Danny Cage Calls Out Joey Mercury, Will Ferrara For Their Conduct In ROH; Ian Riccaboni Comments
Dan McDonald, also known as Danny Cage, took to Twitter to make some eye-opening allegations against Joey Mercury and Will Ferrara for their behavior as trainers at the Ring of Honor Dojo.
First, Cage claimed that students and coaches at the facility dealing drugs and having sex with spouses and other students was the reason he left ROH.
When I was hired by ROH I was hired to bring my system to their ROH Dojo. But the kids & coaches didn't want that. Why put in work when you can get paid to peddle drugs, sleep with people's wives & students? So I had to go. It's been the drizzling shits since. Good times. pic.twitter.com/3wY6BGOhIN
— Danny Cage aka Dan McDonald (@TheDannyCage) April 28, 2021
Cage focused on Ferrara, a veteran coach and wrestler, by criticizing his “recycled pin drill” and hinting that Ferrara engaged in sexual relations with other talent.
Will was so mad that he was there for like a decade & all he had to show for it was the same recycled pin drill passed on & I walked in for 5 minutes & got Future of Honor & ROH Dojo more eyes than ever. So I had to go. Plus, I'm not a huge fan of coaches sleeping w/ talent
— Danny Cage aka Dan McDonald (@TheDannyCage) April 28, 2021
In another tweet, Cage explicitly alleged that Ferrara had sex with other wrestlers at the time and claimed that he still is. Then, Cage critiqued trainer Joey Mercury’s conduct. “Do gas & get someone fired,” wrote Cage.
Which I later found out he was & is. I'm not bitter. Just better. Was thinking how much the talent over there would've benefited from actually training as opposed to Joey's formula. Do gas & get someone fired. That's how you get ahead in his eyes. Trash humans over there.
— Danny Cage aka Dan McDonald (@TheDannyCage) April 28, 2021
Next, Cage accused Mercury of being intoxicated during a tryout and snapping at Hana Kimura.
Also that time we thought Joey was pilled up during ROH tryout. Started leaning over. Eyes rolling back in head. Right after he snapped on Hana & told her to shut up or go to the back. That's how much trash he is. She was one of the sweetest ever. Trash humans
— Danny Cage aka Dan McDonald (@TheDannyCage) April 28, 2021
In additional comments, Cage stated that Mercury has a pattern of using undesirable information to get people fired, and he also accused Mercury of assaulting a student in front of his peers.
Plus a worker or two who got fired because of him. He befriends you. Gets dirt. Tells people he's going to fire x y or z. Then does get them fired. Now he's feared. Never respected.
— Danny Cage aka Dan McDonald (@TheDannyCage) April 28, 2021
ROH commentator Ian Riccaboni posted a lengthy message in response to the thread about Cage’s claims on Reddit. Riccaboni shared his past experiences with Mercury, and they echoed Cage’s allegations.
The post reads as follows:
Hard and fast use of the pejorative F word which I asked him to stop. “Why do you say that about Rhett Titus’ body? I’m in better shape than him! What, are you some kind of ***?!” This would occur after events but also when he’d call me at 1:30 AM ET. Why it needed to be addressed at 1:30 AM ET on days we didn’t have events and I was living my life as a civilian, I have no idea.
Would joke about the time we saw a woman (the make up artist we had at Madison Square Garden) asking for a ROH staffer by name so she could get her check at the hotel. The situation, admittedly, was kind of funny. It appeared to be something it was not. He has implied that he was ready to drop this conversation. He has posted edited texts between us before on Twitter and I wouldn’t be surprised if he does it again.
Similarly, he’s threatened to out a LGBTQ member of the ROH roster and out one of my best friends.
I haven’t said anything because I was pretty crippled by fear that I’ve said something out of pocket and it might come to light. But Danny needs a friend right now and what he’s saying about the power dynamic that was created is true and what a WrestleMania headliner pulled me aside and warned me. If I said something out of pocket, that is on me and I have to own it.
I was/am not involved in the Dojo beyond the semi-annual tryouts. The first one we did with Joey, I came prepared as I always did with a printed spreadsheet of the campers names, hometowns/home promotion, experience level. I printed enough for everyone. Bully, BJ, Delirious, Daniels, and others said thank you; Joey took the copy I made for him and my personal copy and trashed them. This was the same camp Hana was at. Can confirm what Danny has said regarding Hana.
Finally, most recently, Joey blamed me on Twitter for spoiling Final Battle. One of the Dojo students has since privately apologized for providing him the results. It was a lot of time and energy explaining to folks that I didn’t tell a soul. Joey always said there are two things you can’t get back: people’s time and attention. It didn’t ruin my Christmas but I’m just glad someone nearly four months later admitted to providing him the results. He got my time and attention. Good one.
This has been therapeutic for me, too. There are others who likely feel the same way. But this is a time and an emotion drain. They likely are in similar positions where they have kids or other jobs and that they consider the issue closed and can’t spare the emotion, especially during a pandemic. And there may be some too who fear what they’ve said to Joey via text. But I’m proud of Danny for having the courage to speak up.
Riccaboni also posted more stories in a few comments. For example, he claimed that Mercury accused him of leaking information when he was the one who was trying to investigate the leak:
Or when I went to him when I figured out we had someone leaking results and plans because I thought I could trust him and instead he told people 18 months later that I was leaking things EVEN THOUGH HE HELPED FIND THE ACTUAL LEAKER BY SMARTLY GIVING THEM SOMETHING THAT WAS NOT TRUE and seeing if it came back around to any of us (it did!). Wild stuff.
Mercury responded to the situation with a tweet of his own:
Why didn’t you tell me you were so goddamaned world famous!?!?!
I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be in your yard at 2:55a, but thanks for the invite. Politely decline.
Talent whom you (& talent) will both share the wisdoms you’ve imparted?
I also don’t have your # pic.twitter.com/OStCvNHgSE— joey mercury (@NumeroUnoRudo) April 28, 2021
Mercury recently filed a lawsuit against Ring of Honor following his departure from the company.
Cage now runs the Monster Factory Training Center in New Jersey, a successful facility that is respected throughout the industry.