The Rise And Fall Of Ring Of Honor

Ring Of Honor was home to many future WWE & AEW stars such as Adam Cole, CM Punk, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins and more. Following the announcement of the company's hiatus and subsequent releases, Ross Tweddell examines The RISE And FALL Of ROH.
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Cultaholic provides video coverage of professional wrestling - including WWE (including WWE Raw, WWE SmackDown, NXT and 205 Live), AEW, IMPACT Wrestling (formerly TNA), NJPW, ROH, and more with daily news updates, reviews, lists, highlights, predictions, reactions, podcasts and much, much more.

[@kokotheclown2588]

The fact they lasted more than ECW despite not been extreme or having huge names they still innovate the landscape and gave us the future of professional wrestling without them we wouldn’t have AEW since most of the AEW roster are ROH mainstay

[@vleaky3430]

Kinda dumb to compare ECW to ROH ECW thrived on scripted violence ROH relied on actual talent

[@AlexKaneROTN]

@@vleaky3430 your opinion is dumb

[@vleaky3430]

@@AlexKaneROTN I wasn't asking. Speak only when spoken to.

[@davidhadley1391]

@@vleaky3430 ECW had Taz, RVD, Lynn, Guido, Super Crazy, and Tajiri but those kind of wrestlers were few and far between a lot of hardcore guys.

[@vleaky3430]

@@davidhadley1391 they're all legendary wrestlers with actual talent but even they had to do hardcore dumb sh.. to keep them insane fans happy. Sorry I just don't get that style. A little bit here and there is fine in normal matches, but as the main thing it just makes me cringe.

[@liamhemstock2286]

The problem with ROH is the talented people left and did fantastic things outside of the promotion and other companies did ROH on a bigger and (in my opinion) better scale. ROH relayed to much on NJPW and the Bullet Club that they didn’t take the time to build after them and thus here we are. They did the right thing by looking after their talents but unfortunately that came at a price. ROH has done so much for 21st century pro wrestling but I feel like it’s been dragging itself along for awhile now trying to keep up with everyone else. The ‘forbidden door’ between AEW and ROH wasn’t even opened until last night. That show was so strange, it felt like some people wanted it to be a tribute show and a goodbye to the promotion in terms of it’s not coming back at all by having Punk, Bucks, Page, Cole and Danielson all do promos for ROH basically even saying “this might be it” whilst the show also felt like it wanted to build to their return show in April 2022 (if that even happens) where they will probably have Titan and EC3 team up and maybe have Johnathan Gresham vs Bryan Danielson (because he mentioned there is two ROH legends that he wants to and WILL face and I think a return show with the return of Danielson AGAINST GRESHAM is a money match). Will that even happen? I don’t know

[@vleaky3430]

RoH had marketing problems. They wanted to remain indie forever. Of course you're not gonna get big with that. It's just like hip-hop artists who only wanna make music for "the hood" I mean how long will that last? Not very long...

[@danielpomerance6910]

The fact is they couldn’t replace the talented wrestlers that left

[@chrismcdonald6079]

@@vleaky3430 yep, but it was more of Sinclair broadcast wanting to keep them syndicated instead of expanding farther and allowing talent to be be seen on a larger scale

[@lamore5054]

I don’t think ROH will return. At best, a partnership or buy-out from AEW would help them rebuild but if nobody helps them, It’s probably over. It takes a lot to get fans interested in a Wrestling company, let alone a small and indie promotion that isn’t really familiar with casuals.

[@nielsen145]

@@lamore5054 well i hope Impact would make the buyout on ROH if that ever gonna happend

[@MentalLiberation]

I had stopped watching ROH in 2011 and was happy that they were still going strong, even contemplating watching it again. It's a sad state of affairs when a company this influential to wrestling had this happen to them. Still, the issues that hampered it were very rough. Here's to you, ROH, for all the great things you have done, fighting on in the face of adversity.

[@thecastleofenlightenment2604]

What happened to roh is they just stopped devoloping new talent. Whether that was their fault or there just wasn't anymore talent left with potential in the indies i dont really know. However ROH was always known for devoloping up and coming stars. Intill they didn't, once they no longer did it was game over since their talent would always get pouched. Once it was all pouched they became just another indie promotion. Nothing special about them

[@GTSN38]

My nephew wrestled for them years ago

[@ElmoKnowsWhereYouLive5150]

The fact that ROH is basically on their deathbed, and TNA (albeit under a different moniker) is still going is the ULTIMATE SWERVE!

