One of Ring Of Honor's head honcho's speaks out.
One month ago Ring Of Honor announced that they would be joining forces with New Japan Pro Wrestling to do a joint show called 'G1 Supercard' and the event was set to be held at the "Worlds Most Famous Arena" Madison Square Garden. The pre-sale tickets were recently made available for those who were subscribed to Ring Of Honor's 'HonorClub' streaming service and 60% of the tickets for G1 Supercard were sold during the pre-sale. That brought ROH and NJPW halfway to their destination of selling out the Garden.
Yesterday, the tickets for the event went on sale to the public and within minutes G1 Supercard was sold out. Ring Of Honor and New Japan are set to be the first non-WWE pro wrestling show to run an event out of Madison Square Garden in 50 years. The COO of Ring Of Honor Joe Koff was elated about the news of the sellout and he joined Busted Open Radio with Dave LaGreca and WWE Hall Of Famer Bully Ray as the news of the sellout broke and shared his thoughts about it.
“There really hasn't been another organization that could take on the challenge financially and even emotionally of going into that building, and I feel that we were ready and we had the backing, and we had the support, and we had [a] great strategic partner in New Japan." Koff said. "I was listening all morning [To Busted Open]. Not specifically to hear that we were sold out, but I always listen on a Friday so I like to hear what you guys say. I like to hear what the fans say, and you know, it was… everything’s aligned. But I don’t wanna take anything away. It's our brand. It's this combined brand that sold out--like there’s been no talent really even listed. This is gonna be a happening for wrestling fans. You guys said it so perfectly: ‘This is for wrestling.’ It's not about Ring Of Honor. It's Ring Of Honor plus we’re going to Madison Square Garden. This is a major, major moment for wrestling to show that another promotion has the gall, has the guts and has the talent to support it, has the brand’s loyalty that’s respected, has the artistic and integrity of the performers." He explained. "This just validates a lot of what I said even six years ago [when Joe Koff took over as COO]--I knew we could get to this point. I think… I don’t know if it would have been this year and I don’t even know if it would’ve been on this date, but I always believed in the company enough that we could be at that platform."
To read the initial report of Ring Of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling selling out the Garden, click here. Also, there is another Ring Of Honor and NJPW affiliated event that is sold out and will be taking place next month at the Sears Centre. To view the updated match and talent lineup for 'All In', click here.
If you are going to use the quote above, please credit Busted Open Radio with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
