AEW President Tony Khan finally had an update on the future of Ring of Honor following Saturday’s Final Battle pay-per-view. Khan announced back in early March that he had purchased the promotion, along with its massive tape library, but didn’t have any news regarding its future on television beyond stating negotiations were ongoing. ROH would go on to run three pay-per-views in 2022 and ROH champions were featured on various AEW programs. Khan said earlier this week that ROH’s presence would be pulled back from AEW TV following criticism from fans, then announced a weekly ROH show would be airing on the promotion’s streaming service, HonorClub. The OTT streaming service was initially introduced back in February 2018 under ROH’s previous ownership.
Videos by ComicBook.com
He did not provide any details about when the show would start, but did not more information would be made available next month. Khan indicated that New Japan Pro-Wrestling would play a role in the promotion going forward, and that pay-per-views will continue to air on Bleacher Report and move to HonorClub after 90 days. Dave Meltzer further explained the situation on Wrestling Observer Radio, stating that announcing the show for HonorClub means Khan was unable to get a television deal.
Meltzer started off by saying he’s unsure when and where ROH will tape its TV, speculating that it might have a central location like AEW Dark at Universal Studios in Orlando or could be taped alongside Dynamite and Rampage on Wednesday nights around the country.
“The big part of the story is that they did not get a TV deal,” Meltzer said. “And the other big part of the story, from the other day, is the big layoffs at (Warner Bros. Discovery). I know everybody thinks that they’re going to get this giant increase (in TV rights once their current contract expires). There’s no way of knowing. WBD is very high on Dynamite, as they should be, it’s a very successful show. But they (WBD) are doing so much cost-cutting… they got rid of the heads of several networks just this week. The key in this thing is he (Khan) did not sell a Ring of Honor television show. And the decision instead of going to YouTube to do it as a pay show as part of a pay service.”