[@Matt-cr4vv]

TNA for one thing was good at finding financial backing

[@kerantooccil9439]

Triple H in the "I had to do it to em" stance in the middle of an ROH ring says it all

[@malcolmbenjamin6687]

LMFAO

[@franklingoodwin]

ROH was the wrestling promotion nobody watched. It somehow had a monumental influence on the wrestling business despite the fact that nobody watched. Unfortunately for ROH it was to the benefit of WWE, TNA and AEW and not to ROH. If only they could've got a TV deal the wrestling landscape would be drastically different. AEW wouldn't exist without ROH and likely never would have if ROH had gotten a TV deal earlier

[@DaddyDethMetal]

Back in the day they use to be on Destination America every Wednesday as a follow in to Impact, with NXT on the WWE network. The original Wednesday night wars.

[@franklingoodwin]

@@DaddyDethMetal Oh, I didn't know that. I don't even know what that channel is because I'm from the UK (although I assume I would've heard of the channel it if was anything but small)

[@jonfun]

@@franklingoodwin also, sir, they were on Sinclair Broadcasting Company because Cary Silkin was working for them & got them on stations across the US too. So channels owned by Sinclair aired ROH programming.

[@rob9241]

The Sinclare group is actually a huge group that markets to most of the US. So ROH was owned by a tv network not had to cater to a network for broadcasting rights. Sinclare and ROH just dropped the ball in mismanaging ROH and promoting what they had. Much like WCW, WCCW, ECW and other wrestling promotions WWE is blamed for the failure when it is their own mismanagement that lead to their demise.

[@jonfun]

@@rob9241 close enough sir. Joey Mercury & prior Women Of Honor Women's Champion had a falling out with the company a few years ago because of that specific mismanagement.

[@darringardner6310]

I became a fan of ROH around 2010-2011 when Kevin Steen (Owens) was suspended and he had to win a match at Final Battle to be reinstated. Since then I saw what ROH had to offer. The way they produced matches and booked rivalries were always interesting to me. I hope they do make a big reemergence come April 2022. I hope they don't change what made them word of mouth.

[@brainhakker7133]

Kevin Owens SUCKS OUT LOUD !!

[@lukewarmstanhouston9957]

Ironically, ROH went all in on the guys who created All In and when those guys left ROH had no stars left.

[@edgehaedjr]

Ending it with a photo of Danhausen was perfect. Yes, you will support Danhausen! Very nice, very evil! 👍🏼

[@griffinemerson8475]

love that Danhausen.

[@projectgraham414]

Danhausen to A&W

[@edgehaedjr]

@@projectgraham414 Charge it to Dave Arby’s!

[@JW666]

For those who don't know; ROH still exists & is now owned by the AEW owner Tony Kahn.

[@adamcahn82]

ROH reminds me of the 1994 Montreal Expos. They had a ton of talent and were running away with the NL East. Then the strike happened, the season was canceled and when it ended all the best players left/traded b/c the team couldn’t afford them and the whole organization moved to Washington D.C.

[@paulweston8408]

The Expos never signed anyone to a contract in line with what other clubs could pay. Because of this the fans completely disappeared. I remember some games having less than 100 fans in a ballpark that held over 40,000. T At times more people played in the game than watched it. Jacksonville will be in this boat before long if they don't fire the current management and hire someone who knows what they are doing.

[@arizonawrestlinginterviews1040]

Have you seen the Urinatingtree video on the Expos/Nationals?

[@kenscott4702]

@@paulweston8408 if your talking about the Jaguars I don’t see that happening the NFL markets very well. It should because they don’t put a good product on the field

[@arizonawrestlinginterviews1040]

@@kenscott4702 Jaguars games will be packed to the rafters....with opposing team's fanbases

[@Videogamelover58]

Facts

[@randombencounter263]

Ring of Honor kept me a wrestling fan when WWE was at their absolute shittiest. I sincerely hope they come back strong.

[@SkylerDouglas]

WWE has been at their shittiest for a very long time now.

[@Ralphanthonybianscomusic]

This one depresses me. I stopped watching mainstream wrestling shortly before the debut of ROH. Being from South Jersey I was on hand for the very first CZW show as well as the first ROH show, and that allowed me to restore my love for wrestling when WWE lost my interest. Sucks to see them close their doors.

[@CptnUnseen]

Ya wwe will probably never regain what they once were from the great era’s of Monday night wars, to the attitude era and NXT in its glory days. But, we have Aew now and that’s pretty much the future folks

[@alexslavinzki2408]

@@CptnUnseen AEW is NOT the future. MLW and CZW are 100 times then the WWE re-hash company. AEW is a joke.

[@CptnUnseen]

@@alexslavinzki2408 ok troll

[@alexslavinzki2408]

@@CptnUnseen You comment about AEW is 100 percent TROLL.

