? Am I breaking a chain and making them look bad? We all have to stay together and stay inside. It is just that. No one can go out and it has to be government-mandated," said Starr.
He then mentioned how Japan began to run shows with fans and the virus flared up again. Starr said that the talent is risking their health and safety in order to get a shot.
Follow David Starr on Twitter @TheProductDS. Starr's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.