With Tony Khan buying Ring of Honor and brining it into the AEW fold, Khan has constantly talked about how he is actively trying to get a national television deal for ROH. While there is still work to be done with making ROH more well known, getting television for a company like that is a completely different story, especially when the structure of the company is basically in shambles. Lets see if there is a good reason why ROH should have a national television deal.
Where ROH is at Today
When Tony Khan first bought ROH, I thought that it was a good idea because the initial reports was that he just wanted their tape library and maybe first dibs on some of the talent that they had.
When the news came out that he was going to keep the company as a whole and run it as its own promotion, my thought changed to Tony loves his fan service and he will do anything to get a little instant gratification.
Even though the money that he spent to buy the promotion is the same as him throwing a pizza party for the guys to him, he knows now that running an entire company is more work than it seems.
Even though its not my decision and my opinion don’t matter in the grand scheme of things, I think that he should’ve got his current company running at peak performance before he starts thinking about running another promotion at
the same time.
There are issues in AEW that need to be squared away, not only with the backstage talent, but the on air product too. With that being said, since ROH has been brought into the fold, AEW hasn’t gotten any better and there is an argument that can be made that it has actually gotten worse.
While there have been some great matches revolving ROH and there are some bright spots here and there, I think
that the biggest impact that they have made has been that they take television time away from the actual AEW wrestlers that were struggling to get television time to begin with.
I think that its safe to say that AEW is still trying to grow and get their feet in the wrestling landscape even though they are firmly in second place with third place being miles behind them.
With that being said, when I tune in to AEW Dynamite or Rampage, I tune in to see AEW wrestlers, AEW storylines, and hopefully younger non WWE talent showcased, not what is left over from ROH mixed with some AEW.
When ROH had their television show, I loved watching it with my younger brother and even though the production of the show left a lot to be desired, especially after watching WWE and AEW for so long, I thought that they had great
wrestling, good storylines, and that the company was well ran from what I could see.
I liked it for what I thought I would like AEW for, for being an alternative to WWE. With the company being incorporated into AEW, its just a few more titles, a few more wrestlers, and time that must be invested into it.
Is it worth it? I have to say no. Was AEW fans clamoring for ROH to make a return? Maybe they were. Was AEW fans clamoring for ROH to make a return at the expense of AEW and its roster? I think that the answer is no.
Does ROH Today Have the Value to Warrant a National Television Deal?
I have to commend Tony for actually making an attempt to get ROH national television, but I think that his time is being wasted. Even before ROH folded and Tony brought it, I don’t think that ROH had the value to have a national television deal.
This isn’t being said to say that it wasn’t good, but to say that the feel and vibe of the promotion didn’t scream, put me on a great television station where there is a possibility that millions of people might see us.
If you look at WWE, AEW, and even Impact, there is effort being made to cater to everyone that might tune in, not just people who like wrestling.
Although it is being done to varying degrees depending on the company, they want to grow and get more eyes on the product.
With ROH at the time, it seemed like there was a mentality of “We are pure wrestling and that’s it!” and there wasn’t ever an effort to become even the slightest bit mainstream in order to grow the company.
If you look at the product that WWE puts on, there is something for everybody. Comedy, flying, technical, power, drama, supernatural, big meaty guys, small athletic guy, women that are beautiful, and women that can kick some ass.
You look at AEW, you see a lot of similarities, although to a different degree. AEW is making an effort to get more fans watching while trying to stay true to what they said the company is about in the first place and I really respect that about them.
If you look at Impact Wrestling, even though they are in a tough spot as far as television go, they still put their best foot forward to put out a very professional looking product, good matches, storylines that make sense, and variety.
ROH was never that company. I think that if Tony does find a place on national television for it, it would be a miracle but would take away the identity of the company.
There is going to have to be a degree of “sports entertainment” in it for it to succeed, which is completely against what ROH was. While AEW Dynamite is doing great numbers for it’s network, Rampage is just doing ok numbers.
Compared to other shows, its doing good, but would a television network really want a show that is not going to do as good as Rampage on its channel? Maybe.
I think that the best thing that they could do is to use their social media presence to hype it up on YouTube and give it a hour to a hour and thirty minutes per week there.
Looking at the views that AEW Dark and Dark: Elevation get, I would have say that it would most likely be an upgrade over what they had before on the Sinclair Broadcasting lineup of channels, especially if making
a huge profit isn’t the goal.
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