The WWE had some open try-outs earlier this year and a few Ring of Honor superstars showed up to work out for the company. The men who tried out included Kevin Steen, Roderick Strong, ACH and Michael Elgin. Since the try outs, Elgin has signed a new deal with Ring of Honor while both ACH and Strong were deemed to be not the right fit at this time. ACH is a cruiserweight and the WWE has no real push for cruiserweights anymore while Strong is too similar to many other NXT wrestlers in size and wrestling style.
However, the WWE had interest in Kevin Steen. After passing all the company’s physicals, Steen has been signed to a new WWE deal and will report to WWE developmental shortly to begin his training. Steen is a larger wrestler and looks nothing like a typical WWE star, but Steen compares well with Bray Wyatt, who has become a main event star. Steen is also great on the mic and is the former tag team partner of Sami Zayn.
With Steen on the way to the WWE, here is a look at three of the most successful wrestlers to make the jump from Ring of Honor to the WWE.
Daniel Bryan
The biggest name is easily Daniel Bryan. He wrestled on the first ever Ring of Honor Wrestling card and was one of the greatest world champions the company ever saw. Trained by Shawn Michaels and William Regal, he spent many years being called the best wrestler in the world to not wrestle in the WWE. That changed when the WWE signed him to a developmental contract and he broke in on the NXT reality series. Since that time, Bryan has won both the WWE and world titles and became one of the most popular stars in the WWE.
CM Punk
When the WWE signed CM Punk, he was wrestling in Ring of Honor and the company pulled off a great angle where Punk actually won the Ring of Honor title after signing with the WWE, something no one expected. He then threatened to take it to the WWE with him. That never happened, but then Punk moved on to the WWE where he quickly became a star on the ECW brand, before creating the Straight Edge Society and then finally enjoying the longest WWE title reign of the modern age.
Seth Rollins
The most recent superstar to come from Ring of Honor is former Shield member Seth Rollins. He was also a former Ring of Honor champion under the name Tyler Black before the WWE signed him. Ring of Honor used his signing as an angle as well, with fans accusing him of selling out. He went to NXT and became the first ever NXT champion in the company’s history. Now, Rollins is involved in the biggest storyline in the WWE and remains one of the most exciting stars in the company.