[@imvishal24324]

@Just G Because it was good. Why is this so hard for you to comprehend?

[@C-Thunder]

This is indeed true, Sinclair around my area (NOVA, DMV) aired ROH very late on Saturdays around 1 or, 2 AM in the morning. For obvious reasons, not a lot of people watched ROH.

[@Sockcucker96]

I'm probably the same as a lot of people. Really liked ROH, thought of it as the best wrestling in America... Until AEW showed up. Sorry to ROH.

[@HA-409]

ROH died ☠ when they made Matt Taven ROH 🌎 Heavyweight Champion 🏆 🤷‍♂️ !!!!! Marty Scrull should have won or Jay Lethal should've retain the Title. Matt Tavon was the worst 🌎 Champ in ROH history, the boy just ain't got it and he absolutely fuckin sucks 🤮 !!! They brought that shit on themselves 💯 , TK will bring them back to relevancy .

[@jamalvargas6146]

This Makes Me Think If ROH Had A Television Deal around the same time as TNA that'd be cool and I'll take that over Wrestling Society X On MTV.

[@galarthenry1450]

Facts

[@CptnUnseen]

I’m brand new to ROH because they did not have a tv deal I simply had not heard of them. Being wrestling fan since ‘80 What did I miss guys?? Wait, maybe I should watch this video first.. lol

[@ooonyxxx]

@@CptnUnseen you didn't miss much to be honest all of their stars are now in either AEW or WWE

[@TinkSalsa]

@@CptnUnseen many of their best matches they posted on youtube, so look them up on here.

[@LostChrisB]

I’ve seen this video before? Oh god, it’s literally ECW beat for beat, they come in with fresh ideas, set a new standard and create new stars, then they start loosing performers to bigger companies, their more successful styles/ideas are integrated into other promotions product and they struggle to get a successful TV deal that ultimately falls through. Money becomes tight, the writing is on the wall and then seemingly its all over. Is this what happens in the American wrestling industry, innovators pioneer the next big thing but businessmen copy it and make it work for the larger audiences.

[@Emporkommling]

On of the cofounders was a protege of Heyman’s, right? Makes sense that the student’s promotion would die out similarly to his teacher’s.

[@Anynom]

One thing always holding them back was production values. Fireworks and fancy screens wouldn't fit but it's hard to win newbies over when your weekly TV shows look like they're filmed by a high school video club. That made ROH look far more low-rent which was a charm to the key fans but not for casual ones as it looked so cheap.

[@Matt-cr4vv]

This was why I never got into it. It just looked crappy.

[@thecastleofenlightenment2604]

It got better towards the end...What happened to roh is they just stopped devoloping new talent. Whether that was their fault or there just wasn't anymore talent left with potential in the indies i dont really know. However ROH was always known for devoloping up and coming stars. Intill they didn't, once they no longer did it was game over since their talent would always get pouched. Once it was all pouched they became just another indie promotion. Nothing special about them

[@wa2k99]

​@Matt look at 2002 vs 2019. You'll see a difference

[@spikescary8429]

I love that ROH now has come back bigger and better that ever.

[@theredspirit2090]

not really lol. no tv deal and small as venues. also locked behind a 10$ streaming app that no one buys

[@suneater98]

NJPW made ROH fun especially with LIJ AND BULLET CLUB

[@joshschneider9766]

Adam pearces resume is freaking insane.

[@cmartin8093]

Watching this after an certain promoter brought ROH

[@nubreaks2]

I will remind you that Joe became a big name in TNA as did Lethal and Homicide. Daniels was already a huge name. But, others made the move to the E-verse without TNA and are huge now. The history lesson was great as I didn't know the back story to RF Video.

[@JohnReedy07163]

Joe vs Punk in ROH put ROH on the map. Joe was a big name before TNA

[@nubreaks2]

@@JohnReedy07163, actually, he wasn't. ROH had a niche following. TNA was the second largest and mainstream. There are huge differences when it comes to exposure and recognition. In essence, if you didn't or hadn't wrestled in ECW, WCW, WWF, or TNA at that time, the general public didn't know you. According to a recent documentary, ROH was built on a model of 500 butts in seats per show. That's not going to make you big in wrestling except to niche independent fans. ROH screwed up when its relationship with TNA went south and it forced wrestlers to choose between the two. Without a television deal, that relegated it to being strictly niche.

[@dexenationgracey1979]

@@JohnReedy07163 He was indie famous in ROH but he becane mainstream when he went to TNA.

