Former Ring of Honor World Champion Kyle O’Reilly is no longer under contract after he turned down a new contract with the company just days before NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 11 event on Wednesday, which saw O’Reilly lose the title to Adam Cole.
O’Reilly’s contract with ROH expired on December 31st, and when he was approached by the company about re-signing with them, he turned them down and noted that he plans to weigh out his other options for now. It should be noted that the promotion recently announced that O’Reilly would team with Lethal against Cody Rhodes & Adam Cole at the upcoming TV tapings on January 14th in Georgia. It possible that he still works that event under a pay-per-appearance deal.
Dave Meltzer noted in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that ROH officials expect O’Reilly to leave for WWE. He also noted that when he first won the title, the plan was not for him to lose the title so quickly but they had to take the title off of him since he was leaving the company.