More details have been revealed about Tony Khan purchasing Ring Of Honor on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.
Dave Meltzer noted that the deal was put together two weeks ago, and the following day is when Khan started dropping hints. Both AEW and WWE were contacted regarding the sale, but Khan obviously put together the better offer.
The tape library was mentioned as being important to AEW, and the company does want a streaming service in some form. Ring Of Honor’s old footage is something that can help with that due to having more content. Plus, Ring Of Honor owned the footage for ALL IN, which was a crucial night for AEW’s own history.
It is not believed that WWE would have run Ring Of Honor as a separate brand. However, when the company was hot in 2018, WWE made a pitch, as Triple H wanted to buy the company. There were talks that went nowhere, as Vince McMahon wanted to buy somebody bigger. WWE ended up trying to buy New Japan Pro Wrestling, Stardom, and Pro Wrestling NOAH. The company also tried to buy AAA, but nobody would sell to them for the price that WWE was willing to pay.
In a press release, Tony Khan spoke about acquiring the ROH video library. Khan said he is exploring way to make the library available to fans.
“Ring of Honor’s influence on modern professional wrestling is etched permanently in the history books, and this acquisition ensures that its legacy will be kept alive and treated with the utmost respect,” Khan said. “This deal adds thousands of hours of content to our rapidly growing library and creates new opportunities to expand our footprint on a national and global scale, while having the potential to produce new content under the ROH banner.
“I will immediately begin exploring opportunities to make ROH’s video library available to fans, who’ll have the opportunity to witness the beginnings of the careers of some of AEW’s biggest stars.”
