All The King’s Men 5.28.11: Week 1 – The Sale of Ring of Honor

ALL THE KING’s MEN!

J.D. Dunn – AGREE Obviously, this is a rather predictive question. A year from now, Sinclair could be disappointed with the ratings and pull the plug. Or worse, they could be disappointed in the ratings and turn to some TV exec who was a wrestling fan 10 years ago and advises them to bring in more “big name” talent. The result: ROH Champion Billy Gunn… or whatever name he goes by these days.

Many would argue that Cary buying the company in the first place, staving off extinction, is the best thing to happen to the company. That makes a lot of sense, but given where ROH is today, it’s entirely possible that’s exactly what’s happening here again. Faced with an outmoded business model and a fanbase comprised mostly of online fans (read: fans who like to download their matches rather than pay for them), ROH is stuck in an awkward position, and one that is probably unsustainable.

The Sinclair deal, unlike the HDNet deal, will probably force the company into a more traditional model. The DVD business will still be there, but there will be a better opportunity to hype PPV and DVDs – (something that was woefully inadequate on the HDNet series). What the HDNet deal showed, though, was that ROH was horribly unprepared to run an episodic TV show. There was just no sizzle to it. That’s something that’s going to have to change.

In the end, this is like getting the ball thrown to you with :15 left on the clock, or the prettiest girl in school finally caving and agreeing to go out with you… it could be a shining, oft-recalled moment, or a hot mess of a disaster. It’s an opportunity, nothing more, nothing less. And it’s the best opportunity ROH has ever had.

Michael Ornelas – AGREE: I’m an optimist, and I love competition in wrestling. I know that sounds stupid coming from me, since I’ve only been watching wrestling weekly since a couple weeks before WCW was bought out. But still, we need some new blood on TV in the wrestling department, and we all know Wrestling Society X didn’t cut it.

Ring of Honor delivers in the ring with very little bullshit outside of it. Whether or not the matches are good, Ring of Honor is the only true wrestling show with a TV deal. Maybe TNA will head that direction with their rebranding, but as it stands, RoH is miles ahead of anything else on TV in terms of wrestling to not wrestling ratio.

I think this business decision will benefit Ring of Honor because much like TNA on FSN in 2004, it’s presented in a fresh way. It will feel a little bit more like a sport than drama. Ring of Honor definitely has talent deserving of the spotlight, and I think this move will attract former stars back to the promotion. Then it will become competitive to move up the card, and situations like that are when the best is truly brought out of these performers. I think developing a fan base will be a slow and steady process, but anyone who’s a fan of the in-ring portion of pro wrestling programs like WWE and TNA, I highly urge that you give Ring of Honor a chance before writing them off as a distant third in the wrestling world. I was in the same position 2 years ago. Didn’t have interest because they weren’t on TV. Then I happened across it, checked it out, and now I’m the (dormant) RoH recapper on 411!

Steve Cook – DISAGREE: Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited that ROH has new ownership and will be around for awhile. I’m happy that Cincinnati has a Sinclair-owned station and I can watch the show. However, some questions need to be answered before I get too excited.

What exactly does Sinclair Broadcast Group do? I looked at their website to see what exactly they owned other than ROH, and saw that they own television stations, power systems, equity firms, capital funds, a sign & service company, an alarm-making company, and some land. Nothing that has anything to do with wrestling…other than the TV stations. Back in the day when pro wrestling was syndicated, it was a great property for local channels to have because it got a good, steady audience. Local advertisers were usually more open to running commercials on wrestling than the national advertisers that sometimes steer clear. So Sinclair is figuring that syndicated wrestling could get good numbers on their stations. Not a bad idea.

Do they know anything about pro wrestling? Even the people that do know about wrestling have a tough time drawing crowds in this day and age. Those of us who have studied the history of WCW know that corporations and pro wrestling don’t really go together. WCW was where Turner execs that nobody wanted around (and it became obvious why once their imprint was felt on the product) got sent to die.

I think the biggest question of all for ROH is this: How serious is Sinclair about making this thing work? Are they in it for the long haul, or will they abandon ship if the ratings for ROH on their stations aren’t good and they don’t draw a decent amount of advertisers? Are they ok with keeping the company the way it is, or will they want to change things around to make it more “mainstream”? Spike TV has had a huge effect on TNA’s operations since agreeing to air their product, most notably with their desire for TNA to sign older talent that they think has name value. What if Sinclair has a similar outlook to Spike TV, and ROH becomes another outpost for old-timers and guys that couldn’t cut it in WWE?

Also, will ROH fans remain interested in a product that caters more to the casual fans? The HDNet show was getting enough criticism from the fan base for things like squash matches, even though it usually featured good to great main events. If ROH’s diehard fans turn away from the show, will enough casual fans take their place to make the point irrelevant? Are there enough ROH fans outside of their strongest markets like New York City & Philadelphia that don’t have Sinclair-owned stations to tune in and make the endeavor successful?

I hope it works out & ROH becomes a legitimate competitor to TNA for the number two slot in the wrestling wars. Lord knows the sports entertainment scene needs some excitement.

