More on Tony Khan’s purchase of Ring of Honor

Tony Khan didn’t make us wait for the big announcement he promised on the Mar. 2 edition of AEW Dynamite. But even after he opened the show with the news he’d purchased Ring of Honor from Sinclair Broadcasting we had questions about what it meant. Most of those questions persisted after reading his press release, which ended with the line, “further details about the extent of this acquisition will be announced in the coming weeks.”

But wrestling fans don’t like to wait weeks for answers. So while these should probably be taken with a Rumor Roundup-sized grain of salt, we figured you’re probably as curious as we are. So here goes...

• One person told Cassidy Haynes of bodyslam.net Khan paid $30-$40 million for ROH, but Haynes was unable to confirm that with any other sources at AEW or ROH.
• PWInsider’s sources tell them WWE had “preliminary conversations” with Sinclair about buying ROH “several years ago.” Obviously, nothing came of those discussions.
• All of ROH’s talent was either released when the promotion went on hiatus last year, or their contracts will expire this month. Insider reminds us that means anyone TK wants to have work for AEW or ROH going forward, such as The Briscoes or Jonathan Gresham, will need to be signed.
• Talents who are booked for April 1’s Supercard of Honor event in Dallas were frustrated management hadn’t told them about ROH’s plans beyond that date. Mike Johnson of Insider says his “cell phone exploded with texts” from ROH wrestlers after the announcement, and none knew or would admit to knowing abot Khan’s purchase.
• Acquiring the ROH tape library means Khan now owns the footage from ALL IN. Johnson is one of many speculating that the addition of 20 years of Ring of Honor shows makes TK’s wrestling assets more attractive to streaming services.
• Johnson also theorizes ROH could be a home for the talents on the AEW roster who currently aren’t getting much television time. He even floats the idea of rebranding Dark and Dark Elevation with the Ring of Honor name to shop them for a separate TV deal.
• Haynes’ sources told him AEW plans “to utilize Ring of Honor as a developmental territory of sorts,“ and “that ‘Main Roster’ AEW Talent will be dipping into the ROH brand on occasion.”
• No word yet on if long-time ROH booker Hunter “Delirious” Johnson will have a role in the Khan-owned version of the company, per Insider. Johnson also wonders if TK’s purchase includes ROH TV’s timeslots on Sinclair syndicated channels and cable outlets like Stadium & NESN.

More to come, surely.