Eric Bischoff On Ring of Honor: “Insignificant Unknown Brand”
Eric Bischoff has spoken up about how he feels about the ROH brand, calling it an “insignificant, off-the-radar, unknown brand” in the world of professional wrestling.
Ring of Honor was purchased by AEW’s Owner/President Tony Khan back in March 2022 for an undisclosed amount. ROH started in 2002, so they have an extensive video library with big matches featuring many top wrestlers of the last 20 years including some AEW talent like Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Claudio Castagnoli and others.
While Khan and his team are searching for a television home for ROH, they haven’t found one yet. That has led to many ROH titles as well as some of its announcers appearing on AEW television frequently.
On a recent episode of his Strictly Business podcast, former WCW President Eric Bischoff criticized ROH calling it “insignificant” among other things.
“How many YouTube viewers did Ring of Honor get before they were purchased? You’re talking about tens of thousands, maybe? It was an insignificant, off-the-radar, unknown brand, with the exception of the most active of the internet wrestling community who sought it out.”
The WWE Hall of Famer Bischoff also claimed that the ROH video library wasn’t worth much at all.
“The library was worth almost nothing. A lot of that library is so poorly produced it doesn’t lend itself to a premium streaming platform.”
Since purchasing Ring of Honor, Khan has run the already scheduled Supercard of Honor XV in the Dallas area during WrestleMania weekend and they also ran Death Before Dishonor in Lowell, Massachusetts in July. There have been no announcements for when another ROH PPV will take place.
Chris Jericho beat Claudio Castagnoli for the ROH World Title at Dynamite Grand Slam on September 21 and will defend the title again against Bryan Danielson on October 12th in Toronto. It was Jericho’s eighth time winning a World Title in professional wrestling, which has led to Jericho adding “The Ocho” to his long list of ridiculous nicknames during his career.
H/t to SEScoops for the transcription.