AEW’s Tony Khan Announces He’s the New Owner of Ring of Honor

AEW president Tony Khan opened this week’s AEW Dynamite by confirming that he is the new owner of Ring of Honor Wrestling. The Baltimore-based promotion announced last year that it would be taking a hiatus following the Final Battle pay-per-view in December. News broke shortly after that all active wrestlers would be allowed to explore other companies as it would not be extending any deals beyond March of this year. The promotion was expected to relaunch with the Supercard of Honor XV event during WrestleMania weekend. 

Details of Khan’s purchase of the company are scarce of now, but the sale will include the extensive ROH tape library, which goes all the way back to 2002, as well as “brand assets, intellectual property, production equipment and more.”

“Ring of Honor’s influence on modern professional wrestling is etched permanently in the  history books, and this acquisition ensures that its legacy will be kept alive and treated with the  utmost respect,” Khan said in a press release that dropped moments after the announcement. “This deal adds thousands of hours of content  to our rapidly growing library and creates new opportunities to expand our footprint on a  national and global scale, while having the potential to produce new content under the ROH  banner. I will immediately begin exploring opportunities to make ROH’s video library available  to fans, who’ll have the opportunity to witness the beginnings of the careers of some of AEW’s  biggest stars.” 

The release noted that more details will be available in the coming weeks. Khan has been teasing the announcement for weeks. His last tease came during a media conference call early Wednesday afternoon, saying it “will affect pro wrestling and I think it’s going to be awesome news for the fans and a lot of the wrestlers.”

“Ring of Honor has produced some of the best professional wrestlers over the past 20 years,  but more importantly, it created a family. I will be forever grateful to everyone in the ROH  family who has worked tirelessly for the past two decades to take ROH to levels previously unimagined,” Joe Koff, Ring of Honor’s Chief Operating Officer, added in the release. “Tony has the utmost appreciation and respect for Ring of Honor, and I’m truly excited to see how he continues the legacy.”