When Tony Khan announced that he was the new owner of Ring Of Honor earlier this year, shock waves were sent all over the wrestling world. There were plenty of questions cast out, with some even still remaining unanswered to this day. Although the new version of ROH might be taking a while to get off the ground, Khan has a good reasoning as to why progress on the new venture has slowed.
Speaking on the Double Or Nothing Media Call, Khan noted that purchase was a unique opportunity that came at him very quickly.
"I just jumped on it, honestly, me personally. It was a unique opportunity. I was on the phone and I heard that if I paid a certain price, I could buy Ring of Honor then and there. I didn’t want to complicate it or make it any more difficult than it was going to be. I said, ‘I’ll do it,’ right then and there. It’s easy for me to do that. I didn’t have to go through any....the way I looked at is at the time was; the price was right, the opportunity was right, and I was looking out for AEW. I’m always thinking of AEW. In doing so, this transaction makes sense for Ring of Honor to be its own brand and stand on its own feet. I’m not saying Ring of Honor is a subsidiary of AEW or secondary in any way." Khan said. "That’s one of the things that made Ring of Honor Supercard a really compelling event because you didn’t feel like it was a developmental show or a secondary show. You had great matches, it was a well-received card, one of the best reviewed shows of the year, critically. Commercially, it was a massive success. Is Ring of Honor as big as AEW right now? No. Is it selling as many pay-per-views? No, but that was incredible growth for Ring of Honor, a company that has over 20 years of history now and has sold a ton of pay-per-views over the years and that was, in all the shows they’ve promoted, one of the biggest Ring of Honor shows. It was the biggest show, by far, in years. When we get all the final numbers in and it’s all said and done, it’s going to be 20 times or more the recent Ring of Honor pay-per-views. 20 times as many people watching. We’ve been able to rebuild or get Ring of Honor to a stronger place than it’s been in many many years. I don’t see it as a secondary or subsidiary thing. It’s a separate, standalone thing, it’s one of the most important wrestling companies in the world. At the time, I thought it would make sense to jump on it and I was thinking, me personally, it was a great move. Also, I want AEW and Ring of Honor to work together, but Ring of Honor isn’t supposed to be working for AEW. They are their own two promotions and they’re both going to be very strong with great champions and I’ll operate them separately. One thing that has been great since the sale is having some of the top stars in Ring of Honor wrestle in AEW, including having the Ring of Honor World Television Champion Samoa Joe involved in the Owen Hart Tournament and in the finals against one of the biggest wrestlers in the world Adam Cole."
Khan continued on about his second company, saying that he would absolutely love for Ring Of Honor to have a weekly series, whether that be on TV or on streaming.
"We’re still working on that. It’s an exciting time in media. It’s big for AEW that we’ve gotten some very kind interest and are being hosted in Los Angeles by the biggest content creators in the world, Warner Brothers Discovery, our great media partner. That is great conversation that I have had with them and will continue to have with them about what could potentially be a future for Ring of Honor, in conjunction with a future of things we can do to expand the AEW audience and expand the ways we deliver AEW content to our fans, in addition to all the awesome shows we have now with Dynamite on TBS and Rampage and Battle of the Belts on TNT. I would love to get Ring of Honor weekly TV series or streaming series, wherever it ends up going, very soon and it’s something I am working on and would be awesome for the fans. There is a lot of Ring of Honor fans around the world that can’t wait until the TV comes back. I’m hopeful we’ll have Ring of Honor TV and continue the great calendar of Ring of Honor pay-per-view events. I’d like to bring Ring of Honor back to pay-per-view and follow up on [Supercard of Honor]. We have great wrestlers in Ring of Honor and great champions. The company is in the strongest position it’s been in a long time or frankly, ever, with our love and support and the fact that I really care about Ring of Honor. Everything we’re doing to grow and nurture that business going forward, but also put my financial resources behind it and combining that with what I believe is some acumen for this business. I don’t know when the TV will start back up on a weekly basis, but that is my goal to get it going again and it’s something I’m working on."
Elsewhere on the media call, Khan talked about CM Punk being a great mentor in AEW. Click here to see Khan's full comments on the matter.
To see Khan's comments on MJF's contract issues being played out on weekly television, click here.
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