Last year, Tony Khan with a whole heart and stride in his steps announces that he has officially bought Ring of Honor. A wrestling promotion that for a few years was lost in the relic of a time when indie wrestling peaked. Lost in the shuffle from talent pouching to Sinclair not knowing a damn thing about the wrestling business. Wrestling fans were rejoycing and wondering about the purchase. Could it be the dawn of a new era, or a mark with money to blow?
Meanwhile back in AEW:
Wrestling fans started to tune out of the idea of ROH having AEW TV time, bad enough the whole hybrid puro style just doesn't mesh well with what the Dub clearly stands for. Then the reality hits...Tony Khan really wanted Ring of Honor from the start of All In
.
Lettuce discuss the background of All In:
- It was a passion project from The Elite and Cody Rhodes with the help of Ring of Honor
- Tony Khan had his eye on the success of the project...plus the fact that it was on ROH dime
- The different styles of wrestling that night resembled the best of what wrestling had to offer (love letter to the days of Indie wrestling/Puro before Trips went mad with hiring every wrestler including The Masked Koala)
Tony Khan took measures in his da...err his own money and made the impossible possible...an alternative to the WWE.
AEW premiered in 2019 with the IWC going nuts. No longer having to rely on Meltzer and em to cover your Indie favorite, as they are officially Elite!
As the hype begin, so did the wonders of the direction of AEW. Are they a sport feel wrestling promotion, a Indie miracle, or sports entertainment ala WWE 2.0? Maybe NXT with a bigger budget and WCW nostaliga.....or deeper than that....chess being played by both Khan and The Elite. Then Covid came and crush the buildings:
- Ring of Honor ended up being dead in the water due to the pandemic
- AEW experimented with various match types and booking ideals
- NXT started to lose in the new found "Monday Night Wars" going against AEW
MEN'S DIVISION:
- Adam Cole
- Akeem Young (formerly Sidney Bateman)
- Ariya Daivari (205 Live)
- Arturo Ruas * (was moved up to Raw and then back down to NXT on November 18th)
- Ashante "Thee" Adonis (formerly Tehuti Miles)
- August Grey (formerly Anthony Greene)
- Austin Theory * (was moved up to Raw and then back down to NXT)
- Boa
- Bobby Fish
- The Brian Kendrick (205 Live)
- Bronson Reed
- Cameron Grimes
- Chase Parker
- Curt Stallion (formerly Camron Rogers)
- Damian Priest
- Danny Burch
- Desmond Troy (formerly Denzel Dejournette)
- Dexter Lumis
- Drake Maverick (was released this year and then rehired)
- Fandango
- Finn Balor
- Isaiah "Swerve" Scott
- Jake Atlas
- Joaquin Wilde
- Johnny Gargano
- Karrion Kross
- Killian Dain
- Kona Reeves
- Kushida
- Kyle O'Reilly
- Leon Ruff (aka Dartanyon Ruffin)
- Mansoor
- Matt Martel
- Oney Lorcan
- Pat McAfee (not officially a member of the roster, but effectively on the roster)
- Pete Dunne
- Raul Mendoza
- Ridge Holland
- Rinku Singh
- Roderick Strong
- Samir Singh (205 Live)
- Santos Escobar (formerly El Hijo del Fantasma)
- Saurav Gurjar
- Sunil Singh (205 Live)
- Timothy Thatcher
- Tino Sabbatelli (was released this year and rehired)
- Tommaso Ciampa
- Tony Modra (formerly Brendan Vink, was moved up to Raw and then back down to NXT) *
- Tony Nese (205 Live)
- Tyler Breeze
- Tyler Rust (aka Russ Taylor)
- Velveteen Dream
Fast forward to modern day AEW...half of the roster consists of NXT talent that used to work for ROH. Bryan Danielson one of the founding wrestlers of Ring of Honor debuts at All Out 2021, CM Punk wrestles at All Out 2021, Adam Cole BAYBAY not only debuted at All Out but brought in Strong, O Reily, and sigh....Fish later down the road.
Then we go into 2022 with the Forbidden Door that has been done by another company
Now we go into the Ring of Honor purchase, which deem a good deal, but questionable as there were rumors and statements that Tony Khan overspent on the assets of Ring of Honor. Sinclair looked at this purchase as a "sighs...finally somebody take this sinking ship from our palms". Wrestling fans started to see a shift in the direction of AEW.
- Cody Rhodes leaving due to "differences"
- The Elite not really having the books because Khan became the "Booker of the Year"
- The rank system from before resembled early ROH booking
- Random matches with no storyline or build ala Ring of Honor in the heyday
- The dedication of building AEW as a piggyback for a bigger picture...
Tony Khan Announces Relaunch of Ring of Honor's HonorClub Platform
Tony Khan Announces Relaunch of Ring of Honor’s HonorClub Platform -- More than two decades of Ring of Honor Content Now Available For $9.99/Month,With New PPV and TV Content To Come --
www.rohwrestling.com
Honor club rebranches during the time of Final Battle. Punk shows off sheer frustration with the EVPs that couldn't run a fukking Target, Bryne put over talent that were in the direction of Ring of Honor, Kingston decides to say fukk it I'm going to ROH despite the locker room being around the corner, Adam Cole suddenly developing a spark in his hips, and Jay Lethal's random hiring became all clear of the current endgame.
Last but not least, Phil gives a certain hint of where his head has been:
CM Punk Seemingly Teases ROH Return
During the post-AEW All Out media scrum, CM Punk launched a blistering attack on Colt Cabana, Hangman Page, and The Young Bucks, which resulted in a a ton
www.ringsidenews.com
The picture has been painted. Tony Khan been striving to put Ring of Honor on a platform that desires more than just kick pads and random matches. Warner Discovery looking at this mark as a whole entire weirdo for entertaining this nonsense. And finally ROH debuts for the first time in months on Honor Club with a whole different look and a focus on doing the unthinkable....restoring the feeling. We look at ROH as being AEW Dark with a better stage presentation, but this was how it always has been. And this is what Tony Khan wanted for so long...
Tony Khan is trying to save wrestling, and he’s having a ball doing it
The billionaire owner of AEW is disrupting wrestling and having the time of his life.
www.sbnation.com
I plead my case.
Forgive me human. This fake sports sometimes gets a hold of me. I became a Wrestle Forums poster 
