Tony Khan Announces Purchase Of Ring Of Honor

Tony Khan bought Ring of Honor.

I signed a deal today. I just became the new owner of Ring of Honor, said an enthusiastic Khan to a loud pop. This would be a big week with more news to come.

Bryan Danielson and Christopher Daniels kicked off the show.

AEW President Tony Khan appeared live on AEW Dynamite for the second time, and began hyping the announcement during a February 18 appearance on Busted Open Radio.

There will be a lot of news in the next week.

I don't know if I will get it done by tonight, but I will keep you updated. I'm working on a big project. It would be huge. I don't know if it's what anyone would expect, but it would be a big deal in pro wrestling. I am looking forward to making it happen. Hopefully, I will have more to say soon.

Khan said in a return appearance that nobody knows what it is.

It is going to be very important in the wrestling business. It's not a single piece of talent, it's something very special and I'm excited about it.

There was a lot of speculation about everything from an ROH sale to signing Jeff Hardy. Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men speculated that Khan's announcement could have something to do with a major television deal between AEW and HBO Max or the purchase of a pro wrestling promotion. It would all be possible, as buying a venerable promotion like ROH would give AEW more than enough content to ink a streaming deal.

Should the new-look AEW happen before the year 2024, a large streaming deal could help the company in future negotiations. The first billion-dollar pro wrestling promotion and unquestioned market leader will be far more massive than that of AEW due to a mixture of economics, leverage and prestige.

hyping up is promotion is a healthy habit that is sometimes met with toxicity. Khan has been accused of overhyping certain teases, though he has delivered with the teases of CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole and Keith Lee.

The last time Khan teased a special surprise, it led to the biggest audience in AEW's history as over 1.1 million viewers watched the debut of the highly speculated Keith Lee. Khan's announcement was a sea change outside of the AEW roster. Khan's announcement that he has bought Ring of Honor was delivered on those merits.