What’s the story?
Recently there were rumours of WWE looking to expand by buying out the hottest independent promotion, Ring of Honor.
It is the same promotion that has nurtured the likes of Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Seth Rollins, Austin Aries, CM Punk and others in the past. There were some rumours that stated that WWE was only interested in their tape library, whereas other reports suggested that WWE was willing to buy the whole promotion.
The legitimacy of this rumour was recently clarified by ROH COO Joe Koff. In an interview with Chuck Caroll of CBS Sports, Koff denied any deal being put forward by WWE to buy ROH or its tape library.
In case you didn’t know...
Ring of Honor is currently the hottest independent promotion in the United States. Since WWE has started acquiring multiple talents from various independent promotions, there have been speculations about them wanting to buy a whole promotion itself.
When TNA was on the verge of declaring bankruptcy and was looking for investors, WWE’s name was doing rounds in the potential names of buyers. Later, the news came that WWE were interested in only buying their tape library.
Also read: WWE Rumors: WWE looking to buy out Ring of Honor
Eventually, no deal was made and Anthem Sports ended up buying the promotion instead.
Some months ago, WWE conducted a poll on their official website where they asked fans about which promotion’s tapings would they like to see on the WWE Network. It consisted the names of ROH, ICW, EVOLVE, PWG and others.
Due to these reports and such activities, any rumours of WWE willing to buy another promotion can’t go unnoticed.
The heart of the matter
ROH COO clarified that no deal has been put on the table by WWE. Koff said that:
“It’s very flattering and humbling to us. It validates what we’ve done. A lot of their current performers and stars are ROH guys and we have their history.
So maybe the content of the backstories of Kevin Steen before he became Kevin Owens or AJ Styles’ run in Ring of Honor, Tyler Black (aka Seth Rollins), Claudio (Castagnoli aka Cesaro)… all of the guys who have wrestled for us.
We have their backstory and where it began… That’s our content.”
He further said that ROH was open to sharing the tape library as it would help their promotion.
“I’m always open to any conversation... we do business with them if they want to do a DVD or VOD, if they need footage from early matches, they do come to us.
We are open to work with them on that basis because it doesn’t hurt us. It actually helps us.”
What’s next?
Joe Koff has made it very clear that there is no deal of a buyout pitched by WWE, however, it won’t be surprising if ROH tapings are made available on WWE Network in the near future as WWE have been trying numerous ways to enhance the network, in order to attract more subscribers.
Author’s Take
I am a bit confused on how to react to this announcement as on one hand, I would love to see the current ROH talent compete with the current WWE/NXT Superstars but on the other, I also feel that the competition from independent promotions is a must as it would keep a check on the quality of WWE.
It’s probably for the best that things remain just how they are, for the time being.
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