Aaron Frame – AGREE: Obviously this is a huge thing for ROH. This is the next step to truly becoming the number 3 promotion. I would say this would be their gateway to becoming number 2, but it’s not so much the truth. Selling to SBC is what they needed. Now there will be more wrestling fans that will be able to tune in and see them and notice who they are and what they’re about. There are a lot of pros and cons for this, but more pros than cons.

The pros are obvious. More national exposure, possibly better production values and possibly some extra financial backing. There TV shows will hopefully be on par with at least Impact in terms of production. It’s kind of a shot in the dark, but I really hope for the best for ROH. They’ve needed this for a long time. The next step to this is getting on actual PPV. If they can do that, it’s only a matter of time before they’re an absolute mainstay. This is their shot to being a national promotion. Granted they do shows nationwide, but now they’ll have a TV slot that’s on a market that isn’t quite as big as it was with HDNet but it will be a solid block that wont go anywhere anytime soon.

The cons are there as well. SBC is a limited network. They don’t have anything to mention on the west coast which means I wont even get to see the shows. Luckily, they’ve allowed the fans that don’t get it on TV to see it online. But that could also be a downfall for them. Why would a casual fan go out of their way to watch it on TV when they could just catch it online. In fact, do we even know what time slot they’re going to be on?

To think about it, how many people are pissed off that Cary sold out? How many wrestlers in the locker room are feeling this negatively? What does this even mean for the boys in the back? Will SBC help pay the talent? I would have to imagine they would since they now own ROH. If I were a talent work for them, I’d want to stay because it seems like it would be secure. But then again, will SBC want to regulate the wrestling? Do they even know what wrestling is? The big question I really want answered is if they are going to let the company run itself with out too much interjection. I understand if there are some things they don’t want on their network, but are they going to put their fingers all over their pie? I’d rather not have them trying to run things like TBS did with WCW at one point.

In the end, this is probably the best thing that could happen for ROH. They now have the national exposure on TV once again, next step, PPV. ROH is on the rise.

Jeremy Thomas – AGREE : Obviously, I think this could really go either way, but I’m looking at the positive side right now. Ring of Honor was not on life support just because they lost their TV deal with HDNet, but it certainly had to sting. With everything that’s come out as far as Sinclair Broadcast Company’s networks and the coverage ROH will get, I think this is definitely a good thing and possibly the best. The Cary Silkin takeover, while I understand that point, was really more of a saving grace from a near-death knell. You can’t really say that just because the company survived, it was the best thing to happen to it. On the other hand, this is an enormous opportunity for Ring of Honor to expand in a major way.

Now, will there be changes? Yes, absolutely. I give it halfway through the first episode of their new TV show before the internet is ablaze with screams that ROH has sold out, is a pale shadow of what they used to be, is as good as dead and so on and so forth. And honestly, I think I’m being generous on that time frame. But not all the changes will be for the worse, and I believe that overall it will result in a better product. Of course, this will only truly work if SBC really puts their best effort into it and doesn’t give up right away. This is going to require patience, not only from SBC but from ROH fans and wrestling fans in general. None of us will agree with everything that the company does in this transition and more to the point, I think we need to be realistic about this too. No one should expect that ROH will be challenging TNA for the #2 spot in North American any time soon. This will be a slow growth, but a positive one.

Here’s the thing. I think we’ve all been burned with situations like this enough times that we’re waiting for it to fall apart. But at the end of the day, this is the best deal for bigger exposure that Ring of Honor has seen yet and if they can hold on to their identity, maintain a reputation for the kind of wrestling that they provide for fans and still gain a wider audience, then they could hit a level they’ve never seen before, and that will be good not only for Ring of Honor but for wrestling as a whole.

Greg DeMarco – DISAGREE: I know I wrote a full column on the sale and what it means for the future of ROH, and I have a much more positive view of the sale than many others do. ROH will get more exposure, bigger financial backing, improved production, and will live longer than it likely would have lived otherwise. I do have some concerns as more names come out—it appears that we’re bringing more and more good ol’ boys to run things. But head good ol’ boy Jim Cornette has publically stated that this isn’t an “old school” product–it’s a new product for the 21st century. So while I might not agree 100% with some of the hiring decisions (like not bringing in Dave Lagana as the television director, although he can still be involved), I have no reason to change my positive outlook on the situation.

But this decision isn’t the best thing to ever happen to ROH to date. ROH would have died in 2004 if it weren’t for Cary Silkin. Cary stepping in and taking over ROH kept the promotion alive, and allowed it to flourish through 2005 & 2006, into PPV and a TV deal with HDNet. The Reborn events would have not been possible if not for Cary. Basically, ROH would be dead if not for Cary’s initiative. But to date, Cary Silkin taking over ROH from Rob Feinstein was the best thing to ever happen to the company.

I also don’t think it will ultimately go down as the best thing to ever happen to ROH, either. I think this is an intermediate step, even if it’s one that may last several years. I think ROH will grow into an entity that can be picked up by another ownership group in several years, and complete it’s transition into a full-fledged national wrestling company. When that happens, when ROH goes national with 3-4 times the 22% national television penetration of Sinclair, grows into a national touring company and holds live broadcast PPV events, then I will change my statement. That will go down as the best thing to ever happen to ROH.