[@DaddyDethMetal]

I was never a big ROH fan but I have seen quite a bit of the classic matches, and have to admit if you were looking for 5 star matches ROH was your place. Anybody who was anybody in wrestling has passed through those doors it didn't matter if they were stars on the rise or old timers doing Indy tours most everybody was on top of their game. My favorite ROH memories are the Raven vs Punk fude and the CZW invasion with Samoa Joe vs Necro Butcher.

[@thecastleofenlightenment2604]

What happened to roh is they just stopped devoloping new talent. Whether that was their fault or there just wasn't anymore talent left with potential in the indies i dont really know. However ROH was always known for devoloping up and coming stars. Intill they didn't, once they no longer did it was game over since their talent would always get pouched. Once it was all pouched they became just another indie promotion. Nothing special about them

[@ApexZer0]

I've always wondered what would of happened if roh got TNAs tv deal on spike in its place

[@franklingoodwin]

AEW wouldn't have existed...that's what. TNA was never a good competition to WWE. ROH could have been the talent at it's disposable

[@Matt-cr4vv]

I doubt it propels ROH. They didn't have the financial backing to do what TNA did when it was doing well. And their production value always looked awful.

[@thecastleofenlightenment2604]

What happened to roh is they just stopped devoloping new talent. Whether that was their fault or there just wasn't anymore talent left with potential in the indies i dont really know. However ROH was always known for devoloping up and coming stars. Intill they didn't, once they no longer did it was game over since their talent would always get pouched. Once it was all pouched they became just another indie promotion. Nothing special about them

[@LestatandBerial]

I always feel bad I didn’t pay more attention to Ring Of Honor, but I always knew they had amazing talent just from word of mouth and what little I did see.

[@TheAlfredvlogs]

I 100% agree. I have heard of it but didn’t pay attention as wwe/tna was on TV but I hope Tony khan puts all the ROH PPV on a streaming service. I would love to go back and enjoy the matches.

[@kinggold5378]

I loved the ROH vs CZW feud...!!!! It's when I really started watching ROH !!

[@ussliberty4631]

Finestein, Weinstein, Epstein.... I'm starting to notice a pattern here....

[@jpsynthesis]

I really love this type of contents. Ngl, I know that Bryan Danielson have a history with ROH but I was caught by surprise to know that he's been there ever since its inception. Indirectly, ROH helped me to love wrestling because it created and honed some of the best wrestlers of this generation.

[@fergalstackstreams]

Do yourself a favor and watch that Triple Threat Match and also his matches in the Round Robin Challenge from the second show. Even at a very young age, Danielson was an absolute master in the ring.

[@britneyspearsvillarosa]

I kinda of liked ROH so did my late wonderful dad

[@ZERO9098767]

"I'll pretend you said 18" Yea, totally innocent...

[@Emporkommling]

That was unsettling to learn. I never knew their original booker was a pe****ile prior to watching the video.

[@ZERO9098767]

@@Emporkommling I remember reading a comment on youtube that mentioned it, years ago. But, I never knew RF was even involved with RoH. I also just blew it off when I read it, because, you know... KZbin comment... lol

[@josephsmithmeyer1195]

Roh was a great company that constantly was losing its top talent to the WWE and continued to stay alive for twenty years while continuing to build up more stars and find people all over the corner of the globe

[@MetalMadness_00]

And the last big stars taken were Britt & Hangman

[@bastienclo2388]

Samoa Joe Cm Punk Seth Rollins Bryan Danielson Jay Lethal Adam Cole etc,thanks for the memories ROH❤️

[@danielburger1775]

None of those guys ever drew a dime.

[@aadityasharma6855]

@@danielburger1775 rollins is a Big draw and punks return was also a draw for aew although aew is back to low.

[@danielburger1775]

@@aadityasharma6855 Punk's arrival in AEW resulted in people watching out of curiosity. But, numbers immediately returned to normal, and he didn't actually draw anything. And Seth Rollins has never drawn. You are deluded if you think Rollins is a draw.

[@alcheman12]

I love that Delirious never actually "lost control" of booking but everyone seems to like saying it to make Cornette seems worse

[@ko9killer]

That’s the name of the game nowadays. Cornette’s opinions are seen as “old fashioned”. They are…But they also worked for the most part

[@alcheman12]

@@ko9killer yeah but he was more there to help ROH survive and manageable. He mostly served more advisor when it came to creative

[@Emporkommling]

People get caught up in the false dichotomy that if you like AEW, you have to badmouth Cornette. Or that if you’re a hip toss wrist lock kind of fan, you have to crap on everything Tony Khan books. You can like Corny and All Elite.

[@Raddon]

@@ko9killer If we are being honest he did nothing for ROH and one could even argue ROH lost fans and momentum during his time there.

