Rob Feinstein
Personal information
BornRobert Feinstein
(1972-10-01) October 1, 1972 (age 53)[1]
Langhorne, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Rob Feinstein
7-11
Fun Athletic Guy [1]
Billed height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
DebutJuly 17, 1995
Retired2004

Rob Feinstein (born October 1, 1972) is an American former professional wrestler, promoter, founder of Ring Of Honor and convicted sex offender. He was convicted in 2004 for child molestation.[2]

Professional wrestling career

Feinstein made his professional wrestling debut in 1995 for Extreme Championship Wrestling for their pay-per-view Heatwave '95: Rage in the Cage! when he intervened after a match between Paul Heyman and Bill Alfonso. 911 came and chokeslammed Feinstein.[3]

In 1997, he was 7-11 (parodying Syxx) a member of the Blue World Order.

Feinstein had owned and operated RF Video (a professional wrestling videotape & DVD distribution company), which was best known as the videographer for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). Immediately following the closing of ECW in 2001, Feinstein founded the Ring of Honor (ROH) wrestling promotion in 2002.[4]

ROH first show was on February 23, 2002, the first event, titled The Era of Honor Begins, took place at old ECW arena in Philadelphia. It featured nine matches, including a match between Eddy Guerrero and Super Crazy for the IWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship and a triple threat match between Christopher Daniels, Bryan Danielson, and Low Ki (who would become known as the "founding fathers of ROH").[5] In its first year of operation, Ring of Honor confined itself to staging live events in a limited number of venues and cities – primarily in the northeastern United States. Ten shows ran in Philadelphia, two in Wakefield, Massachusetts; one in metro Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and, one in Queens, New York.[6]

In 2004, Feinstein, who owned Ring of Honor at the time, allegedly met a ’14 year old boy’ through instant message. They made plans to meet and ‘hang out’ at the boys house. He claimed that his sister was partying in New York and his parents away, and gave Feinstein his address in Chicago. When he arrived at the boys house, he was welcomed with news cameras, and then drove away. Soon after, he resigned from both Ring of Honor and RFVideo. Feinstein would later take back control of RF Video but has never been involved with ROH since.[7][8]

In the aftermath of the scandal, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) ended its talent-sharing agreement with Ring of Honor, abruptly withdrawing all of its contracted wrestlers from their prior commitments to perform in ROH shows—including major ROH draws A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels, who held and were about to hold ROH championships, respectively.[9] Doug Gentry eventually bought Feinstein's stake in ROH, and later sold it to Cary Silkin.[10][11]

References

  1. ^ a b Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Rob Feinstein « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net.
  2. ^ Caldwell, James (May 21, 2011). "ROH Breaking News: Ring of Honor sold – ROH announces official sale of the promotion; new television distribution". Pro Wrestling Torch. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Retrieved May 21, 2011.
  3. ^ Matt Peddycord. "ECW Heatwave 7/15/1995". Wrestling Recaps. Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  4. ^ "10 Things You Didn't Know About Ring Of Honor". WhatCulture. April 27, 2016. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  5. ^ "ROH The Era Of Honor Begins". Cagematch.net. Retrieved February 9, 2024.
  6. ^ "Ring Of Honor (ROH) (Events)". Cagematch.net. Retrieved February 9, 2024.
  7. ^ "Crisis rocks RoH". March 4, 2004. Archived from the original on January 9, 2016. Robert Feinstein announced today that he is leaving Ring of Honor Inc.
  8. ^ "Rob Feinstein: Five Years Later". March 7, 2009. Archived from the original on December 16, 2010.
  9. ^ "2004 a year of triumph for Ring of Honor". SLAM! Sports. February 16, 2005. Archived from the original on January 9, 2016. The company took another setback when TNA pulled their contracted talent off of all RoH shows.
  10. ^ "2004 a year of triumph for Ring of Honor". February 16, 2005. Archived from the original on January 9, 2016. "Fortunately, Cary Silkin, who is now the 100% owner of ROH, was saving us at that point," Sapolsky said.
  11. ^ "Effects of Silkin Direction". Rohwrestling.com. Archived from the original on December 7, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2016.