Report: WWE-ROH Sale Talks Dead
Negotiations between WWE and Ring of Honor over a potential sale reportedly have ended with no deal expected.
The Wrestling Observer recently reported that news, citing a source close to the negotiations. The report did note the two sides still may come to terms on a potential deal allowing older ROH content to air on the WWE Network.
News broke last month that Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns ROH, was in talks with WWE to purchase the company, which would involve ROH TV beginning to air on the WWE Network.
Shortly thereafter, a report by CBS Sports cited two sources at ROH who denied any such sale was in the works. Joe Koff, the COO of Ring of Honor, also denied a possible sale in comments made to both CBS Sports and the Baltimore Sun.
"It was not a story," Koff said in the Sun interview. "It was not a story when it came out. I think people want to make a story out of nothing. I’m very open in conversations with very many different wrestling promotions. And I think sometimes because I don’t share a lot of stuff, we’re very private about what we do. I think it raises speculation. I think this thing with the WWE really started because we were in conversations about content for Kevin Owens’ DVD. There was a lot of back and forth between the two companies. I think that was the seed that drove that story.”
Several current WWE stars were former standouts in ROH, including Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, Cesaro, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Austin Aries, and Smackdown general manager Daniel Bryan — as well as current NXT performers such as Kassius Ohno and Roderick Strong. Nigel McGuinness, another former ROH champion like Rollins, Joe and Owens, is currently on the NXT commentary team.
