ROH issued the following press release this afternoon. This will likely lead to the departure of the remaining TNA contracted wrestlers who appear for Ring of Honor, most notably Homicide, but have yet to confirm that. ROH sources did confirm that TNA was not aware of the announcement before they went live with it on their own website this afternoon.
INTERNATIONAL WRESTLING PHENOMENON RING OF HONOR INKS STATESIDE TELEVISION DEALS
WITH iN DEMAND, TVN AND ECHOSTAR
PPV/VOD Distribution Deals Bring ROH into 50 Million Households
New York, May 3, 2007 - Ring Of Honor Wrestling (ROH), in association with G-Funk Sports & Entertainment, has concluded programming and distribution deals for PPV and VOD wrestling cards with iN DEMAND Networks, TVN and EchoStar Communications Corporation's DISH NetworkTM, making the critically-acclaimed ROH brand available for the first time ever to approximately 50 million American households. The agreement calls for a card every 60 days from shows both stateside and abroad, and will premiere July 1. A total of six cards are planned throughout '07/'08. ROH owner Cary Silkin made the announcement today with G-Funk's President Ken Gelman. The debut event, entitled "Respect Is Earned," will be taped May 12 in New York City from the Grand Ballroom of the Manhattan Center, and will feature a glistening array of talent from Japan, England, the U.S. and Mexico.
Long revered by a loyal underground fan base, the Philadelphia-based ROHcurrently seen on Canadian, British and Japanese TVappeals to the disenfranchised wrestling fan fed up with storylines which seem to take precedence over the kind of powerful ring competition that ROH specializes in. ROH, in fact, is seen to have the highest level of athleticism in its field today, which recently culminated in a sweep of the 2006 Wrestling Observer awards for "Most Outstanding Wrestler," "Best Brawler," "Best Major Wrestling Show" (ROH took four of its Top 10) and "Best Booker."
"Fans around the world now know that our brand of action is, indeed, the highest-flying, hardest-hitting most daring and acrobatic action presented today," says Mr. Silkin. "We are thrilled that we can finally show a televised audience what our crowds have known for the last six years
that ROH harkens back to an earlier era of wrestling where authenticity still counted for something. There's a magic at our shows that I, as a wrestling fan, had all but given up on."
G-Funk Sports and Entertainment will be handling all marketing and promotion for the wrestling programs, including creation and launch of an affiliate website on May 15,
www.rohaffiliates.com, which will contain easy-to-implement marketing materials and all event information. Each show will also be supported by a range of targeted national consumer advertising and promotion.
According to Mr. Gelman, "Ring Of Honor already has the respect and enthusiastic following of legions of fans around the world through their live events, but represents a fresh new entry into the world of televised wrestling. These distinctive programs will prove a welcome change-of-pace for audiences and a popular new option for cable operators and satellite providers as they expand their transactional offerings."
Ring of Honor is amazing. The atmosphere is just like the original ECW atmosphere and it can be argued that ROH has a better atmosphere. The wrestlers in ROH are very good at interacting with the crowd and getting a reaction wether there trying to get heels are trying to get a pop. I download matches and watch them on the internet. CM Punk vs. Raven in the orange house of fun match was there first ever steel cage match and it better than some of WWE's. Another good thing is they always feud with other indies like CZW and Pro wrestling NOAH which attracts those crowds and causes friction in the crowds.