Will ROH go the way of TNA or ECW?

[Hyorinmaru]

After reading that Ring of Honor got a TV deal with HDNET I was thinking about this for a little bit. IN TNA and ECW we have 2 Indy Feds that started out wrestling in one spot to keep costs down. After getting enough fans to start Monthly PPVs and touring both companies got a TV deal, TNA with Fox Sports Net and ECW with TNN (Now Spike TV). That is where the similarities end TNA is an alternative to WWE programing and they have a loyal fan base that is continuing to grow everyday and ECW went out of business in 2001.


ROH has done all that and they now have a TV deal. What do you guys think will happen to ROH will they go the same way as TNA and become an alternative to WWE TV or will they go the way of ECW and get put out of business?

 

[klunderbunker]

ECW. ROH's stuff simply isn't ready to be on tv to me. It's very good, but something abotu it just doesn't say I'd want to watch this once a week, if that's what the tv deal is for that is. Too many companies see tv and PPV as the holy grails of wrestling. ROH was making money without either of them and they're losing money with PPV. They were much better off just being on DVD and having the best wrestling company that most people have never heard of. Putting it on tv makes them raise the bar insanely high and I'm not sure they can reach up to it. TNA rolled the dice and it worked, but they got very lucky. ECW wasn't lucky and they're out of business now. Either way, I'm worried for ROH as I think they bit off more than they can chew.

 

[Shocky]

I'd say TNA. Ring of Honor is on a channel that isn't shooting for the moon as far as their wrestling audience is concerened. HDNet is simply a channel that provides HD programming commercial free. People like me love channels like this. There is nothign as aggravating as watching a supposed 2 hour wrestling show, when push comes to shove, 45 minutes of taht time is alloted to commercials. I understand that that is the price of watching "free" tv, but oh well.

The difference being, Mark Cuban and HDNet is not Spike TV. ECW was dead and buried the second they signed with TNN. TNN, as Paul Heyman has said, only wanted ECW to test and see if wrestling would work on their network and to see if the WWE would jump networks. ECW provided the base audience that TNN wanted, and the deal was offered.

Mark Cuban is different. Mark Cuban understand that there is a cult following to RoH and he will welcome that to his network. Mark Cuban has been interested in getting into almost any male dominated form of entertainment possible. The man has talked about starting his own MMA promotion, he wanted to buy the Cubs and the Penguins, and he owns the Mavericks. Mark Cuban has the financial background to make Ring of Honor succeed, and Mark Cuban sounds genuinley excited to get wrestling on his network, that's the difference between ECW and ROH.

 

[RVDgurl]

I've been nervous about this since the TV deal became official. ROH is now in the same position that ECW was in a decade ago. I was so psyched back then when ECW signed that deal and it proved to be the death of the company. ROH has a leg up at this point because the network they signed with is not mainstream. Business-wise it's a better fit for the product. Because if this, I'm fairly confident that ROH will in time become an alternative to the WWE much like TNA has.

ROH has been slowly shaping their product to be more TV friendly for a few months now. There has been less blood and hardcore spots, even in Necro Butcher's matches. ROH is nowhere near the level of violence that ECW was, so there is less of a compromise that has to happen for ROH to appeal to the masses.

 

[Mr. Slave]

Im actually quite scared for ROH, but I would have to say the ECW way. Carrying story lines, stiff matches, and great entertainment is the few things, that TNA lacks.

 

[RawIsRamsey]

It's a damned if they do damned if they don't situation. I don't think Pearce is ready or is even the right guy to write RoH TV. If the last few shows haven't been proof that he's mearly grasping at straws (how many bait-and-switch Tyler Black title matches are we gonna get?) then I don't know what can be done. I seriously hope the booking gets better before the debut.