Cary Silkin Thinks ROH Is In a Better Position After Tony Khan Bought It

In an interview with Busted Open Radio (via Wrestling Inc), Ring of Honor founder Cary Silkin spoke about last week’s news that Tony Khan bought the company. He described his initial mixed feelings and his optimism for the future of ROH. Here are highlights:

On how he felt when he heard the news: “Well, I don’t know if this is going to make sense, but the combination of a gut-punch and great joy at the same time. Because I knew after processing it, and the gut-punch was going away, and no disrespect to Joe Koff, but we were in a much better position than we were a week ago.”

On being optimistic about ROH’s future: “Tony Khan, he’s a pro-wrestling guy. You know, Joe Koff, he – you guys [LaGreca and Bully Ray] have both worked with whether it’s at Sirius or at WWE, these are big corporations. So the pressure that comes above you is tough. So Joe could only do what he can do. There needed to be a bigger budget. They needed to get the production correct on every show. They needed more help in the back. Delirious, you know, he’s probably set the all-time record for the longest booker, and we know how that goes, and he needed more help, and there were different eras in the later stages. I liked when Bully was there, and he’s gonna think I’m blowing smoke, but I liked when he was there. Just for his knowledge, just for the other guys that were chipping in, and as we all know in pro-wrestling, it can’t be a dictatorship or a one-man thing, or you get burned out.”

On what he wants to happen with ROH: “In a perfect world, I would love to see Ring of Honor continue as a brand and obtain an hour of television, even if it is on YouTube. They always needed a destination. And even though Sinclair – when I sold it to them guys, they had seventy-five stations, and I’ll never forget Jim Cornette saying, ‘oh, you know what Vince McMahon would do to have these seventy-five local affiliates?’ Well, at that point, they didn’t mean a damn thing. Just to have a destination. Maybe a network spot. Once again, at least YouTube. I think with Tony Khan behind it, we’re going to see a lot more cohesive, steady, properly promoted company.”

On the ROH library: “It’s got a place to breathe now and to live on. What I would hope Tony would do – no one has spoken to him really. You have over twenty guys on the active roster, I think it’s more than that, that have stepped into the Ring of Honor ring that is with AEW now. And naturally, CM Punk and Bryan Danielson are AEW guys, but between the guys that are there, I’d love to see them bring in The Briscoes, and bring in Jonathan Gresham, and Dalton Castle, and Matt Taven, and some of the guys that were sort of synonymous with the last current era of Ring of Honor, and add that to the mix and I think we can have one hell of a show.”