I don’t know how to feel about Ring of Honor

[Mr. Nerfect]

The arrival of AEW on the scene meant that promotions were going to be raided, leaving ROH with very little bankable. Tony Khan has swooped in and claimed it for his own. There’s a hope that a sense of balance could be restored here, but will it be?

If TK is heavily involved, this will likely just be an extension of AEW. A lot of people don’t even enjoy AEW in the first place. Do ROH fans want to rally behind a feeder system for a different evil empire? A big part of NXT’s appeal was that it provided a different flavor to what Vince McMahon was doing. This was terrible for creating a streamlined vision, but did allow NXT to enjoy some niche creative success. AEW with handshakes might as well just be Dark.

To counteract that: If the old NXT team is in charge of ROH, you could have a bunch of talent trained to somewhat appreciate the psychology of the business. This is a big flaw in AEW. But TK could just put emphasis on that as booker without a training school.

ROH may have had a billion-dollar media group backing them, but they never had the money to grab the stars and nail the production to platform the stars. They now have access to those resources. Should a ROH with access to Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, Chris Jericho, MJF, Jim Ross and Sting be any less successful than AEW? What disqualifies it? But if that does become the case, how does WarnerMedia feel about TK creating another viable product? Will they see it as him broadening the genre, or him stealing his own pigs?

Conversely, how do ROH fans react when they realize there is no reason they shouldn’t be getting Bryan Danielson vs. Claudio Castagnoli and Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk, but are stuck with Tony Deppen vs. Rhett Titus (no disrespect to those guys). What’s exciting about that?

Keeping ROH on syndicated television with access to AEW stars is the best way to go. Bryan Danielson should be there for a little bit of a run. FTR can be there with MJF in the crowd having bought a ticket to support his team. Don’t shy away from it being a place where the top stars not in WWE might show up.

On syndicated TV, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue for Warner. If it becomes popular enough, it could sweeten the appeal of an HBO Max deal. That way Warner gets something out of the deal that Sinclair don’t really have a use for anymore anyway.

You can use ROH as developmental, by all means. But it doesn’t need to all take place on TV. You can have stars in the main event scene, have your mid-card with a sprinkle of newer guys. Hell, if you want to give Honor Academy its own show — throw it on the Honor Club streaming service for the hardcore of the hardcore. The ROH TV proper can be used as an educational tool for the young lions by getting them to sit down and watch the established guys tear it up.

I could get into that product. There are things in ROH that could work that are just not going to fly in the pragmatic reality of what AEW is. Bryan Danielson and FTR as champs, for example. I can see Dante Martin or Anthony Ogogo as TV Champ there, getting some time and exposure. The Hardys could come in, but find themselves challenged to a style of tag team match that pushes them to new limits (a tag team pure rules, maybe?). These things just don’t seem to suit the AEW vision.

But what happens if ROH starts kicking AEW’s ass? What if that becomes the the hot ticket and Dynamite and Rampage are hurt? Is TK the guy that is going to learn from that? Or is he going to get upset that he’s not going to win Booker of the Year again? How are some of the egos in the AEW lockerroom going to take it if their vision doesn’t hold up to the vision of the formerly declining promotion that now has the resources to enact theirs?

There are so many icebergs for this thing to hit. But ideally, it should be great and provide a fresh coat for wrestling. I guess we just have to wait and see, but I wanted to talk about it ahead of time too.