Road Dogg Explains Why ROH Went Out Of Business In The First Place

Road Dogg worked solo for some time before founding a partner in Billy Gunn. Their partnership clicked with the fans and The New Age Outlaws were born in the process. The rest, as they say, is history.

The former six-time WWE Tag Team Champion recently sat down with WrestleZone for an interview during which he put over the entertainment aspect of the business, noting that AEW’s Gunn Club are doing really well when it comes to entertaining the fans.

“They’re really good. They’re learning how to work. It’s not to get Uncle Dave to give them a five star match, it’s to be entertaining. It’s to entertain people. If you ask me, that’s the name of the game.

“If there was money in wrestling, Tony Khan wouldn’t have had to buy Ring Of Honor back. It would have never gone out of business, because they had great wrestling. But, people wanna be entertained too. You gotta give them a little glitz and glamour. You gotta give them a little carny.”

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He elaborated on his comments, arguing that the most marketable performers in the history of the business had charisma that excelled their in-ring work and made them the stars that audience ended up loving.

“People wanna be entertained. Jamie Dundee said one time ‘There ain’t a dime in wrestling.’ I almost believe that now. [There’s] very few just really good wrestlers. What, you can count five or ten tops? But the ones you know that are most famous were horrible in the ring.

“We can go down the list. I say horrible, I didn’t mean that as everything is hyperbole these days. They just weren’t great workers. They had something other than that that people grabbed on to. They wanted emotional investment into this character, into this talent, into this guy.

“I have to be emotionally invested in him. If I’m not, it doesn’t count. None of it matters, wins, losses, it doesn’t matter. If you don’t make an emotional attachment to the viewing audience or the live event attendee, you may as well pack it up.”

Road Dogg was released from his WWE contract on January 5th, 2022. A ton of Triple H’s friends were fired from NXT, but Shawn Michaels remains. Road Dogg hasn’t appeared on a promotion so far. Billy Gunn is signed to AEW, but the other member of the New Age Outlaws is still a free agent.

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