Tony Khan has purchased Ring of Honor
AEW President Tony Khan announced he has purchased Ring of Honor.
"Today, I signed a deal. I just became the new owner of Ring of Honor!" said an enthusiastic Khan to a loud pop. Khan noted this would be a big week with more news to come.
Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels kicked off Dynamite in homage to past eras of ROH.
Appearing live on AEW Dynamite for only the second time (the first being for the Brodie Lee tribyte episode), AEW President Tony Khan began hyping the announcement during a February 18 appearance on “Busted Open Radio.”
“There will be a lot of news in the week ahead,” Khan said.
“I don’t know if I will get it done by tonight, but stay tuned in the week ahead, hopefully. I am working on something pretty big. It would be massive. I don’t know if it’s what anybody would expect it is, or think it is, but it would be a big deal in pro wrestling. I am looking forward to hopefully making it happen, stay tuned. Hopefully, I will get it done and have more to announce soon.”
“Nobody knows what it is,” Khan said in a return appearance to “Busted Open Radio.”
“It’s going to be something very important in the wrestling business. It’s not one particular piece of talent, it’s something very special and I’m excited about it.”
Khan’s tease led to speculation about everything from an ROH sale to signing Jeff Hardy. Andrew Zarian of the “Mat Men” podcast speculated Khan’s announcement could have something to do with a major television deal between AEW and HBO Max or the purchase of an “International Pro Wrestling Promotion.” Tonight’s broadcast of Dynamite coincided with growing whispers of a possible ROH sale. Perhaps it would all of the above, as buying a venerable promotion like ROH would give AEW–entering only its fourth year—more than enough content necessary to ink a a streaming deal.
A sizable streaming deal for the new-look AEW, should it happen before 2024, might actually work to help WWE in future negotiations. The first billion-dollar pro wrestling promotion—and unquestioned market leader—WWE’s content deal will be far more massive than that of an AEW deal due to a mixture of economics, leverage and prestige.
Khan has developed a healthy habit of hyping up is promotion, albeit a healthy habit that is sometimes met with toxicity. Though Khan has delivered with the teases of CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole and Keith Lee, he has also been accused of overhyping certain teases.
The last time Khan teased a special surprise, it led to AEW Dynamite’s biggest viewership of 2022 as over 1.1 million viewers tuned in to see the highly speculated debut of Keith Lee. This time around, Khan’s announcement represented a sea change outside of the AEW roster. One that Khan himself described as “something very important in the wrestling business.” On those merits, Khan’s announcement, that he has bought Ring of Honor, delivered.
