Earlier this week, news broke of the death of former ROH COO Joe Koff, who passed away after a battle with cancer. Since then, the wrestling world has been flooded with tributes to the executive, all filled with fond memories of Koff and their experiences working under or with him. "WWE Raw" GeneralManager Adam Pearce also penned a heartfelt tribute to Koff, wishing him Godspeed and recalling a touching experience the twoshared. "When circumstances made it impossible for me to return to ROH as commentator, Joe paid me for every date I'd agreed to. He didn't have to. I never had a cross word or bad experience with him. My heart goes out to his family and friends. Rest well, sir." Pearce posted.
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WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray recently spoke at length recounting Koff's massive impact on the wrestling industry during an episode of "Busted OpenRadio," and reminded fans about how he was indirectly instrumental in the creation of AEW, by allowing The YoungBucks and Cody Rhodes to hold the first ever All In event, while they were all still signed to ROH. Additionally, Bully also recalled his personal experiences working with Koff in ROH, noting how the former ROH COO had a passion for wrestling, and never wanted to portray an onscreen character like other promoters such as Vince McMahon and Tony Khan have done in the past.
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As Pearce noted, it doesn't seem like there are many who had bad experiences with Koff based on the many heartfelt tributes that lots of his former peers and employees have shared. While he was largely behind-the-scenes, the business definitely seems to have lost a great with the passing of Koff.
