Yesterday, I was shocked to learn that Sal Hamaoui has parted ways with Ring of Honor. Hamaoui is the owner of Full Impact Pro and Riot Pro Wrestling in Florida and the World Wrestling Network; the company that produced, edited, and duplicated the DVDs for Ring of Honor, Dave Prazak’s Shimmer Women’s Wrestling, and various other independents, including his own FIP. Now it seems that relationship has been severed.

Exclusive: One source close to the situation which chose to have their name omitted claimed that somebody within Full Impact Pro described it as, and I quote, “I saw the iceberg”, an obvious indication that the World Wrestling Network believes what a lot people believe about the future of ROH – that there is no future. Another source also informed me that it has been talked about internally that several talents from DG USA would work FIP shows in the near-future. Whether this is influence from current DG USA/former FIP booker Gabe Sapolski or Lenny Leonard, I simply cannot say, but as a fan of FIP I can tell you that I loved when they brought in Dragon Gate stars in the past and will love it once they bring them back.

Hamaoui opened Full Impact Pro in 2003 and ran various spot shows in the Florida area. At the time, the booking was primarily done by pro wrestler Jaison Moore and the majority of the talents used were top FL independent names such as Ralph Mosca and former ECW main eventers such as Mike Awesome and New Jack.

In late 2003, ROH and the WWN came to a mutual agreement. Hamaoui seeked to grow FIP and insert the fresh faces of the independents at the time (CM Punk, Homicide, etc) into the company while ROH simultaneously needed a more focused effort to quicker release DVDs; the company’s primary revenue source. Gabe Sapolski, the then-booker of ROH, was appointed booker of FIP and maintained that spot until late 2008 when he was fired from ROH.

In 2004, a lot of fans saw FIP as a sort of “ROH developmental”, which it halfway was, and did not give it the proper respect. Around 2006, FIP’s storyline booking and ability to bring in major names increased tenfold and the product became one of the hottest indies around, even surpassing Ring of Honor once or twice in terms of creativity.

Hamaoui was one of ROH’s unsung heroes. He was one of the hardest working agents behind the scenes in getting the DVDs edited, produced, and manufactured from his studio here in Largo, Florida. The turnaround on ROH releases increased drastically, even at the sacrifice of Sal’s own FIP DVDs. Hamaoui also helped to promote the Florida ROH shows, including the WrestleMania weekend shows from 2008 which many people (including our own Alan4L) believe may be the best shows in company history.

Since September of 2004, ROH and FIP have swapped talent back and forth. Gabe used FIP as a proving ground for stars like Erick Stevens, Kenny King, and Shingo, who are now ROH regulars. They also co-promoted and were seen as sister promotions. I am unsure of the future between the companies at this point but one can assume that they won’t work together again. Regardless, even contracted ROH wrestlers are allowed to work independents as long as it isn’t television, so fear not, Roderick Strong, Rhett Titus, and FIP Champ Davey Richards will still be around most likely.

According to Mike Johnson, ROH has stated that they will be doing the editing process from an “in-house” studio in the northeast as opposed to Largo. As for the announce team, I am unsure of how this will work, as Dave Prazak has a vested interest in Shimmer, who still works with WWN for DVD distribution, and Lenny Leonard works for ROH, DG USA, AND FIP (and is respected in all three). Plus, neither live in the northeast.

Is this another piece of the crumbling pie that is ROH or is this a good sign for the company to make itself independent?

As with all things – time will tell.

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