Once upon a time, it was being rumored Vince McMahon and the WWE would purchase ROH (Ring of Honor) like they did the AWA by buying all their top talent’s contracts and they’d have to eventually sell.
It makes sense once the top names are all signed away, but that was expected to happen in 2020 and things went a little sideways that year.
Fast forward to two years later, and ROH was on a hiatus as they prepared to come back in April. With rumors swirling that the WWE was going to swoop in despite their cutting talent for budget reason, anything was expected.
There were even rumor that Impact Wrestling would buy it once the Honor No More storyline started, and a few chatted about AEW buying it but none of these two were given much credence.
And now that AEW has announced they purchased ROH’s video library and such, it’s opened all sorts of possibilities for the company.
And it appears Tony Kahn may have teased something at AEW Revolution.
Developmental brand
It’s no secret that AEW has signed a lot of talent over the last year or two and they now have a bloated roster as a result.
Because of that, many fans questioned the viability of Tony Kahn purchasing ROH. The good news on that front is ROH bought out everyone’s contracts so no talent remains on the roster.
They’re all free agents.
While this isn’t good news to ROH fans in general, it does give promise that they could resign and be run as a parallel company like WWE planned to do with WCW before WWE fans turned on the former Ted Turner product.
But then a curve ball came at AEW Revolution when Kahn hinted that ROH would be a developmental brand for AEW.
As Jon Alba wrote on Twitter: “Tony Khan pretty clearly hinted Ring of Honor will be some sort of developmental for the #AEW main roster. Wouldn’t outright say it, but mentioned NXT to main roster comparisons. Says Danielson and Regal could be guys he turns to. #ROH #AEWRevolution”
What’s this mean?
For one thing, it could mean some former ROH stars could be brough back as coaches or performers to help give the product some viability, assuming they’re going to be on a network or part of a streaming deal.
For another, William Regal debuted on AEW at Revolution, and many are expecting Kahn to rely on him and Bryan Danielson to help form the developmental brand as couches, producers, or whatever their titles will be.
At the moment, this is pure speculation, but it would be a great move and in many ways, a step up for Regal from his days in NXT. Plus, ROH is already a marketable name, so that’s a win to draw in talent and fans.
What do you think about ROH being a developmental brand for AEW? Let us know in the comments below.
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