Tony Khan ROH media call notes: TV deal holdup, potential signing, injury updates
There is no news on a Ring of Honor TV deal other than ROH head Tony Khan says he has turned down several offers from “great” media partners.
Khan was asked about that and more during his Final Battle pre-call Thursday, the audio of which can be found below.
He said he’s had opportunities at times to put ROH on TV from “great” media partners, but that AEW is the focus with a “half billion dollar” contract. He thinks ROH media rights don’t have to be equal or greater than that, but any deal has to be something that makes sense and the perfect situation with a media partner. He says there has been interest, but didn’t say who from.
Khan also revealed that Queen Aminata wasn’t cleared for her ROH Women’s Pure title semifinal Wednesday so she had to forfeit, meaning Deonna Purrazzo has advance to the finals at Final Battle.
He also provided an update on Nick Wayne and said he’s expected back soon while admitting the recovery from his broken foot has taken longer than he originally thought to no fault of Wayne’s.
On whether he’s signed Zayda Steel to a contract, Khan said to “stay tuned” and hinted she might be wrestling against Leila Grey at Final Battle.
Other notes:
- Asked if Mercedes Mone could be more of a fixture on ROH going forward, Khan says he hopes so and referred to her as a “free agent” ROH brought in.
- Khan was asked about getting the Jack Harlow song “Lovin’ on Me” for Blake Christian’s entrance, but Khan has made no progress other than getting “1% approval.” If he can get the other 99% of stakeholders to approve, he’ll do it.
- Khan said he thinks this year has been the “most complete” and best year of TV/streaming specials for ROH since he bought it.
Click here to listen to the whole call.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.