Tony Khan comments on where ROH stands with Warner Bros. Discovery and discusses upcoming media rights negotiations.
Over the years, AEW has built a strong relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery. The relationship expanded in 2023, as AEW added a third weekly television show in AEW Collision. Meanwhile, Tony Khan acquired ROH in March 2022. The company's weekly show ultimately returned on HonorClub in March 2023, and some fans have been surprised that it did not land on a WBD property.
Speaking on the ROH Final Battle media call, Jon Alba of FITE asked Tony Khan about where ROH stands with Warner Bros. Discovery and whether they view ROH as a viable property to bundle in a potential deal with AEW.
"We’ve had really good talks with Warner Brothers Discovery, had a great visit with them today and we have a really exciting relationship that has grown a lot over the years and has expanded for AEW. Ring of Honor is still a third party in the relationship and is a company putting on really exciting wrestling and is peripheral to the conversation right now. It offers a lot of value to AEW and to a media company. There is a lot of interest in ROH and some of the most exciting wrestling and stories and some of the best events in ROH history are happening now. It’s really awesome that ROH has healthy options and very complementary for myself, my family, and our business interests, the ROH media rights and the massive library and IP are there and accessible to us as we pursue new media rights for AEW in 2024 and we also have the additional value of the ROH library with the AEW library that has continued to grow. Almost 200 episodes of Dynamite, well over 100 episodes of Rampage, and an exciting half-year of Collision," Khan said.
On November 9, Haus of Wrestling reported that Khan turned down talks with The CW Network about ROH. Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp asked Khan about The CW's reported interest in ROH. Khan emphasized the value of having the ROH library and the additional TV rights. He emphasized that ROH has strategic value, and it is beneficial to have ROH and AEW aligned, as AEW's media rights are coming up in 2024.
"It is a value for us that we have this big library and additional media rights in addition to the five hours of weekly television and the great shows with Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision. Having that with our pay-per-view shows, our library, and complementing that with ROH with new events, which have been some of the best events ROH has ever had in the time we’ve owned the company, and the ability to go back and look at some of the greatest wrestlers in the world, a lot of them are in AEW now, and some of them wrestle in other companies all over the world. It’s great to look back at that library of events. I definitely think it’s a value add for AEW and ROH to be aligned with media rights that are coming up for AEW in 2024. It’s going to be a very exciting time for AEW and it’s great to have ROH there as far as strategic value," Khan said.
Khan continued by stating that there have been a lot of interested parties in the TV rights, but he has been holding onto them, as he has not had many detailed conversations. He noted that he had a visit with the CW Network, but the timing was not right. Khan noted that 2024 will be an exciting time for wrestling, and having AEW and ROH in the marketplace will be beneficial.
"As far as the TV rights, we’ve had a lot of interested parties. It’s definitely something I’ve been holding onto and haven’t had a lot of detailed conversations. I think CW is a great network and we did have a visit. Dennis visited us at the Forum last year and was great. I have a lot of respect for Dennis Miller and the CW folks. The timing for us wasn’t necessarily right, but there is a lot of great, interested, people in the marketplace in both AEW and ROH. For 2024, it will be really exciting time for pro wrestling and ROH added good value going forward," Khan said.
Tony Khan previously said that WBD CEO David Zaslav told his dad he was doing a great job. Check out hos comments here.
Click here to see what Tony Khan had to say about WBD potentially providing additional investment in AEW.
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