Normally you would see a review of ROH TV posted here on Monday’s, but I wanted to write about something different today. We’re on the way to ROH’s 12th Anniversary weekend and coupled with those two nights of wrestling will be HonorCon. It will take place Saturday, February 22nd and is a FREE event open to the public. PWP should have coverage from that event and while there are tons of fun events scheduled including a Q&A and arm wrestling contest, ROH promised a “very special” announcement. ROH’s newest adviser when it comes to marketing and branding Court Bauer, has always been talking about the big announcement on the MLW podcast while giving nothing away.
I guess the big question is what it could be. There are several things I am absolutely positive it isn’t (kinda). It’s not going to be CM Punk. It’s not going to be a new project involving Toby Keith and Jeff Jarrett. And it’s not going to be that RD Evans is a secret investor. But what is it going to be? There are a few things I’ll list:
- Creation of a ROH Network
- ROH going back to live iPPV
- ROH providing MP4/downloadable content instead of just VOD
- New talent
Creation of a ROH Network: With the WWE announcing their Network launch, it’s pretty easy to assume that with the vast library that ROH has they would want to capitalize on something similar. As they say, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. While it’s not at the top of my list of realistic announcements, as a long time ROH fan it’s my first choice. They have tons of footage dating back to 2002 and I’m sure that a big way they could get fans more interested in it is to provide it at a low cost with stream capability. Now I know their site is not the best equipped for this, but SBG does have quite a bit of money at their disposal. Their recent financial reports have been good to great for investors so really the question comes down to, will they spend the money on ROH? Who knows but I can dream.
ROH going back to live iPPV: Similar line of thinking as above though I would assume this is more likely than creating an online database with their content in terms of ease of creation. It would be nice to see this happen. Oh, and could we get some HD cameras with that? (kudos to promotions like Beyond Wrestling and the WWNLive universe for providing great high video quality)
ROH providing MP4/downloadable content instead of just VOD: This one is also VERY dependent on if SBG wants to spend more to upgrade their website, but I also think would make a lot of sense. Their VOD service is fine, at least it has been for me but why not just give us downloadable access. The argument that it would allow for people to more easily pirate their content is dead in the water. It’s still an option no matter what and there has never been any solid proof that having VOD only has lead to any real measurable increase in revenue.
New talent: Is there any other more obvious announcement than this? Maybe more AJ Styles. Maybe we’ll finally see some type of working relationship with NOAH or NJPW like we’ve heard rumored for years. I could be proven dead wrong and Toby Keith/Jeff Jarrett have actually purchased ROH from SBG, but lets cross our fingers. Having an exchange of talent with an international company (and we’ve already seen how great that could be with the Forever Hooligans and others) could really bring some buzz back when it comes to the long time ROH fans while providing something different for their TV markets. Not that I suspect there are lots of fans in certain regional areas clamoring to see Tanahashi, but it wouldn’t hurt either. There is a strong belief for some online wrestling fans that international talents are absolutely always in demand in the US. Trust me, that’s not the case unless you’re very invested in independent wrestling. But it would be fun to see. We could also see some type of relationship created with a domestic promotion and that would be fine.
Whatever it turns out to be, you can fully expect for it to be explored by many including us here at PWP. Perhaps we’ll even have an entire Podcast of Honor discussing the ramification if it turns out to have a larger impact than expected (just a slight spoiler, word is we’ll be talking about ROH’s first anniversary show). You just never know. I’m sure I missed a ton of other variations so feel free to tweet me at @cgtsong (http://twitter.com/cgstong) or email me at cgstong@PWPonderings.com and tell me what you think.