Cary Silkin has revealed that Ring of Honor attempted to re-sign both CM Punk and Bryan Danielson before they joined AEW.
Prior to joining WWE and subsequently AEW, Bryan Danielson and CM Punk made their names in Ring of Honor. The pair established themselves as two of the very best in the world during their respective stints with the company.
Fast-forward to 2020 and all three parties were in very different places. CM Punk hadn’t wrestled since 2014 when he left WWE in explosive circumstances. Bryan Danielson was with WWE enjoying a second chance at a career he thought had been ended through injury and Ring of Honor were no longer the company they had been a decade or so previously.
However, former ROH owner Cary Silkin has now revealed that Ring of Honor made attempts to re-sign both men. Speaking to Wrestling Inc’s Nick Hausman, Silkin explained that feelers were sent out just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Then in 2020, pre-pandemic, when he was out of wrestling, Sinclair, when they were still trying to grow this was … And I don’t remember if it was before the first All Out, All In or after, might have been after that. Sinclair was trying to lure CM Punk or Bryan Danielson or both.”
Silkin added that he was personally involved in attempting to reach out to CM Punk.
“I said to Joe [Koff], ‘I know Punk.’ I said I could reach out to him and I did. I called him up. I didn’t text him and he was in L.A. doing something and maybe some kind of film work and I gave him Greg’s number and vice versa, or Joe’s number and nothing ever happened.”
Ring of Honor closed it’s doors for a number of months during the pandemic before tapings began again in August. However, by late 2021 it was announced that the company was going on hiatus. It was eventually purchased by AEW President Tony Khan.