Prior to Ring of Honor going on hiatus, The Bouncers, Beerꊫ City Bruisers and Brawler Milonas, have been steadily climbing through the ROH tag team division and are looking to one day become champions.
With a professional wrestling landscape that is growing rapidly and continuing to introduce new philosophies and promotions that are changing the way pro wrestling has been done for several decades, The Bouncers have chosen to remain loyal to Ring of Honor and now, they are explaining whê§y.
In a new interview with Fightfulâs Sean Ross Sađpp recorded before ROH's hiatus, both the Bruiser and the Brawler explain why they have so mđuch gratitude for the way that Ring of Honor treated them throughout the pandemic and discussed a 2019 talent meeting that led to changes within the promotion.
Fightful: Iâve heard from several wrestlers about this meeting. It was basically a talent meeting where they brought in a bunch of you guys to the headquarters and they said, âWhat do you want us to change? How do you want us to get better?â They put a bunch of stuff up on a whiteboard and from what I heard; they changed a ton of stuff. That had to instill confidence in the roster that they were looking at things and going, âHow can we get better?â and asking their creative minds of the roster how do they do it? What do you remember about that?
BeeêŠr City Bruiser: I remember it was really cool because we all had a voice. We all got to speak. It literally went around the room and discuss your feelings and stuff like that. It was really cool to be heard. There was, right at first, that little trepidation. Like, âAre they going to listen to us, or is it just a thing to keep morale up?â Then slowly we started seeing the changes that were on that white board change. Then it was like, âOh, they are listening to us.â It was cool because some of the stuff that came upâand Iâm not talking little, little thingsâmajor things were changing. It was really cool and it made me proud to work for a company like that. Because theyâre listening to the talent. Theyâre listening to the guys that are out there and are putting their bodies oê§n the line and stuff like that. Theyâre listening to us to make it easier for us. I think thatâs why when the pandemic hit and we had another big town hall meeting like that over Zoom, we were all able to speak what we felt going into the pandemic. Because when the pandemic started none of us knew what was going to happen. We didnât know anything going on. The company is willing to listen to us. Because we had done that first meeting and they had listened to us, going into the pandemic it was really cool because we know, âHey, youâre gonna hear our voices. Youâre gonna listen to us. Youâre at least going to consider what weâre feeling right now.â I appreciate working for a company that listens to its employees and wants us to be better. Because they know if weâre better behind the scenes, on camera weâre going to be better.â
Brawler Milonas: âYeah, and itâs great to feel like you have a voice. I think the ironic thing of it all, some of the stuff that was out thereâand I donât want to rehash negative stuffâbut itâs like, weâre all guys at Ring of Honor, weâre a lot of guys that just cut our teeth on the indies. So we werenât used to some of the perks and the things that a company like WWE provides and does. Ring of Honor was already dođing a lot for us that they donât get credit for. There are certain expenses on the road that if you worked for a place like WWE, itâs coming out of your pocket. Where Ring of Honor takes care of certain things like that. So thereâs so much the companyâs already doing for us and to have that voice for them to want to make it better, just maàčde it solidified even more what I already believed.â
Fightful: âThroughout the pandemic, I heard nothing but great things about how ROH treated their talent. Not just their talent, [but] talent they werenât even obligated to treat well and they had on per appearance that they paid for those appearances that they had scheduled as well.
Brawler Milonas: âYeah. They did things they didnât have to do. Me and Brđ¶uiser were under contract, but we were working per night. I donât think a lot of people even realized that about us at that point and we didnât miss a paycheck. We did not miss a paycheck and the paychecks kept rolling in week after week when they didnât have to. They were under no obligation. I think thereâs so many peopđ€Ąle that have that same story. They didnât cut anybody. They didnât release anybody. They didnât cut production staff or anything like that. Ring of Honor took care of everybody.â
Beer City Bruiser: âWe did a reset and the reset was one of the best things that happened to the company. I remember being in Vegas. Brian was getting on his plane when they canceled everything. So Brian wasnât in Vegas, but I was in Vegas. I remember landing in Atlanta for my layover and everything was cool, and then landing in Vegas and thatâs when the e-mails and the text messages came out of everything getting canceled. You have that worry like, âOkay, whatâs going to happen?â I remember them sending a request that âIf youâre in Vegas, meeting tomorrow morning at this time at Samâs Town. If youâre not in Vegas, stay home.â We discussed what was going on. They discussed some empty arena matches just to see what the feel was like. Mandy Leon stepped up and she organized a thing for everyone that was in Vegas, for all of us to get together and go out on the town and forget about whatâs going to be happening. âLetâs just focus on being together right now, the few of us that are here, and letâs have a good time.â She went above and beyond to do thatđ§. It was awesome. When the pandemic hit and they did the reset, like Brian said, we were per night guys. My number one worry is wrestling is my job. Thatâs how I make my money. Obviously, thereâs no wrestling going on anywhere. It was like, âHow am I going to support my family?â I have daughters getting ready to go into college. I have bills and all that.
"Ring of Honor said, âDonât worry. Weâre gonna take care of you guys. Help us put up content, weâll take care of you.â So Brian and I created Happy Hour. Never missed a paycheck. Never. If we had any concerns, theyâd call us once a week and check in on us mentally, which employers didnât do at the time. Theyâd call,đ âHey, how are you guys doing? Are you holding up?â It was awesome. Then when they did the reset and the production came out, we werenât on the Pure tournament, obviously, because Brian hadnât yet made a switch to Pure, but we got to see it on TV aând it made us excited because, âMan, look at this. This is awesome. The video bar, the new ring set-up. This is gonna be great when we get back to work.â
Brawler Milonas: âYou know this, Sean, youâve been covering this industry for a while. This is a cold business. This is a hard business. This is one where companies and people and individuals make hard decisions and decisions that affect bottom line and I think Ring of Honor deserves a ton of credit for doing the right things. Because it would have been easy for them to say, âHey, look. We gotta cut, we gotta cut, we gotta cut,â like some other places were doing. I donât think people realize, Ring of Honor is owned by a large corporation. So the set-up is while Ring of Honor isnât this giant wrestling company, itâs big, but itâs not on the scale of a WWE from a number of employees standpoint. Thereâs still finances and things like that impact us that impact everybody. They chose to do these things they didnât have to. I thinꊫkâ they just deserve so much more credit for that.â
You can check out Fightful's coverage and review of ROH's Final Battle 2021, the final ROH event before theirêŠ hiatus.
