I am one, I speak to others; we all think WWE doing this is cool, but it was WWE.com. WWE's website have praised ROH before, WWE have bought footage from ROH, images from ROH, they even to this day give ex-alumni royalties for the DVD's they put out despite them being signed with WWE. You are - to no surprise - talking about shit you don't know. Do I need proof?
I'll answer this with your stupid fucking quote:
"There is no working agreement, independent or otherwise between WWE and Ring of Honor. ROH's owners wouldn't allow it, the hardcore fanbase such as myself don't want it and it would make the purpose of ROH null."
Legally yes there is no such thing as a working agreement between them, but in practice being advertised in WWE DVD's, WWE.com and what not is the best publicity ROH has. WWE.com web traffic is bigger in a week than ROH's in a whole year most likely - and that is WWE helping ROH, because ROH is a great little place for people to start in. That seems like a working agreement in this order: "We give you some more exposure. You continue doing what you're doing and if anyone comes by, gives us a ring to see if they're worth it."
The hardcore fanbase as yourself aka arrogant stupid blind fans, are the only ones that actually believe that ROH is the WWE alternative. I'm a ROH fan, I've been watching their iPPV's and big events religiously for the better part of 4 years now and in the last two, ROH has been pure shit. It's not a coincidence that ROH isn't internet's favorite wrestling company anymore - the product has been average AT BEST for EVERYONE except the ones like yourself, who think way too much of an INDY SHOW, but we'll get there.
It's not even an indie now, but because you may be slightly ******ed and have little knowing of what makes an independent promotion an independent promotion you'll continue calling it that because you have little to no knowledge of what you are talking about.
An independent show is one that, and I quote does not have
national exposure. ROH is a syndicated television show, does not air live not even in their special events, their best attendances have around 1500 people. It's still the third biggest wrestling company in the US, but that does not mean that it isn't an indy show.
WWE and TNA are broadcasted in two big channels in the form of USA and SpikeTV that pretty much reach the entire US. Now I know ROH beats TNA in the ratings at LOCAL MARKETS. Which means that in Pittsburgh (ex.) there are probably more ROH fans than TNA ones. However in the whole US it's not even close and in the entire world... let's just say that ROH is clearly an indy show.
To not be a indy show you would have to compare ROH to companies like WWE, NJPW, AAA, CMLL, TNA.. Those are the big ones. ROH competes with Evolve, DGUSA and PWG and is winning! Great for ROH and they are not even the best company out of the last three I mentioned.
Again I have to point out the fact that die-hard ROH fans are stupid dumbfucks. Some may actually think that KKGT is a big network and everybody knows them. I just invented that channel as well, because it's clearly ridiculous that point of ROH not being an indy show.
No they wouldn't. ROH fans support ROH because it's ROH, and what makes it ROH has been its ability to - despite numerous idiots like many on this forum and elsewhere - survive and grow by itself and not with the help of the WWE. It doesn't need WWE, its never needed WWE and considering how it easily has the best momentum of this year thus far, it won't need WWE going forward.
No. ROH fans support ROH because:
a) They are internet fans, so their biggest goal is to be anti-WWE and say that everything else is gold while watching WWE.
b) ROH does actually have good wrestling and has survived more from what they did in the past, than what they are actually doing now.
c) They like it.
Now the dumbfucks I've been telling you about, such yourself and others elsewhere... well those ones may actually believe that they support a company just because it's not supported by WWE (when they clearly ARE! when compared to better wrestling companies like PWG). ROH biggest momentum (so far, February c'mon) that you so eloquently put out does not mean anything. They don't need the WWE but that is not that big of a deal, nobody else needs them too to be unrelevant to the wrestling community too. But is it a coincidence that the return of a now WWE alumni and TNA alumni helped getting that momentum? See, they are helping because they made them bigger stars...
--
But let's talk about how great ROH is doing and how big of a company they are, because a billion dollar company owns them. Do you remember the last iPPV that was given for free in ROH? They had something along the lines of "something above 4.000 people watching" and it was a FREE show for the WHOLE WORLD. How can a major company accomplish only that? That is a ridiculous number for such a big company that is in more than 60 local channels, in more than 25 US states and even in other parts of the world by The Fight Network.
As far as social networks go and their impact online they have a strong following with over 200.000 followers. That's more than CMLL and NJPW combined which clearly shows ROH's market and that is awesome for ROH. But then remember Final Battle, ROH's biggest show has an attendance of 1.500 people, Wrestle Kingdom (NJPW biggest show) has 35.000! Now that is a major company. CMLL had 11.000 people in attendance. TNA's biggest show had something along the lines of 3.000/4.000 - pretty shit, but TNA makes a lot of money out of television contracts in the entire world and has international exposure at something better than 3 a.m.
Now you can defend ROH as much as you want, you can say that ROH is
da bomb because Adam Cole is the best thing ever since sliced bread, but that DOES NOT mean that others will have to like it or even agree with you. ROH is not what the die-hard fans wants us to believe it is - in reality it's a small company, owned by a large company (again) that does not really make any sort of wave in financial results to even be considered relevant in Sinclair's group. It has good wrestlers that you can see wrestling for over half an hour in some quick stories. The same thing PWG delivers, or any other indy company with most of the times, the exact same WRESTLERS.
Now quit being a jerk and an arrogant prick and just accept the fact that there are people that love ROH, others that like it casually and others that don't watch it and don't give two shits about it. Also agree with the fact that three of the biggest stars in wrestling today being in WWE is a huge boost for ROH. Agree that WWE promoting them (even if it isn't the intention) is a good boost for ROH. And for ROH fans the more exposure the company gets, BETTER! It means new fans, it means better production value, more possibilities of signing good free agents for a longer period of time, ence better product...
Probably 1% of ROH's fanbase discovered ROH by coincidence or has been following it since 2002. The other 99% discovered because first and foremost they were WWE/TNA/WCW/NOAH/NJPW fans, so clearly, ROH owes big companies very much so accept that.
