DVD Review: Gabe’s Book Of ROH Secrets

Courtesy of Main Event Radio's Steven Wilson:

At the end of October 2008, Ring of Honor fans were shocked to hear that longtime booker Gabe Sapolsky had been let go. In many circles Sapolsky is/was regarded as one of the top wrestling minds out there and why he was being let go was beyond most fans comprehension. Sapolsky’s MySpace blogs, and public comments would offer some insight as to the why, as would the wrestling newsletters, but many questions remained unanswered including what was Sapolsky planning for the months to come and heading into 2009. Enter Kayfabe Commentaries, who in the past had hosted Sapolsky in their Guest of 2009 entitled “Gabe’s Book of ROH Secrets”

As Sapolsky points out early on in the DVD, you might expect him to sit down and run off a bitter rant about how he was unfairly treated or unjustly let go, after all Sapolsky is introduced as an “unemployed” individual off the top of the show, and after seeing numerous wrestlers and bookers alike cry screwjobs in previous shoot interviews, you almost can’t help but expect it, especially when so many fans felt screwed. However this DVD is a revealing, truthful and informative release that once again continues Kayfabe’s run at offering unique DVD releases. A prime example of this is how the DVD avoids asking the direct reasoning and revealing the exact way things went down the weekend Sapolsky was let go, but instead allows Sapolsky to slowly point out how and why things were going wrong, and how much of it was to blame on him. Also Sapolsky, in not so many words, cites burnout as a reason, he even tells a story how he had gone to ROH owner Cary Silkin to talk about how the company needed a big change heading into 2009, the roster had grown too large, certain stories and stars had no where to go, and overall it was just time to shake things up. As he would go onto admit, little did he know how much to heart Silkin would take the suggestions.

With the change done, we then embark on a Guest Booker installment as beginning with the November 7th Montreal show (the first show under the new booking regime), and continuing on through the end of 2008 with December 27th’s Final Battle in New York City, Sapolsky reveals and explains his booking plans for Ring of Honor using the actual binder and hand written notes that he was working on when he was let go. Sapolsky paints the picture of the rise to stardom for Tyler Black, reignites the steenerico/briscoe’s feud with a goal of turning briscoe’s into full blown heels, while also climaxing the 2008 storylines such as the Erik Stevens-Roderick Strong friendship turned enemies, amongst many others. Gabe also takes time to reveal the plans and goals he had for 2009 and caps off the 2 and a half hour DVD with reflections on his career in the wrestling world and whether or not he would take a job with another wrestling company in the future.

It almost goes without saying that this is an absolute must see for any ROH fan, it answers your questions about the situation and lets you fantasize about what could have been had Sapolsky still been in charge to this day. Another job well done on the part of the Kayfabe Commentaries crew.

“Gabe’s Book of ROH Secrets” is now available on DVD from Kayfabe Commentaries. For more info or to order your own copy check out KayfabeCommentaries.com, Also to read my previous DVD reviews check out wrestlingdvdreviews.vze.com, or add the myspace profile via myspace.com/wrestlingdvdreviews