Doug Gentry, 34; promoter for Ring of Honor pro wrestling
Ed Varner
1/26/2007
Gentry passes away
by Dave Meltzer
Doug Gentry, one of the people behind the Ring of Honor promotion when
it started along with Rob Feinstein and Gabe Sapolsky, passed away this
morning at the age of 34.
Gentry was suffering from heart disease and was in need of a
replacement heart valve. He suffered a severe heart attack at about 3
a.m. last night that proved to be fatal.
Gentry was the on-paper owner of ROH and RF Video after the Feinstein
scandal. When Cary Silkin purchased the complete ownership of ROH from
Gentry, who Feinstein transfered his stock to, he was no longer part of
the company.
Gentry and Feinstein remained working together with RF Video untli his
death.
Ed Varner
By JASON CLEVETT - SLAM! Wrestling
.One of the original minds behind Ring of Honor, Doug Gentry, passed
away today due to complications from a bacterial infection in his
heart.
According to PWInsider.com, Gentry, 34, had been feeling fatigued for
months and was diagnosed with a rare bacterial infection in his heart.
Gentry had been undergoing antibiotic treatment in preparation for
surgery on a heart valve that had been clogged due to the infection.
Gentry was hospitalized last night after having trouble breathing, and
was diagnosed with pneumonia on top of everything else he had problems
with and passed away this morning.
Gentry was the right-hand man of Rob Feinstein, the owner of RFVideo
and former owner of Ring of Honor. Gentry was involved with RFVideo's
business relationship with Extreme Championship Wrestling, handing
vendor tables and filming events for the company's ECW Fancam
releases.
When ECW folded, RFVideo worked with several Northeastern independent
promotions before starting Ring of Honor in February of 2002. Gentry
headed up the company's production and home video editing, as well as
doing ringside camerawork and commentary on ROH releases under the
name Ray Murrow. According to Mike Johnson at PWInsider.com, Ring of
Honor may not even be around today if it had not been for Gentry.
"The truth is, if it had not been for Gentry, Ring of Honor as
everyone knows it simply would not exist today, in any form. By March
2003, ROH had been in the red for some time and things were looking
bleak. Cary Silkin, a friend of Gentry dating back a number of years,
approached ROH about coming on board as an investor. Without a doubt,
had Gentry not cultivated that business relationship, ROH would have
been another independent that had a solid run, only to fail. Had
Gentry not known Silkin, ROH would have ceased to have existed
following the Philadelphia event where Samoa Joe first won the ROH
championship from Xavier," Johnson wrote on the website.
In March of 2004, Gentry was named President of RFVideo and Ring of
Honor in the wake of a scandal involving Rob Feinstein. When Ring of
Honor split completely from RFVideo, Gentry stayed with Feinstein and
the two continued to run RFVideo as well as work with several
independent promotions. Gentry served as booker when RF Video worked
with a promoter to run shows in 2006 under the name Pro Wrestling
Elite.
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2007/01/26/3453500.html