Tony Khan Thinks There Is Room Left for ROH in Today’s Wrestling TV Landscape, Has Turned Down TV Offers From Outside WBD

There’s a lot of wrestling on TV at the moment, with WWE having programming across Netflix, USA Network, and The CW, plus AEW programming on TBS, TNT, and HBO Max. TNA Wrestling is also working on its own media rights deal, but where does that leave Tony Khan’s other wrestling promotion, Ring of Honor (ROH)? During an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show this week, Tony Khan discussed whether ROH still has room in today’s wrestling television landscape.

Khan noted that while “there have been opportunities” for things to happen with ROH, he believes “they have to make sense.” He noted that he’s also “rebuffed” offers from companies outside Warner Bros. Discovery regarding ROH. Below are some highlights:

Tony Khan on Believing ROH Still Can Have Room in the Current Wrestling TV Landscape

“Yeah, absolutely, and, at times, there have been opportunities to do things for Ring of Honor, but I think they have to make sense. We did this insanely awesome, great media rights deal that’s so good for AEW, and I’m so happy because I think we deliver really great value, and it gets great value for us, which is the perfect media rights deal. We have the perfect partner with Warner Bros. Discovery, and we did this deal, where it set up Dynamite, Collision, and the PPVs. Is there room for Ring of Honor? I absolutely believe so, and there’s been really good conversations with us and them.”

On Other Media Partners Reaching Out for Potential Programming With ROH

“I’ve had other media partners reach out about doing things with Ring of Honor and other companies that we have never worked with. But I think it has to make sense for everybody. And also, the most important relationship for AEW is always going to be Warner Bros. Discovery between myself and David Zaslav and the leadership there. So anything I do, I want to make sense for everybody. So I have actually rebuffed other offers at times from outside and if we do it I would love to do something with Warner Brothers Discovery but again it has to be a deal that makes sense for everybody and it doesn’t necessarily have to be exactly you know as big as the AEW deal but it but it’s still got to be pretty good and it’s got to make sense for everyone. So, we’ve never been able to find a sweet spot. So, I think it’s perfect to do what we’ve been doing to focus on the sweet spot we have right now with AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery.”

On ROH Having a Good Year This Year

“For Ring of Honor, we have a nice service. We’ve been having a really good year with Ring of Honor. And people that watch the shows would attest to that because there’s been a really good support. And I think there’s been a sentiment this year, more than in the other years, that I’ve owned the promotion more than any year since the first year when there was no TV, when it was just pay-per-views and everyone was like, ‘Wow, this was like just three awesome pay-per-views this first year.’ People loved that. And then people thought maybe there was the com the first year. I think if people loved the three shows, you have to say so much of it comes down to when you have the Briscoe-FTR trilogy across the three shows. That’s a big chunk of it. But there were so many other great moments including the arrival of Samoa Joe at the end of the very first show and he’s such an important figure including to this day to right now in AEW and those shows people love but there was no TV so across the shows of AEW I had a lot of Ring of Honor involvement and people probably thought that was more than they’d like.

“So now there’s a lot less of that, but Ring of Honor has its own show and you still see appearances and the stories flow together and there’s wrestlers that appear uh whether it’s Athena, who’s been a amazing women’s world champion now for almost three years in Ring of Honor, or Bandido, who was the Ring of Honor World Champion before I even owned the promotion and was a great face of Ring of Honor. And then when he came back and returned to AEW, it’s a great thing because he’s the Ring of Honor World Champion, but he’s also an AEW tag team champion. We have these people that are involved in the AEW shows. Now, Mercedes Monae is the interim Ring of Honor TV Champion, and she’ll be wrestling this weekend. Well, actually, no, she’ll be wrestling tomorrow to settle the Ring of Honor title before her match this weekend. That’s the kind of schedule Mercedes wrestles.”

Currently, ROH runs its weekly programming on WatchROH.com, and there are quarterly pay-per-view events for the promotion. ROH’s next pay-per-view event, Final Battle 2025, is scheduled for December 5.

If using any of the above quotes, please credit The Ariel Helwani Show, with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.