Tony Khan Should Buy Ring Of Honor

Yesterday, I mentioned there being a nuclear option that could provide an alternative path for the Ring of Honor brand and its wrestlers. At this point, I don’t need to recount Wednesday’s events surrounding the imminent death of the company the way we, as fans, have always understood it. Since Sinclair is seemingly willing to part ways with all its contracted talent, there may be a way to salvage the brand yet.

My solution? Tony Khan buys Ring of Honor, its tape library and its assets.

Given the way the last year has played out between WWE cutting a ton of contracts and AEW picking up any wrestler it likes without hesitation, the idea that Tony Khan could acquire Ring of Honor isn’t as far-fetched as it may seem. ROH COO Joe Koff and Sinclair have reiterated they are looking to “reimagine” their business model, but when a company decides to wash its hands of contracts and states the desire to reopen its doors at an undisclosed time, it tells me the parent company isn’t all that interested in staying in the wrestling business.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated reported that, in fact, Ring of Honor’s tape library is for sale. The tape library is perhaps the most valuable and coveted asset of any wrestling company, and while I planned on discussing it all in this piece before the report surfaced, the stars could align for Tony Khan and AEW to take the controlling stick of Ring of Honor. What happens from there is anybody’s guess.

According to Barrasso, the tape library won’t come cheap, but Sinclair is willing to jettison its archives to the highest bidder. Tony Khan recently revealed AEW is in talks to launch its own streaming service where fans will be able to check out exclusive content and watch any and all AEW shows to date. However, such a library would be missing one important event: All In. That’s right. Ring of Honor owns the rights to All In, so any acquisition would include the critically acclaimed show that resulted in the genesis of AEW. This alone may not be enough of an incentive for Khan to pull the trigger on a buy, but it is enough to at least start the conversation.

Khan has been liberal with his wallet as of late, as AEW is always bringing in new talent to compete on Dynamite, Dark and Rampage. That’s not a critique, though some may take it as such. Some of these guys, the Danielsons and Coles of the world, are wrestlers you just have to snatch up if given the opportunity. This is why Bray Wyatt will eventually find his way to AEW and why Charlotte Flair will probably end up there sometime in the next two years regardless of what the financial situation is.

The bigger trouble is finding enough time to showcase all the talent, as to not find itself in a WWE situation where Heath Slater is sitting in catering every night with five or six other guys or girls that just got called up. Owning and operating Ring of Honor can help in that way, and I have to question how much more it would cost to acquire rights to the name and branding on top of the tape library. If Sinclair is willing to make a deal for the whole enterprise, Khan could conceivably run ROH as a separate but affiliated company, much like WWE was rumored to do when it bought WCW and planned on running it business as usual as a second brand.

That’s not to say a Tony Khan version of Ring of Honor needs to be on equal footing with AEW. It can be whatever Khan wants it to be. It could be a developmental territory of sorts where guys like Nick Comoroto and Dante Martin can appear regularly and develop as characters without being exclusively limited to five minutes on Dark every week or so. It could also be the old Ring of Honor done as faithfully to the original as possible. That would open the door for guys like CM Punk and Bryan Danielson to make sporadic appearances there, wrestle matches on occasion and give the fans a double dose of nostalgia straight into their veins. He could even bring on Gabe Sapolsky to run the show!

The tape library would lend more credibility to the AEW streaming platform and makes even more sense considering so many AEW wrestlers came out of Ring of Honor, particularly during the Sinclair era. Having that type of content ready to stream next to an AEW show will give young fans a chance to see their favorite wrestlers in a completely different light, and I see value in that.

Another reason why the move would make sense has to do with just how bold of a move it would be. Tony Khan acquiring Ring of Honor would keep AEW’s name on the top of the heap in the wrestling news cycle and serve to further bury any buzz WWE could possibly have beneath it. This type of logic, as I read it back, sounds like it came straight from the brain of Eric Bischoff. It’s unorthodox. I get it. That doesn’t make it any less true, and although it at first seemed unlikely AEW would pick a fight with WWE head-to-head, we’ve been getting a bit more of that lately and Tony Khan saving Ring of Honor would bring about a lot of positive press.

Sure, there are still big-name free agents out there to be had, not even including all the wrestlers Ring of Honor is letting go as a result of these changes. But AEW now has more than enough depth to complement the pure talent of its roster and more than anything needs a place for talent to hone their craft. ROH would be perfect for that, and given how successful Khan has been with generating interest for AEW outside the pro wrestling bubble, it’s possible he could even turn a profit with a Ring of Honor venture. If he can, it’s just another source of revenue for a company that’s always looking at ways to improve the show. If nothing else, it would be great fun for the fans, and a very nice gesture to continue the legacy of a company that played such a large role in the creation of AEW in the first place.

Ricky Starks as ROH World Champion, anyone?