EXCLUSIVE: ROH Ambassador Cary Silkin on Finding Out About Hall of Fame Nod
The Ring of Honor Hall of Fame Class of 2022 grew by one this past week, as the company announced that former owner and long-time ambassador Cary Silkin would be the recipient of the first ROH Hall of Fame Legacy Award.
Speaking to Bodyslam’s Code of Honor Podcast this week, Silkin mentioned that the company caught him by surprise with the honor.
Silkin told Bodyslam’s Kylie Fuller and Kyle Sparks that he was contacted by Delirious and asked if he could head up to Baltimore to appear on an episode of Ring of Honor television wrapping up the Hall of Fame Class of 2021.
“I had a feeling something was up, when three weeks ago, Delirious, our behind-the-scenes guy, asked me to come to Baltimore, which is like a 3-hour ride for me, because they were doing the final Hall of Fame episode, so it was like a wrap-up. So he was saying, ‘Cary, we want you there with Ian, put in some thoughts, because you were there with the Briscoes and Samoa Joe and CM Punk and Bryan.’ So knowing that I’m not the most savvy promo, or announcing guy, I had a feeling that maybe they’re gonna have an award for me, but I sort of forgot about it. I don’t know if you saw the show where it got presented, it was last week’s show, I just watched it today, and it was fun, and when we were doing these little takes, the Briscoes first, Punk, then at the end, I sort of forgot about it. This was cool, it’s the wrestlers, you know, whatever. But when they did the surprise award, it was very emotional, it was very sweet, and it was just very nice. And I’m happy to be part of that inaugural Hall of Fame group.”
Cary Silkin, to Code of Honor Podcast
Silkin became, as he describes it, a silent partner in ROH in mid-2002, and purchased the company outright in 2004. Silkin owned the company until the sale to Sinclair Broadcast Group was finalized in 2011 after what he describes as 15 months of negotiation and effort to get a deal done. He remained with the company in an ambassador role. During his tenure, ROH established pay-per-view, signed a TV deal with HDNet, expanded to a global promotion, running shows in the Canada, England, and Japan, and appeared in feature film “The Wrestler,” with the climactic final scene taking place at an ROH show in Dover, NJ in March of 2008.
See the full interview with Cary Silkin on Code of Honor Podcast below, available on the BodyslamNet YouTube channel.
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Follow Kyle Sparks on Twitter at @kyleksparks.
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