[@rhomo001]

Great analysis Jack. While Jim is a source of information that is hard to quote without questioning motive i would also point out that Sinclair management (Gary the office boy ) while not mentioned do get some blame for being very tight fisted and being terrible to work with and Ross the merch guy for losing Adam Pierce to NXT. Source is breaking kayfabe with Jim C

[@dylanogg347]

Even Impact, who everyone thought would bite the dust several times over and was under ROH for a long time began kicking them at the back end. But I do hope for all the best for ROH and that it continues to thrive.

[@robchuk4136]

ROH's story porbably deserves a more comprehensive telling. Many key bits of information here just drop out of nowhere, lol. This breakdown moves very quickly, and reminds me of a friend who tells his stories with a lot of "Oh, I forgot to mention..."

[@greatnezz10]

Even the last show was good but it was a bit of a let down

[@stevengrubb715]

When I saw that Sinclair bought Ring of Honor, I thought to myself, "This isn't good." The hideous did mention the bad debt the media company has now. I have seen a number of fans from other sports complain about Sinclair's business practices in regards to regional programming and streaming (Bally Sports).

[@PP-xc1gt]

That video is the perfect ROH hIstory lesson 👌

[@JaymesMedia]

Maybe it’ll be revived with Tony Kahn as the new owner.

[@cmpunk61974]

You spoke

[@CKO92]

Don't buy the "hiatus" talk. ROH is DONE. The wrestling world hasn't seen a promotional collapse like this since WCW folded.

[@Urineil]

Now that ROH is owned by TK i hopw it is here to stay

[@TSEEMOD_618]

The whole decline started in 2013, when they became NJPW "USA" basically Defining ROH "second promotion in US" in 2018, while they were at that time the puppets of NJPW, is quite of a joke

[@TSEEMOD_618]

@@Deadguy2322forreal they needed NJPW because they were shittier than Impact in 2014-16

[@danosha8588]

I never really watched ROH but I always thought it had a strong enough fan base given they'd been going as long as TNA now Impact Wrestling had been around. As a wrestling fan in general you don't want to see promotions ''potentially'' fold but thrive so fans get the chance to see what talent is out there no matter what form of wrestling your into

[@EmpireZzzz]

And now Tony khan bought ROH and made it trash and boring

[@aniruddhachakraborty1918]

Aew purchased roh

[@HeartlandNewsfeed]

Needs updating now that Tony Khan bought ROH from Sinclair Broadcast Group!

[@AndyKazama2]

I remember watching ROH on Xtreme tv on sky. Hope ROH makes a successful return one day

[@anthonycerulli6422]

With braun strowman returning we are good

[@gordonjamescowiest]

@@anthonycerulli6422 no they're not, if they were good they wouldn't be in the position that they are in right now!

[@jamesward8041]

They are coming back April 2022 with a revamp

[@PhantomFTW.]

ROH was doomed as soon a cornette got the Pencil

[@MaxwellBort311]

and it rises again

[@freespeechchampsusanwojcic2528]

I got into ROH after Punk's infamous pipe bomb in 2011, started watching it on KZbin and finding their ppv dvds on NF's dvd service. Their ppv catalog had incredible wrestling matches that I hadn't seen in the 20 years I'd been watching wrestling and their current product was interesting enough to keep me interested. It was Jay Lethal's run that defined this era and I would say the peak of ROH after losing so much talent to NXT. The show still managed to keep my attention until about 2015/2016 when they really started to focus more on sports entertainment, putting more attention on Dalton Castle (a modern day Rico gay stereotype) and Cheeseburger (a 100 lb jobber). I can't remember exactly when I stopped watching, but the wrestlers became lame and the wrestling was below subpar. I started watching again a year ago, seemed they improved if not starting to backslide into old bad habits. The idea of a hiatus and reboot is much needed in the product, hopeful they think of a different gimmick that makes them standout in the saturated wrestling market.

[@carloscervantes1691]

ROH 4life and Forever Thank you for memories ROH ✊🏼

[@kenjiii728]

Ring of Honor is the development company for rising stars, then they either go to TNA to continue or overseas and head to NJPW and finally they go to WWE or AEW

[@dexenationgracey1979]

ROH always felt like the true successor of ECW.

[@allanbayasbas2982]

If Rollins become AEW soon he be rename as Tyler Black and then TYLERxMoxley as TAG TEAM in AEW :)

[@roddricktillman2996]

ROH & the early TNA days helped me maintain my interest in pro wrestling after ECW folded & the Monday night wars ended.

[@jimlahey9381]

Any chance of a Dark Side episode about that rob feinstein incident and ROH?

