On March 2, 2022, AEW Founder Tony Khan announced on a live episode of AEW Dynamite that he purchased Ring of Honor wrestling. Many were wondering what Tony Khan would do with the promotion.
Fast forward, there have been two Ring of Honor shows, Supercard of Honor and Death Before Dishonor. Both were fantastic shows, and wrestling fans are wondering when Ring of Honor would get a television deal or if they were going to be streaming only. Tony Khan is currently looking for a television deal for Ring of Honor.
Right now, AEW has four shows, Dynamite, Rampage, Dark, and Dark Elevation. Earlier this year, I discussed whether AEW should start a development league. The short answer is yes. When it comes to AEW’s two big shows, what if Tony Khan rebranded one of them to get Ring of Honor on television?
The show that Tony Khan should rebrand is Rampage as an ROH show. Currently, Rampage airs every Friday at 10 pm on TNT. It’s in a bad time slot, and the events are taped except for a few occasions like pay-per-view weeks.
Tony Khan could rebrand Rampage as a two-hour show that could air on TNT, TBS, or be part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service. Rebranding Rampage as a Ring of Honor show will give it a different presentation, and Rampage needs a fresh start. A fresh start would give Rampage a new leash of life.
Recently, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that HBO Max and Discovery Plus are merging in 2023 under a new name. Streaming services are looking for fresh content to get people to sign up. Many streaming services have targeted sports because they know people will sign up for their service if they carry their favorite sport. Within the last year, Amazon acquired the NFL Thursday Night package, and Peacock got the WWE Network.
For wrestling fans that pay for Peacock, they can watch all the WWE content, current, and past events, and watch all pay-per-views live at $49.99 a year or $4.99 a month. In addition, wrestling fans can watch other shows, sports, live tv, movies, and more.
When it comes time for AEW to re-negotiate their television contract, Warner Bros. Discovery might want AEW to air their pay-per-views and air Ring of Honor exclusively on their streaming service. In order to get people to subscribe, they will need to move some of the wrestlers over to Ring of Honor.
There’s no denying that AEW’s roster is bloated. They have too many wrestlers under contract, and there’s not enough television time to put them on tv. Some of these wrestlers can use a fresh start, and moving them to ROH will do that.
The current champions in Ring of Honor are Claudio Castagnoli (Heavyweight Champion), Mercedes Martinez (Women’s World Champion), Samoa Joe (Television Champion), FTR (Tag Team Champions), Wheeler Yuta (Pure Champion), and Dalton Castle & The Boys (Six-Man Champions). In addition, Jay Lethal, Brian Cage, and the Gates of Agony (Kaun & Toa Liona) have appeared in the two Ring of Honor shows.
Moving Brian Cage to Ring of Honor was smart, and there are more in AEW that can use a fresh start. As time progresses, AEW could incorporate storylines of wrestlers’ contracts ending, but in reality, they are switching brands or have a draft every year. Here are the wrestlers that should move to Ring of Honor.
| Single |
| Claudio Castagnoli (Blackpool Combat Club) |
| Samoa Joe |
| Jay Lethal |
| Wheeler Yuta (Blackpool Combat Club) |
| Brian Cage |
| Dalton Castle |
| Sammy Guevara |
| Lance Archer |
| Lee Moriarty |
| QT Marshall (The Factory) |
| Anthony Ogogo (The Factory) |
| Peter Avalon (The Wingmen) |
| Ryan Nemeth (The Wingmen) |
| Hook |
| Ethan Page |
| Luchasaurus |
| Satnam Singh |
| Sonjay Dutt |
| Angelico |
| Rush |
| Tag Team |
| The Boys (Brandon & Brent Tate) |
| Varsity Blondes (Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison) |
| Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) |
| The Butcher & The Blade |
| FTR (Dax Hardwood & Cash Wheeler) |
| Gates of Agony (Kaun & Toa Liona) |
| The Factory (Aaron Solo & Nick Comoroto) |
| The Wingmen (Cezar Bononi & JD Drake) |
| Women |
| Mercedes Martinez |
| Anna Jay |
| AQA |
| Bunny |
| Tay Conti |
| Kris Statlander |
| Willow Nightingale |
| Kiera Hogan |
| Ruby Soho |
| Serena Deeb |
When it comes to commentary, Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are great announcers for Ring of Honor, along with Lexy Nair as the backstage interviewer. However, I would love for AEW to add a heel backstage interviewer. It would be a throwback to when Jesse Ventura was a heel commentator in the WWF and interviewed all the heel wrestlers. The heel backstage interviewer can interview the heel wrestlers, while Lexy Nair interviews the babyface wrestlers.
Mister Saint Laurent of MLW is one broadcaster I would love to see as the heel backstage interviewer. He did a good job as the MLW’s heel commentator, and adding him would be an excellent addition to Ring of Honor.
This would be a good start for the new Ring of Honor. Wrestlers would finally get time on television. Ring of Honor would have their signature show, Rampage, and more wrestling for the fans to watch.
