Ring of Honor Owner Cary Silkin was interviewed on Tuesday by Between The Ropes Radio, who asked him about ROH’s evolution, the creative process and more. On the possibility of getting on TV eventually, he said: “Everything we’ve done in the last 5 years has been in baby steps… We’re no doubt looking for the right television deal on a cable network at some point. Right now we’re just biding our time and doing what we do best, putting on great shows and keeping our DVD business strong. That’s been our formula and we’re sticking to it.”
He went on to say this about response from TV networks: “Some of them know us, it’s really complicated…Certain networks don’t have any interest in wrestling at all, certain networks do have interest in wrestling. It’s a matter of the right money and the right sponsorship. It’s like a big jigsaw puzzle, but we’re very active in putting this puzzle together and hopefully in the next few months we will have done that. That’s about as honest of an answer as I can give you.”
I think the move to television should necessitate a massive overhaul of the current product and the accessories that accompany it. The website will need to be improved (and switched to a new server), the forums will need to be opened up on a permanent basis, and the production values will all need to be upgraded.
However, Ring of Honor might just pull a Nintendo and leave things as is in the move to TV and say that they are different enough from the competition to stand on their own two feet. I still haven’t decided just how much of a possibility it is, but just that it is a possibility. This would allow them to pay the wrestlers more, make sure their medical expenses are covered, and just have all around more money to keep the company running in case of a sudden crisis.
In addition, G-Funk is the current marketing firm for Ring of Honor. They also do work with NFL Digital Media, Arena Football League, and World Boxing League. I think if Ring of Honor were to go on Cable TV, G-Funk would have their work cut out for them. Thus far G-Funk only seems to have aimed it’s portfolio around other sports companies.
However for a wrestling promotion to make it on a national stage, the wrestlers, not the wrestling, has to be the key draw and thus far, other than the cool and nifty “Nigel is on burning fire” banners for Rising Above (which I honestly have no idea if G-Funk is responsible for), they haven’t shown me whether they have it in them to properly market the company as anything other than another sports promotion. This would be critical should Ring of Honor ever make it to TV because other than between its hardcore fans, Ring of Honor would be no better than TNA in terms of brand recognition and could lead to cancellation later down the line.
On the other hand though, I could be dead wrong. Just food for thought.
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