Joe Koff Doesn’t See ROH as WWE’s Competition

– ROH COO Joe Koff spoke with The Wrap for a new interview. Highlights are below:

On how he sees WWE in comparison to ROH: “We’re in the same space, because they do wrestling and I do wrestling. They have a televised product and I do. They do live shows and I do live shows — I guess we’re competitors. But, you know what? I never looked at Ring of Honor as that…We were never going to be the WWE — that’s their business. [ROH] is just a part of a greater business. I could never get to their scale or their size… [WWE] is not a new company. This is a very mature, well-developed [brand] — in its now-third generation. We could call them a 40-year-old overnight success, I guess.”

On ROH focusing more on in-ring performance: “We do our talking in the ring. They consider themselves sports entertainment, we consider ourselves an entertaining sport.”

On talent working with ROH and NJPW: “When they meld the two schedules together — and the two income opportunities — it’s probably competitive [to heavier schedules]. And without the grind.”