Tony Khan Thinks ROH Has Different Audience Than AEW
Tony Khan claims ROH and AEW are “different things to a different audience in some ways, and I have different expectations.”
The Founder and CEO of All Elite Wrestling was speaking to the wrestling media following the latest Ring of Honor event and claims AEW has a “broader audience” whilst ROH satisfies the “hardcores”.
Tony Khan secured ownership of ROH in March 2022, promising to run the company separately from AEW, however hinting that it could be used as a way to develop future AEW talent.
Death Before Dishonor took place last Friday night in New Jersey and saw a stacked card of 12 matches take place.
The card was topped by Athena defending the ROH Women’s World Championship against Willow Nightingale, and Pac challenging Claudio Castagnoli for the ROH World Championship.
During the ROH Death Before Dishonor post-show media scrum, Tony Khan shone a light on how happy he is with ROH right now and that he has differing plans for the company from his goals for AEW.
As part of the press conference, Tony Khan explained how he feels the fan bases for both companies differ.
“Ring of Honor is a great wrestling promotion. It’s got a different mission. It’s got a different audience than AEW.”
“It’s maybe more focused to a hardcore audience, and I can do things programmed to the hardcores and deliver the kind of wrestling that I know a hardcore fan is gonna want to see.
“I think AEW speaks to maybe a broader definitely a bigger and broader worldwide audience. Ring of Honor has a great 21-year history and was, at one point, in my opinion, the number two wrestling company in North America, if not the world, and when AEW launched, that changed things.
AEW is a bigger challenger brand than there’s been in pro wrestling since the 90s. And it’s been a long time since there was a company like AEW that changed where Ring of Honor stood.”
“But now Ring of Honor is back, and I think Ring of Honor is still a major company. It’s not the number two company in the world. But I think there’s clearly two biggest companies, certainly in North America and I think worldwide, but really, I don’t think Ring of Honor has ever been more influential or powerful or well backed.”
Tony Khan would go on to share his pride in owning ROH and highlight that as he views it as its own unique company, the goals in mind for AEW differ to what he aims to achieve with ROH.
“I’m very glad to be the owner of Ring of Honor, and I enjoy booking Ring of Honor I enjoy booking AEW. They’re different things to a different audience in some ways, and I have different expectations”
Death Before Dishonor had faced last minute changes due to injuries, but the main show still saw Samoa Joe, Claudio Castagnoli, Pac, Athena, and Daniel Garcia in action.
H/t to WrestleZone