'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Tony Khan has done the unthinkable and bought Ring Of Honor (ROH). Considering that he is the President of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), this only makes fans crave for more.
For many, ROH was the answer to the dominance of WWE, who became the global leader in professional wrestling back in 2002. In a sense, it was the original AEW before TNA/IMPACT Wrestling took that spot.
But for all its acclaimed set of wrestlers that walked through the ranks, ROH never became that NEXT BIG THING that AEW has become. Once AEW debuted in 2019, ROH seemingly got sent to the bottom, having neither the fanbase nor crossover appeal that the former has.
Of course, things might have been different had they been dealt with differently, but there's a reason why Tony Khan was able to sweep and create the company he did.
With that said, Ring of Honor has tons of footage of CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, and Christopher Daniels, among others, who made their mark in the promotion. This provides endless possibilities and/or consequences that could arise.
Here are the five most significant consequences of Tony Khan buying Ring of Honor.
#5 ROH could become a spin-off AEW show
Back in 2001, when WWE brought WCW, the original idea was for World Championship Wrestling to become a separate brand. Moreover, WCW would take Mondays on the USA Network, while the WWE would move to Thursdays on UPN. Of course, this never happened.
Will Tony Khan do the same thing as Vince McMahon once did? It's unclear at this point. Unlike McMahon, Tony reveres other wrestling promotions and even had great respect for Ring Of Honor.
While he has bought the company for its extensive video library, it is possible that it could spin-off to another AEW show using the Ring of Honor name or a variant of it in time.
Such an idea is still a long way away from coming to fruition. But no doubt, if Khan moves forward with the idea, he would respect the history that comes with the promotion.
#4 ROH vs. AEW vs. NJPW vs. IMPACT Wrestling Super Show could be on the cards
Several fans are clamoring for an AEW vs. NJPW supershow, which in the words of Chris Jericho, would be big business because of AEW's popularity.
This is what he had to say:
“As soon as Japan opens up a little bit more, I can see a huge New Japan vs. AEW Supershow, said Jericho. Like I said, Canada’s a complete no-brainer, because I think there are probably six or seven cities there that we could do huge business in. Because I believe that on TSN, the Canadian Sports Network, our ratings are the highest wrestling ratings out of any company, AEW Dynamite [has the highest ratings], you know that people are ready for us to go there as well. We’re excited, too, because then also, on top of that, there’s so many places we haven’t even been in the states yet.”
Now imagine if one were to throw ROH in the mix. Given the two promotions have already partnered several times in the past, with the G1 Supercard back in 2019 at Madison Square Garden being the most significant. It seems plausible that Tony Khan would want to repeat that, but on a grander scale.
Tony has also worked with IMPACT Wrestling, and following his new acquisition, it would make sense to have all four major promotions working together on one show.
Khan and AEW have also already work with AAA, and then they could also be thrown in for good measure if NJPW doesn't work out for any particular reason.
With Khan owning ROH, there are multiple ideas available to do a massive supershow that won't necessarily put WWE out of business but give them a run for their money.
#3 ROH Owned the rights to All In
With Tony Khan acquiring ROH, it does do the one thing that was missing from AEW: the rights to All In. Back in 2018, when All In was launched, it was a bit of a shock to the system.
Based on a comment on Twitter, when responding to Dave Meltzer, Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks took up the challenge of selling out a 10,000 stadium that had nothing to do with WWE.
The show was a massive success attracting talent from all over, especially a large chunk of the current AEW roster and some major WWE stars. While Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks booked the show, the actual funding and ownership of the show belonged to ROH.
The one person who was watching these events unfold was Tony Khan himself. The show would serve as a proof of concept and lay the groundwork for launching AEW at the beginning of 2019. In a way, the show was the true origin of All Elite Wrestling and is probably back where it belongs.
To put in bluntly, without All In, there would be no AEW.
#2 ROH could become AEW's NXT
It's without question that many stars made their mark when ROH began. Wrestlers like CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, and others thrived in the ROH environment.
Looking at the early days of ROH, one could see that the esthetic seems smaller, intimate, and 'dirty,' not literally, but without any corporate sheen to it. Fans may even argue that NXT took some of that same esthetic and applied it to their shows, though with a Corporate twist.
Some episodes of AEW Dark have a similar feel, but ROH could prove to be another show to get the talent the ring time they need. Several fans have complained that there isn't enough time for the AEW roster to showcase their skills, as some are left lurching in the back for months without much to do.
This show could be sold to a smaller cable network and make it like an independent promotion owned by AEW but keeping that original grimy esthetic that made Ring of Honor captivating in the early years.
While it's still early days, the expanding AEW roster would push Tony Khan to think about getting certain wrestlers the time they need to perfect their skills.
#1 ROH could be used as a way to get a streaming deal
This seems the most plausible of all the things that fans are clamoring for in ROH. Many in the industry are calling it 'The Streaming Wars' with major studios wanting to compete with Netflix, Disney and others. Most studios are willing to pay a high price for original content and live sports content.
WWE leveraged their content as part of a $1 billion exclusive rights deal with NBC Universal's Peacock. Part of that deal has the entire library of WWE, which also contains multiple other promotions that WWE has acquired over the years, including WCW.
While Tony Khan is a passionate wrestling fan, he's no fool. He understands the value of content and sees that WWE's revenue lies not in their shows but their brand value and television/streaming rights deals.
Similarly, it's plausible that Tony Khan is just following the same path as Vince McMahon once did and acquiring other tape libraries to sell one day.
Make no mistake, the Ring Of Honor library is very valuable given that it has footage of some of the biggest AEW and WWE stars of today. Moreover, the content could be leveraged for documentaries that drive streaming devices.
Now, most fans are pointing to HBO Max as being the one with which AEW will strike a deal. HBO Max is owned by WarnerMedia, which Discovery now owns. It's unclear how things could proceed, but perhaps, given the value of live sports content, HBO Max would increase their subscriptions ten-fold to acquire a wrestling program like AEW.
With the Ring of Honor acquisition, it makes the impossible seem possible.
Do you think Ring Of Honor can become the developmental brand for AEW? Let us know in the comments section below.
