Ring of Honor has a two-decade history in professional wrestling. The company was once the darling of indie fans, providing a showcase for top talents like CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Samoa Joe long before they were ever signed to WWE, and offering an alternative to WWE’s more commercial style. The company has faced its share of turmoil as well, including business woes behind the scenes, as well as more visible challenges stemming from so many talents signing with WWE or AEW. Tony Khan, the CEO of AEW, bought ROH in 2022, and word emerged today that he’ll return to airing weekly TV for the brand starting March 2.
ROH Will Broadcast Weekly Episodes Via Honor Club
After Tony Khan bought ROH, he made a series of announcements across 2022 about the future of the company. In the media scrum after the AEW Revolution PPV, Khan clarified that ROH would remain its own separate brand from AEW. After the Final Battle show, branded under ROH this past December, Khan explained that ROH would resume weekly television, airing on the company’s streaming service, HonorClub.
Related: Ring Of Honor: 7 Things To Know About HonorClubIn a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Khan revealed further details. The first tapings for the new ROH will occur on February 25 and 26 at Universal Studios in Orlando. The first episode is set to air on HonorClub on March 2.
The ROH Brand Is Traveling A Unique Road
Some fans were disappointed when Tony Khan first revealed that ROH’s weekly television would resume on HonorClub—a standalone streaming service with an inconsistent record for how well it performs. It’s not entirely clear if this was a result of not finding a suitable deal to broadcast ROH on traditional television or more of a strategic move on Khan’s part to serve the company’s longer term instruments.
There is some precedent for national brands streaming online, with a number of smaller promotions relying heavily on YouTube and other major platforms to get their product in front of viewers. Meanwhile, NXT itself was relegated to the WWE Network and Hulu for years before transitioning to the USA Network in 2019. ROH will walk a middle ground between these models—streaming only, but behind a paywall and not on a platform that a larger audience of WWE fans or television viewers might already subscribe to. Khan emphasized in the interview all the past ROH content that will also be available on demand, though, not to mention the earlier word about planned improvements to the user experience on HonorClub.
Time will tell how the ROH brand will do in the long run. The promotion does have the benefit of deep pockets on the part of Tony Khan and a sibling relationship with AEW, each of which will give it extra time and room to adapt over the months, if not years to come.
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