Following on from the appearance of Ring of Honor Tag Team Champion Kenny King on this past Thursday’s edition of TNA Impact Wrestling, a report from Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com notes that several members of the Ring of Honor roster have a negative outlook towards Kenny due to the handshake deal that he had to remain with the company and felt that breaching the handshake was worse than ditching his contract offer and that he hurt Rhett Titus in how he made the TNA appearance and that he openly pushed for a finish at ROH Best in the World where The All Night Express would win the titles strongly as opposed to the planned finish where King and Titus would come back from behind and get the win.

Johnson goes on to note that it is believed that Ring of Honor were not offering King a raise and he felt that the contract extension he would sign would prevent him from negotiating with other companies. ROH talent signed extensions to their deals at the ROH Best in the World iPPV with Keing being the only one who verbally agreed to a deal, with many feeling that King knew he was leaving the company and avoided signing anything. The situation regarding the Ring of Honor Tag Team Championships will be resolved at the company’s August 4th tapings in Baltimore, Maryland.

King meanwhile issued a statement on the matter:

My people’s,

First and foremost to all of my friends, Family and everyone riding with me on this one thank you. The love and support has been unreal. It doesn’t matter if your’e a new Kenny King fan or you’ve been with your boy since tough enough. My passion for this sport reflects yours, and I will continue to bust my a** to give back the love you have shown me. Second I would like to thank @ringofhonor for the opportunity To master my craft against some of the best wrestlers in the world. The last 4 years have been invaluable to my career. I have nothing but love and respect for the company that allowed me to find myself and grow as a wrestler. Next, since the content of my character has been called into question, just ask about me. My integrity and HONOR has always been above reproach. But since they wanna talk bad about your boy, consider this…

(spoiler alert)

I was offered a contract extension, I had reservations about the parameters of the extension and effective my “free agent” option would be. I gave a handshake agreement that I wouldn’t do anything “screwy” with the belts. A la medusa. I gave ROH information about every move that I made regarding working for @impactwrestling. Realistically they could have just found out when they saw my black a** walking down to the ring. I was given a physical contact extension by ROH, which I respectfully declined to sign due to the reasons I stated above. If I declined to sign an actual contract extension, how could anyone think there was a verbal agreement?

I took the biggest gamble of my career this weekend. So going into destination X tomorrow night I am prepared to put it all on the line. I am especially grateful to @tnadixie and @impactwrestling for giving me the opportunity to showcase my skills on a bigger stage. I was given an amazing opening and I took it. Ask Eminem how many chances you get to blow up. The world will watch tomorrow, and I got a bag full of fireworks. Tomorrow is coronation day.

Thank you.
Kenny King