[@matthewpulama106]

A Dark Side Of The Ring on ROH's entire existence would be good, but It probably would be divided into 2 or 3 episodes, TBH.

[@impalaman9707]

ROH was there for me when I needed them. In 2011, I couldn't afford cable TV. The WWE already pulled out all their local programming so I was without TV wrestling for years. Thank goodness for Sinclair broadcasting who brought back wrestling to the masses. It was like 1985 Mid South Wrestling all over again for me, even on the same UHF channel I used to watch that show relgiously, and a show that presented old time wrestling like I remember

[@Hallofshame-f7x]

Do the rise and fall of evolve wrestling

[@MentalLiberation]

And now, ROH has been purchased by Tony Khan. How interesting the wrestling world can be

[@britneyspearsvillarosa]

Also early ROH Wrestlers used to do the lost art of Mat Stomping

[@jerryjanik480]

I always try to watch Ring of Honor when it was on but it was always on like different hours of the time on my TV and I never got a chance to watch it or I always forgot it was on it was always on late at night or won a football game or hockey game or something else was on

[@gregblanton9386]

Never was a roh fan, buylt hate to see any promotion go out of business. Hopefully Tony Khan will get it back to a weekly show with the same identity its fans loved.

[@aishwaryshukla7400]

Kudos to AEW for trying continue the ROH legacy

[@eugeneenyaosa6397]

Theyre doin a pretty piss poor job at it 🤷‍♂️

[@ryanstewart4444]

"Literally endless" in a video about the end of a promotion. smh I hereby nominate this as the best example of how not to use "Literally".

[@TheSilverEagle]

ROH was the best wrestling show in years. It was far better than the WWE can ever dream of being.

[@Lordjerry431]

I’m not the only one who thinks that AEW destroyed the ring of honor

[@SharkVshore]

Only Aew ?

[@montana01]

@@Deadguy2322forreal it's hard to not think AEW played a MAJOR role ; in ROH's downswing. About 12-15 key players to ROH; left at the launch of AEW. Former world champs (Cody & KennY) , Former Tag Champs (Young Bucks & SCU) , up in coming champs (Hangman Page, Scorpio Sky, Best Friends), veterans, (Colt Cabana, BJ Whitmer, Christopher Daniels) etc. plus valets, referee's, and more. ROH replaced them all with the best free agents; but at this point the perception had already changed. People didn't want to see Taven and Rush, nor someone like PCO for that matter. ROH was caught with their pants down; and when they started to fix their issues COVID hit. SO it's certainly not all on AEW; but if AEW never formed; ROH would likely still be the #2 promotion; and would have likely found/finalize a network deal for the product.

[@capngeeoff]

in my mind, Ring of Honor was the promotion to watch if you wanted to see the future of wrestling. Providing a growth environment for future world champions was their niche in the business. Unfortunately, they didn't really have anyone coming up under The Elite at the level of an AJ Styles, Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, Kenny Omega etc to take over when The Elite inevitably went on to greener pastures.

[@capngeeoff]

Plus, they went all in on Marty Scurll and then he had the metoo scandal...

[@zachstolpa6521]

Droped the ball with guys? Cornette pushed Steen, was in an odd predicament with generico, the young bucks even if you wanna say they played to some of the crowd better was not gonna work well with let’s say the briscoes, and omega literaly bailed to do a Japan show, Joey Ryan let’s not get started with. Like corny said “What are we running here make a wish?”. Booking is one thing but let’s be realistic about how corny tries to run an entire promotion compared to some modern Indy locals that stayed only being able to draw around 1500-maybe 2000 on their best night when corny has been able to draw close to 8500-even 10000 . Again maybe some of that is booking but I digress.

[@zachstolpa6521]

@@Deadguy2322forreal if there is other context to that specific situation ok and I’m not gonna deny he can get hyperbolic on him specifically but he has some criticisms of specifically what omega does that are true whether you wanna admit it or not.

[@HyperActive7]

If you look at ROH as a whole, what they did right they did well. The biggest problem was they didn't increase the size of their company and just sat there doing what made them famous twenty years ago. I don't think ROH is ever going to touch WWE or AEW because you revealed the real reason why they cannot even begin to compete with anyone in their debt problems which killed TNA and WCW who never have come back but have been shown loosely in context.

[@Matt-cr4vv]

I don't think they ever really had the money to try to grow much. TNA for it's faults almost always had a good financial backing to fall on so they could try to grow. AEW obviously has huge financial backing to grow. ROH didn't have that in their golden eras and when they were acquired by a company who could provide it that company didn't care to do so.

