The end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017 — along with being the Road to WrestleMania — is going to be a major free agent season in pro wrestling, likely the kind we haven’t seen since WCW folded. With WWE seemingly snapping up any wrestler they can get their hands on (leading people like Kenny Omega to think we might be headed toward a monopoly), and TNA under new management and with their new direction and roster still to be determined, we might see a whole ass-ton (technical term) of wrestlers heading to WWE soon.
But it looks like one of the people who won’t be reporting to the Performance Center any time soon is former Ring of Honor World Champion Jay Lethal. Lethal, who had a lengthy tenure in TNA before returning to ROH in 2011, had gone on the record in several interviews over the past year that he’d be interested in going to WWE before his career is over. At certain points in the past, there have also been reports indicating WWE might have mutual interest in him.
But according to Sean Radican at the PW Torch, Lethal has opted to re-sign with ROH. The new deal is reportedly an exclusive, two-year contract. Lethal joins The Young Bucks in re-upping with ROH rather than heading to new environs.
Other ROH contracts that will be up at the end of 2016 or early in 2017 include those of Adam Cole and current ROH World Champion Kyle O’Reilly, so keep your peepers peeled. Cole is almost certainly going to head to WWE, and it’s possible that some other ROH talents could join him. We might be seeing some Bobby Fish in a big pond.
