Total Nonstop reDRagon

If rumours are to be believed (and they often are) TNA is interested in signing Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish. The pair, known collectively as reDRagon, are best known for their work in Ring of Honor. They’ve been teaming there, and elsewhere, for the last year and a half and have been a reliable, entertaining duo producing good matches and good promos.

Fish and O’Reilly are currently without ROH contracts, leaving us to presume that they’re working on what is colloquially known as a “handshake deal” until they either sign new contracts or lose the company’s tag team titles and move on. This leaves them with a choice of staying with their current employers or moving over to TNA. Both have their positives and negatives.

If reDRagon stay with ROH they’ll retain their relatively high spot on the card. They’ll perform in front of crowds who know and appreciate them and their work. And they will have further opportunities to work with New Japan talent visiting the US via ROH and also make trips over to New Japan themselves. All very satisfying for a pro wrestler.

ROH will want to hang on to reDRagon.

But staying with ROH is limiting. They’ve faced every regular combo in the company. That includes Bad Influence, who debuted as a pair less than a month ago. There are things that further O’Reilly and Fish versus Daniels and Kazarian matches could offer and accomplish that the first didn’t, but no rematch can feel as significant or accomplish as much as the first meeting.

Short of ROH signing or creating some new pairings, which isn’t beyond them but doesn’t appear to be a priority at the moment, reDRagon will basically be treading water. They can lose and regain the titles to keep them occupied but they’ve already enjoyed three reigns. What will more accomplish without a deeper roster to work with?

In TNA reDRagon would have some new opposition as a team but not as much as could be assumed by a “jumping to a new company” headline. The only regular teams on the Total Nonstop roster that reDRagon haven’t clashed with are The BroMans and The Menagerie. Those matches could be good but it’s not guaranteed, and they’re not the sorts of collisions that could be billed as dream matches. reDRagon versus either of those teams would be nothing more than a generic TV bout.

Having The Wolves on the roster is not the great boon it might appear either. Fish and O’Reilly faced Edwards and Richards many times in Ring of Honor. Anyone desperate to see those teams wrestle can see them do so easily enough via the interweb or a DVD purchase. They could put some new spots together and I’m sure the first meeting could give TNA’s TV tallies a spike but it’s not a feud that’s going to engage everyone watching. Crucially it’s not a feud that’s going to fully engage any of the four men involved, because they’ve been through it before.

But what TNA can offer Fish and O’Reilly is a new platform with new viewers and the promise that they’re trying to expand. The former would allow the pair to win over new people, meaning potential T-shirt and assorted merch sales for the future, while the latter could result in new teams to work with in the future. Plus there’s the fact that TNA would probably offer more money than ROH.

Personally I’d like to see reDRagon stay in Ring of Honor. TNA has done nothing over the last twelve months to make me think they’d do anything interesting with a talented team like Fish and O’Reilly. The fact that they rushed the tag championships on to the not dissimilar Wolves practically confirms they wouldn’t. Short of Fish and O’Reilly getting the chance to move over to NXT (which isn’t inconceivable) I’m fine watching them in ROH.