Tony Khan talks about Ring of Honor's hopeful future on television.
Since Tony Khan purchased Ring of Honor back in March, the future of the brand as it pertains to their distribution has remained uncertain. Tony Khan has frequently discussed the hope that the promotion will land on a TV network or streaming platform but during a media scrum prior to Death Before Dishonor 2022, Tony Khan expanded on his desires to see the promotion land a weekly television deal and how that will correlate to the growth of its roster.
“I think it's going to be a sliding scale in some ways,” Tony Khan told Jachele Nicole of SEScoops when asked about the growth of the roster and how many names coming in would be signed exclusively to Ring of Honor. “Just as AEW’s roster has expanded its programming and expanded. Really, if you look at how the roster grew, when we had AEW Dynamite and AEW Dark, we tried to build it, strengthen the roster, then we added Elevation and tried to add more young wrestlers, and it gave us more chances to develop people for those spots. I think around that time, a lot of young wrestlers did break through and get on TV. Then last year, almost one full year ago, we added AEW Rampage and with three hours of television, and had to build and strengthen the roster more.
“So with Ring of Honor, we haven't got the weekly TV going yet,” Tony continued. “I say yet, because it is something that is important to me. I really think we will get a weekly Ring of Honor show but I'm not going to do it until the distribution deal makes sense and is right for everybody. I think right now we have a certain number of key stars for Ring of Honor, as well as performers that will be really important in the [short-term]. Also for the long-term future. Some developmental stars for the future, as well as some of the key stars to the history of Ring of Honor signed up. So I think right now it's not the biggest version of the roster, and I would expand it and add more people. You know, because right now, most of what you see with Ring of Honor is taking place either on these big pay-per-view events like we saw with Supercard of Honor and now Death Before Dishonor this weekend. Also wrestlers being involved in events with AEW, the two companies that I'm the owner and CEO of and also with companies that we work with, for example, New Japan Pro Wrestling. So I think right now is not the biggest version of the Ring of Honor roster. It'll probably expand once the TV gets going, if that makes sense.”
Later, Tony Khan was asked by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics if Warner Bros. Discovery is the only potential television partner fans should be thinking the company will land with because of the already existing relationship between WBD and AEW.
Tony would say he's already had some promising conversations with them but everything has to make sense for everyone involved.
“Well, I have talked to Warner Brothers Discovery and I'm continuing to talk to Warner Brothers Discovery about it. I had worked with them to get Death Before Dishonor on Bleacher Report, where it'll be available this weekend. I think that's a really positive step. The first time Ring of Honor has worked with Warner Brothers Discovery. I believe it's going to be one of the biggest pay-per-views in Ring of Honor's history. So I spoke to them yesterday, and they're really excited about this event. There's been good preordering. It's a different pattern than AEW, but for Ring of Honor, this is going to turn out to be one of the strongest shows in their 20-year history of producing events,” said Tony. “So I think it's a great way to start the partnership with this event. Get Warner Brothers Discovery familiar with the Ring of Honor brand, which is happening. You know, we've been in Atlanta this week, one of the home cities of Warner Brothers Discovery, a lot of executives have come to the show and been around AEW, and also around a lot of the great Ring of Honor stars. So I think there's definitely appetite on both sides and interest. Like I said, we're starting things out together with our first pay-per-view event with Warner Brothers Discovery working with Ring of Honor and hopefully, I really, really would love to parlay that into weekly TV for Ring of Honor, which would be I think great for the wrestling fans and obviously great for everybody working with Ring of Honor.”
Tony Khan also revealed that during the media scrum that The Briscoes are signed to Ring of Honor long-term. Learn more here.
You can learn more about Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor streaming on Bleacher Report at this link.
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