Various: Tony Khan on ROH TV Deal Talks, NJPW Strong Card, Nick Aldis Backstage Heat in NWA, Indies

Jul 22, 2022

Tony Khan on TV Deal Talks for ROH

AEW CEO and Ring of Honor owner Tony Khan held a media call on Thursday to promote this Saturday’s ROH Death Before Dishonor 2022 event.

One of the topics discussed included Khan’s thoughts on ROH’s roster size for the company’s relaunch and potential new television deal at some point in the future.

“I think it’s going to be a sliding scale in some ways. Just as AEW’s roster has expanded its programming and expanded. Really, if you look at how the roster grew, when we had AEW Dynamite and AEW Dark, we tried to build it, strengthen the roster, then we added Elevation and tried to add more young wrestlers, and it gave us more chances to develop people for those spots. I think around that time, a lot of young wrestlers did break through and get on TV. Then last year, almost one full year ago, we added AEW Rampage and with three hours of television, and had to build and strengthen the roster more.
So with Ring of Honor, we haven’t got the weekly TV going yet. I say yet, because it is something that is important to me. I really think we will get a weekly Ring of Honor show but I’m not going to do it until the distribution deal makes sense and is right for everybody. I think right now we have a certain number of key stars for Ring of Honor, as well as performers that will be really important in the [short-term]. Also for the long-term future. Some developmental stars for the future, as well as some of the key stars to the history of Ring of Honor signed up. So I think right now it’s not the biggest version of the roster, and I would expand it and add more people. You know, because right now, most of what you see with Ring of Honor is taking place either on these big pay-per-view events like we saw with Supercard of Honor and now Death Before Dishonor this weekend. Also wrestlers being involved in events with AEW, the two companies that I’m the owner and CEO of and also with companies that we work with, for example, New Japan Pro Wrestling. So I think right now is not the biggest version of the Ring of Honor roster. It’ll probably expand once the TV gets going, if that makes sense.”

Khan also stated that he has held recent conversation with Warner Bros Discovery officials over a potential television deal for ROH.

“Well, I have talked to Warner Brothers Discovery and I’m continuing to talk to Warner Brothers Discovery about it. I had worked with them to get Death Before Dishonor on Bleacher Report, where it’ll be available this weekend. I think that’s a really positive step. The first time Ring of Honor has worked with Warner Brothers Discovery. I believe it’s going to be one of the biggest pay-per-views in Ring of Honor’s history. So I spoke to them yesterday, and they’re really excited about this event. There’s been good preordering. It’s a different pattern than AEW, but for Ring of Honor, this is going to turn out to be one of the strongest shows in their 20-year history of producing events. So I think it’s a great way to start the partnership with this event. Get Warner Brothers Discovery familiar with the Ring of Honor brand, which is happening. You know, we’ve been in Atlanta this week, one of the home cities of Warner Brothers Discovery, a lot of executives have come to the show and been around AEW, and also around a lot of the great Ring of Honor stars. So I think there’s definitely appetite on both sides and interest. Like I said, we’re starting things out together with our first pay-per-view event with Warner Brothers Discovery working with Ring of Honor and hopefully, I really, really would love to parlay that into weekly TV for Ring of Honor, which would be I think great for the wrestling fans and obviously great for everybody working with Ring of Honor.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Full Card for Saturday’s Episode of NJPW Strong

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced the full card for this Saturday’s Ignition Night 3 themed episode of NJPW Strong, which will air on New Japan World starting at 8:00PM EST.

Jordan Cruz vs. JR Kratos
Mascara Dorada, Rocky Romero, & David Finlay vs. Negro Casas, Adrian Quest, & Lucas Riley
NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship tournament Semi-Finals Round match – Christopher Daniels & Yuya Uemura vs TMDK (Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls)

NWA News & Notes

The National Wrestling Alliance reportedly is currently working on plans to introduce a new NWA Women’s Television Championship in the future, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that NWA officials recently held talks over potential plans for Allysin Kay to receive the belt as part of an upcoming push planned for her in the company.

The NWA recently announced two new matches for the card of their NWA 74 event on August 27-28 in St. Louis, Missouri:

August 27th, Night 1 – Tables match – Bully Ray vs. Mike Knox
August 28th, Night 2 – NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship match – Tyrus vs. Trevor Murdoch (c)

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that the reason why the NWA dropped Nick Aldis from the originally announced NWA Worlds title match against Murdoch at their upcoming NWA 74 event was due to growing backstage issues between Aldis and NWA owner Billy Corgan. The working relationship between the two reportedly had been eroding for some time and revolved around Aldis being upset over NWA’s creative decisions and plans, which were stated to be 100% Corgan’s vision at this point. Johnson reported that Aldis also has been dealing with “magma level” heat backstage over him rubbing people the wrong way by trying to portray himself as being above the NWA and constantly being critical of Corgan’s creative decisions for the company.

In regards to Aldis’ status for the upcoming event, Johnson reported that his sources stated that NWA officials still have him scheduled to compete at the event but his match and opponent is currently not known.

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

WWE and professional basketball player Kevin Durant’s venture fund reportedly recently invested in a lacrosse league called Premier Lacrosse League, according to Bloomberg.

House of Glory recently announced that Pro Wrestling NOAH talent Naomichi Marufuji will be making his official debut for the company at their High Intensity 2022 event on August 28th in New York City, New York.

Masked Republic recently announced that they have signed a partnership deal with Demente Animation Studio for the production of a new animated wrestling-based series called “Legend of Luchasatsu.” It was also announced that Ultimo Dragon will be working as the executive producer for this upcoming new series.

All Japan Pro Wrestling announced that Ryoma Tsukamoto recently left the company. It was announced that the official reason was due to him not recovering well from his current injury and had requested his release which was granted.

Game Changer Wrestling recently announced that Jon Moxley will be making an appearance for the company at their Homecoming 2022 Part One event on August 13th in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

As noted before, Wrestling Entertainment Series announced earlier this month that they had cancelled their debut event in Nottingham, England for the second time in a row. During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Dean Muhtadi (former Mojo Rawley in WWE) stated that he made sure all talent who were booked for the cancelled event through his agency were paid due to the terms in their contracts. Muhtadi also stated that he made sure WES had provided some funds to help pay local U.K. talents who lost out on a pay check from the cancelled event.

Starrcast recently announced that Bully Ray, James Storm, Crimson, Ricky Shane Page, Crowbar, and Kommander are the first set of official competitors for the Bunkhouse Battle Royal match at Ric Flair’s Last Match event on July 31st in Nashville, Tennessee.

United Wrestling Network recently announced a new match for the card of their Golden Opportunity on August 9th in Irvine, California:

UWN World Championship – Colt Cabana vs. Jordan Clearwater (c)

Major League Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Music City Mayhem event on July 30th in Nashville, Tennessee: