Tony Khan made a huge spectacle about his purchase of Ring of Honor. Khan was excited and believes the addition of the ROH library and brand to All Elite Wrestling is a very big deal. At one time, Triple H felt the same way. The Game coveted Ring of Honor back in 2018.

Paul Levesque was building his vision of NXT as a developmental brand for WWE based on the principle that they wanted to sign the best independent wrestling talent and put on incredible shows that fans loved. It worked for a long time before Vince McMahon decided to go in another direction in The Game’s absence.

Triple H even pitched buying ROH to McMahon, but Vince wanted to go bigger. Dave Meltzer discussed the failed plan to buy ROH on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio. McMahon’s ambitions are somewhat stunning.

“I think this would be, I’m going to say, 2018. Early part of the year. WWE made a pitch. Paul Levesque wanted to buy Ring of Honor and there was some smoke to that, even though Ring of Honor obviously denied it at the time, because you always do. But there was something there. There were talks there and they ended up going nowhere.

Advertising
Advertising

From what I gather, Vince wanted to buy somebody bigger, not realizing that the ‘bigger’ which was New Japan Pro Wrestling, he couldn’t buy. WWE tried to buy New Japan. They tried to buy Stardom. They tried to buy NOAH. They tried to buy AAA. Nobody would sell to them from foreign countries for the price that they were willing to pay, so none of these deals ever got going, but this is one, obviously, that was in play, and you know, whatever.

They were not willing to sell then. But now, Sinclair, again, the regional sports network deals were such a big loser when Sinclair bought them from Fox. So now, they can’t keep on… They could, but they didn’t want to keep on a company that was not making them money, so that’s what led to all this.”

Things could be very different if WWE had purchased ROH in 2018. Had Vince McMahon not decided to go for something bigger, the entire wrestling landscape would be vastly changed from what it looks like today. In the end, Tony Khan ended up the winner. Ring of Honor is now All Elite.

What do you think of this story? Let us know in the comments!

Transcription by Ringside News

Michael Perry

Michael Perry is a news contributor for Ringside News and Thirsty for News. Michael has an M.A. in Communication Technology from Point Park University in his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA.

Disqus Comments Loading...