The fingerprints of those who elevated Ring of Honor from a tiny independent promotion designed to help save a video distribution company to a cult-favorite national phenomenon are all over professional wrestling. There was a random show lineup from 2009-11. There are many up-and-comers on any given card. Adam Cole, Kevin (Owens) Steen, and Tomasso Ciampa are a few.
The confirmation that All Elite Wrestling president and CEO Tony Khan bought the company from the Sinclair Broadcast Group didn't fall short of his huge announcement. The best way to pay homage to its rich history is to keep the legacy alive through the lens of a company with plenty of similarities.
The timing of Khan's acquisition is perfect. The promotion is on a hiatus and couldn't properly celebrate its 20th anniversary last month. After nearly four months without a show, that will happen on April 1 with the Supercard of Honor. There is never a guarantee that a shift will work. It felt like the end of professional wrestling when news came down that the Ring of Honor had ceased to exist. It was a sad day for many wrestling fans who might have lost interest in the squared circle if not for ROH. Over the last two decades, do you remember how bad WWE and TNA were? For a long time, fans still believed that the industry was still worth investing their time into.
I will give an old-school tape-trader turned lucrative promoter, who turns only 40 in October, no noticeable obstacles, even though Khan's purchase isn't guaranteed to keep ROH's memories intact into the foreseeable future. That's made to look even stronger, with rumors of HBO Max getting involved to help set up a video library for the companies. Khan looked nervous to start last night's edition of AEW Dynamite on TBS, fumbling over his words on a few occasions while announcing his deal with ROH, then introducing two-thirds of the main event from the first ROH show.
It's hard not to see last night's announcement as the mic-drop moment to officially end the Wednesday night standoff between AEW and WWE. Vince McMahon's promotion underwent a new name late last year. For the previous seven years, with Triple H at the helm, the company tried in part to replicate the style of Ring of Honor and re-doing character arcs and storylines, curtailing to a fast-paced in-ring style as well as re-doing character arcs and storylines. Three years after the launch of AEW, Khan halted his promotion and signed his top talent. Last year, the organization threw in the towel. AEW planted its flag again. Check fuckin.
The lack of long-term history is the biggest disadvantage of starting a promotion with a national television deal. The honeymoon period is over, and while the product may still be great, no callbacks could happen exclusively within AEW's walls that predate May 25, 2019. The best cover is buying ROH. How many current storylines could be improved with the addition of that video catalog? CM Punk mentioned a dog collar match before he wrestled at Revolution. Yes. I'm a snake when MJF said that. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist, which is a direct call back to dialogue Punk used after winning the ROH World Championship.
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