[@HyperActive7]

@@Matt-cr4vv Unless you get a company who has wrestling knowledge and is willing to pump in funds, it's a lost cause the minute you sign your name on the dotted line. It's like what USA has done all these years with Raw while Smackdown has jumped from channel to channel even though it was and is the better product. At the end of the day, a big corporation only cares about ratings that keep its hedge funds who control it happy.

[@AlexKaneROTN]

I'm still kinda surprised this happened to Ring of Honor rather than IMPACT Wrestling.

[@andypaps818]

Unlike Sinclair broadcast group Anthem sports and entertainment loves having wrestling and puts money into Impact wrestling

[@AlexKaneROTN]

@@andypaps818 yeah, kinda true....

[@JLPayne_78]

AND THEN: TK and AEW bought ROH and made it a decent offshoot of AEW that does shows on the internet and puts on some banging PPV's.

[@luisfuentes6873]

Some of my best wrestling memories came from roh shows. I hope they are able to work things out and come back stronger than ever.

[@Ratt2004]

I stopped watching in mid-2019. The whole MSG show was a tipping point. Sold out due to the Bullet Club, SCU, & others & then mere months beforehand, they all form AEW. Tuned in a few times that Summer & saw dickteases more or less "Oh, let's go to the end of this match, you can see the whole thing on Honor Club'...every show was the ending of a match, with maybe 1 full match at the end....just seemed pointless to me. THEN, don't get me started on the Kelly Klein situation. Fire the Women's Champ for speaking out about pay, while she's injured, just because she had ties to Joey Mercury? Real classy on their behalf. Not to mention, you had a list of Champions, Midcard Matt Taven...over-the-hill PCO, & then what...the rest of the ROH World Champions lists were talents on loan from CMLL? That just screamed 'hey, we have a plethora of talent, but we don't trust our rising homegrown talents'. Sucks, as the company was good, but has truly soured on a lot of people. Seeing the results of the whole Final Battle show, it does make it feel like they do have a catalyst for a 'new' RoH, but hearing Jonathan Gresham is starting his own company, & winning the belt, does make one wonder if his new company has something to do with that.

[@noneofyourbusiness1114]

Didnt they make PCO champ tho?

[@iainmooney8610]

Weird how people now forget how awful Cornette actually is at booking. He's never done much of note on a national scale. The king of armchair bookers and pundits.

[@TimTE01]

Aw, you mad bro? :-)

[@franklingoodwin]

Yet he still knows more than the armchair wrestling marks will ever know

[@Raddon]

@@franklingoodwin He might even be a genius, but his involvement in ROH actually hurt the promotion.

[@zachstolpa6521]

@@Raddon in what ways?

[@zachstolpa6521]

Or maybe you just view talent entirely differently then a life long booker but that doesn’t matter, when Cornette outdrew any show to date ROH had when he arrived with his entire time at Smokey mountain or OVWbut I guess that doesn’t matter. Or maybe give context behind why some talents simply made it harder for corny but the the wrestler is never wrong to marks, wtf does a booker know.

[@johnathanrush4666]

I blame Sinclair. As we've learned this century, running a wrestling company like a traditional business doesn't work.

[@bigjoeofthe707]

Going national I think is what hurt them too. They were good as an indie promotion. Once Silken took em national with that deal with HDNet it started to hit bad financially so he sold it to Sinclair Broadcasting Group who despite having the money to back ROH they still treated it like an indie promotion. Holding it in venues you would find indie shows. If ROH comes back I think it should go back to being one of the top indie promotions in the world and give All In to AEW (it’s the birth of AEW anyways).

[@MortanAMrk]

RoH was an amazing promotion that made great upon great upon great, and gave the young talents the breathing ground to rise to the top

[@MrStlouis09]

Pretty soon you’re going to have to make a video about the resurrection of ring of honor

[@kaodik]

This is some good stuff. I was there days. Knew rob thru me being part of the doghouse school (trained by Homicide and loki). Good times. Rf isn't doing dvds anymore starting January 1. Not enough Homicide mentions in this by the way. He was key from the beginning of RoH

[@eugeneenyaosa6397]

Cant even imagine what it mustve been like being trained by Low Ki of all ppl. Id be scared straight as soon as he walked in lol

[@kaodik]

@eugene enyaosa he was strict but thats how schools were back then. Very thorough. Laithon(tower of torture) was the main trainer. He was a local indy guy that next made TV. Homicide and loki trained him. It was a great school

[@eugeneenyaosa6397]

Thanks for shedding some light on the training regimen. Im sure that will always be a major highlight of your experience in wrestling. I know id be scared to sneeze in front of Low Ki if he was my trainer lol. Did you ever get to watch any live matches feat Low Ki or Homicide at ringside??

