AEW’s Tony Khan has discussed buying ROH and listed two important things that came from the deal.
In the media call before ROH Final Battle, Khan said he paid less than what Jim Crockett did to acquire UWF (adjusted for inflation), while also pointing out how buying ROH gave him access to an important trademark.
“Looking back, I think ROH, if anything else, for the AEW All In, the ability to use the name free and clear because Matt and Nick [Jackson] had trademarked it, but ROH certainly had utilized it, and they owned the tape of All In, the original All In show. So now, having a clear path, working with Matt and Nick to have that trademark and to be able to use All In — that’s our signature event, and that’s where we set the world record for pro wrestling attendance. We sold 81,000 tickets and about $10 million. It’s still the crowning achievement in so many ways, and to go back and have two shows with about 130,000 tickets across two events, it’s unprecedented. I don’t know if that would have been possible to do that way without the ROH acquisition,” declared Khan.
Khan drew parallels between his acquisition of ROH and the Crocketts’ ownership of UWF, citing one star talent the latter acquired — Sting. Like the Crocketts, he also gained some star wrestlers from ROH, including the Briscoe Brothers, whom he considers the “best thing” to come from buying the promotion.
“In addition to getting All In, I think probably the best thing I got out of the ROH acquisition was the Briscoe Brothers. And now Mark is the face of the TNT network. He’s a huge part of this partnership. He’s also a Hall of Famer in ROH, and I am very happy about having Mark Briscoe in AEW, and also I’m very proud about the Briscoe Brothers’ legacy in ROH and that I was able to have some small part in it in the final year.”
He recently revealed that he turned down several ROH television deals, feeling that none of them made sense, even though they were great offers.
