What is Ring Of Honor supposed to be? | Opinion
ROH’s first pay-per-view of the year, Supercard of Honor, takes place tonight. As with most ROH shows under Tony Khan, it is bound to be great. After all, when was the last time someone like Bandido had a bad match? One of the best matches of last year was at Death Before Dishonor, where he retained the ROH title over Hechnicero in a bout that got many match of the year votes in the Wrestling Observer Awards.
But the buzz for Supercard of Honor is minimal. In an era where WWE and AEW compete for attention, ROH often feels in the background, with people focusing on CMLL, NJPW, Stardom, or other international promotions for alternatives to the big leagues. The aim for ROH seems to be a place where you can watch a bunch of great wrestling, but these days that’s commonplace everywhere. There isn’t much reason to watch Ring of Honor, which after all these years under Tony Khan still feels like it’s trying to find an identity.
The weekly television isn’t much to talk about. Everyone wrestles well. There is talent there you don’t see on AEW television on a weekly basis, like Jordan Oliver & Alec Price or Lee Moriarty. But a lot of the matches on TV do feature AEW talent, many of whom don’t win on Dynamite or Collision. That makes ROH feel like the C-show, a Velocity or Heat where people may win there, but often are the ones who get pinned on AEW television. AR Fox, for example, defeated Nick Wayne on yesterday’s ROH television show to win the promotion’s TV title. That’s great, AR Fox always delivers. But his last win on AEW television was last year in a multi-man pre-show match before Double or Nothing and has done nothing but lose on Dynamite and Collision. What does that say about ROH’s champions?
Storylines on the brand just seem to kind of come and go, with nothing generating much attention. The one long-term storyline has Billie Starkz, longtime Athena minion, tired of Athena’s antics but never really pulls away for good and somehow they just stick together. This is good for a year-long build culminating in a big match. But they’ve already had the big match against one another, twice! The two headlined BOTH Final Battle 2023 and 2024, with Starkz coming up short each time. And wouldn’t you know it, the two are fighting again just one day before they are both in a Survival of the Fittest match for the ROH Women’s Championship. What’s the end goal here? Will this storyline ever advance?
Despite all of my criticisms, there are recent moves made that I like. They recently moved ROH’s tapings to a studio in Jacksonville, Florida, giving the shows a more individual feel. Great! The company should go in this direction and go further, perhaps go the NXT route and focus more on younger talent they have plans for in the future. Most importantly, the promotion’s champions and talent shouldn’t be going on AEW television to lose. ROH shouldn’t feel like AEW’s C-show; it should feel like its own brand, and treating it more like a developmental brand to focus on younger talent should be the way to go.
When Tony Khan purchased ROH years ago, I liked the idea, as it gave AEW a library to build upon and people got to keep their jobs when it was clear Sinclair Broadcasting was all but done with professional wrestling. But the promotion needs to stop being treated like an afterthought. AEW has a deep enough roster where creating a distinct talent pool isn’t out of the question. There’s great potential for keeping the ROH brand alive, but right now I’m just not seeing it.
Bryan Rose is an editor from California that has been covering professional wrestling for well over a decade. He officially joined F4WOnline as an editor in 2017.