[@kaodik]

@eugene enyaosa oh yeah of course. I was actually a manager for homicide for a little while. But when they worked japw, usa pro and early roh..I was always there

[@ko9killer]

Hot take coming in. I love the series, I love the information given, and I love the presentation and respect all the work put into these projects. However… I believe that Ross is NOT the guy to do the video for these types of things. Ross, as he should be, is one of those personalities that needs to speak “in his own words“. We can’t criticize wrestlers for sounding “wooden” and then go ahead and do the same thing on KZbin. Write a script to keep things organized, of course… But doing it Word for Word just sounds like good old Master Twiddle is bored as hell. My own personal opinion.☺️

[@honestreviewer7788]

imagine if Sinclair was willing to spend the $ that anthem did and does for impact.

[@oddishhonor]

LOL at tony khan saying he’s sending talent. And all he sent was videos of his contracted wrestlers and FTR to start up a feud with the briscoes, which will ultimately only benefit AEW. Literally vulture picking at bones

[@KDProductions87]

I can see why roh wouldn’t want bigger stars like that at the show. Sure it would get a good pop but you figure entrances, promos, exits. Each would have been easily 10-15 minutes and would have had to shorten matches. Not really fair to the talent who were scheduled to work.

[@oddishhonor]

@@Deadguy2322forreal would I though? I was making an observation I found funny. You on the other hand are making an assumption about someone in the comments on a KZbin video whom you don’t even know. Get it together man. You projection the kind of fan you are onto is just sad.

[@Raddon]

He was refering to Jay Lethal.

[@oddishhonor]

@@Deadguy2322forreal learn how to read and use comprehension skills. I won't dumb myself down to your level.

[@crypticcryptid5104]

People said how ROH had fallen these last few years (They had ups and downs like every promotion) but I never felt that. The Pure championship tournament was awesome, they had great factions (the Foundation, LFI, Violence Unlimited, the Righteous) that utilized nearly all their talent, those not in factions had story lines, they had great world champions in Rush and Bandido and most importantly put on solid wrestling matches. Here's hoping they come back, they deserved better.

[@NJ973201]

Late response but a couple of details are left out. -The ECW fancams that Feinstein was putting out also included the Hardcore TV & TNN tapings in full. -The angle with CZW was their second time working together. Their first time was in 2002 which lead to double-header shows in the same nearby area for a few months. This was their way to combat XPW who moved to Philadelphia and made exclusive deals with talent and the ex-ECW Arena, the latter of which affected both CZW & 3PW (Blue Meanie's promotion) who were regularly holding shows there.

[@Chubby126]

FWA. What could of been. You need to do a video on that promotion.

[@TheRealRollerCodster]

The old ROH days were so awesome. So much talent coming from here. What a great part of wrestling history. Now Tony Kahn will make it great again!

[@johnrodriguez4905]

2014 was the best year for ring of honor

[@aaronbakerbcg3984]

You need to make an update. 🤣

[@RoyFizzle]

Cody killed ROH Like a chest burster

[@greggmcdonnell1879]

I remember when they had the bullet club and they (BC and ROH) seemed like the hottest thing in wrestling bar none- you had BC shirts in the crowd on raw and it was the first time since the nWo that I have seen anything in wrestling get more over in the UK than anything WWF/E had at the time. As the video hinted at not striking that iron when it was hot was perhaps the sliding doors moment. If they went ‘all in’ (pun intended) ROH might occupy something like the spot AEW have in todays wrestling landscape but that’s another of wrestlings great what ifs.

[@drs4983]

AEWs secret is having a billionaire fan willing to throw a bunch of money into the promotion who also had a contact at TNT to get the show on the air in the first place

[@phabiorules]

To be honest, striking while the iron was hot may gave hurt them regarding BC. They focused their entire show around them, to the point that they became more over than ROH. So when they started AEW, a lot of people followed. They should have instead used that time to focus on non BC members more.

[@martinandersen7735]

we gonna miss you ROH

[@nathanieltovar5171]

Fall??!! I'm pretty sure their Championship was defended on a major television network last week. This is just the begging. This push will give them a chance to revive PURE wrestling

[@blocker1954]

Excellent analysis. Thank you for this.

[@misterelom]

17:16 boy was he right about that one. TK era ROH is ROH in name only. In fact, it's barely a promotion but just another section of AEW disguised in ROH clothing. The magic is gone sadly.

[@banshotenin1178]

Really tho? A 14 year old boy...God help this world.

[@debapriyomukhopadhyay2329]

Now ,THAT a great passionate wrestling fan with money has bought ROH ,, It'll rise AGAIN for good!! Roh will rise!! Tony khan needs more appreciation for what he's doing for wrestling!!!!