Ring of Honor (ROH) is a promotion that boasts an extremely impressive alumni group. Samoa Joe, Daniel Bryan, Adam Cole, Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes, Matt and Nick Jackson to name a few.
One would think that a company that has been home to some of the biggest names in the world of professional wrestling would be on top of the wrestling universe, one would be wrong. For all, it’s famous alumni and partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling, Ring of Honor is at a crossroads in the ultra-competitive world of pro wrestling.
Fans have more choices than ever before both in wrestling promotion choices and in how they view their preferred content. WWE has made SmackDownLive it’s flagship of the company since moving to FOX. All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and NXT are engaged in Wednesday Night Wars for the eyes of wrestling fans who have never had more access to their favorite performers. The climate in professional wrestling is hot, as in you better improve your product and attract and retain fans or you will get burned, hot. While many wrestling promotions are thriving in the current wrestling renaissance, Ring of Honor continues to be mired in mediocrity. Let’s take a look at why ROH is failing.
5. Poor Relationship With Their Fanbase
The sports entertainment world is saturated with many promotions all of which are offering their unique product via multiple platforms including television, streaming, podcasts and more. It is the goal of every promotion to recruit and attract new fans. Ring of Honor, on the other hand, is in a position that demands they focus on fan retention before they try to lure new customers to their product. Ring of Honor is a proud franchise that has seen better times in the wrestling industry. As the promotion tries to climb out of the gutter of mediocrity it must address its dwindling fan base.
Ring of Honor should be trying to create a fan environment in an effort to build brand loyalty. There is no doubt that fans can be unruly at times and inappropriate behavior must be addressed. Keep in mind that it is an extremely small percentage of fans that get out of hand. Perception is -centric reality in this business, and how adverse situations are handled matter to the fans. The incident which occurred this summer is a textbook example of how to make a bad situation worse.
For those that don’t remember a fan encounter with Bully Ray, Velvet Sky, Mandy Leon, and Angelina Love went awry and the fan was taken backstage and confronted by Bully Ray. The fan states that he was told not to be disrespectful to the performers and sent back to his seat. The message in and of itself is not wrong. The way in which the situation was handled was highly inappropriate. If there was an issue that warranted intervention it should have been handled by security and not a member of ROH who had direct ties to the performers in question.
Fans should act responsibly and respectfully when attending shows and the promotion should act accordingly when dealing with fans. In today’s culture of transparency via social media, any and all actions are likely to be recorded or at the very least reported on social media. This instance was an unfortunate black eye for an already struggling company. For its part Ring of Honor issued the following statement after conducting an investigation. “…and have taken appropriate actions with all parties involved. Our Code of Honor, which calls for sportsmanship, respect, and honor in- and outside of the ring is a core value of this company and one we will continue to strive to uphold. To all of our loyal and dedicated fans, we apologize for the incident that transpired and we encourage all of our fans to continue attending our events. Furthermore, we promise to continue delivering the best wrestling and the best live experience on the planet. In adherence to the Ring of Honor policy, we will not comment further on these matters.” Hopefully, this is not a case of too little too late for ROH.
4. Their timeslot is not consistent
The airing of the weekly show varies depending on where you live and can range anywhere from 11:00 pm on Friday night to 1:00 pm Saturday afternoon. Compare that with WWE which has two shows on primetime, RAW on USA network and SmackDownLive on Fox, All Elite Wrestling’s airs during primetime every Wednesday evening on TNT going head to head with WWE’s NXT which airs on USA during the same time slot. Impact will begin airing its weekly show on Tuesday nights, beginning next week October 29th on AXS. NWA Power airs every Tuesday night at 6:05 pm on facebook.
With so much wrestling content so easily available to the fans it is easy to understand how an inconsistent and undesirable time slot can negatively affect viewership. Even for the fans of ROH, it means making a decision to possibly stay up late or stay in on a weekend night in order to view the show. It may be a difficult cycle to break for Ring of Honor as networks may not want to give a primetime slot to a show that is not drawing more viewers, while it is so difficult to draw viewers in such a difficult time slot. Ring of Honor must break this cycle by creating innovative content to increase viewership which will obviously increase ratings.
3. Honor Club Isn’t Value For Money
WWE gives new subscribers the first month free and offers this service for $9.99 per month. Ring of Honor offers its Honor club for the same $9.99 per month but with limited access. Honor club offers 50% off its pay per views, 15% off Ring of Honor merchandise, and early access to ticket sales, and “special discounts and promotions”. For the same cost as the WWE network you still have to pay a portion of the pay per view cost which is ridiculous. Ring of Honor does offer a VIP service that gives subscribers access to all ROH pay per views at no extra cost. The fee for the VIP service is $119 annually which works out to $9.91 per month.
Two things here, first why would you even offer the more expensive plan monthly that does not give access to pay per view with no additional costs? Why would you not allow subscribers the option to pay monthly or annually for the VIP service? Shouldn’t the goal be to increase subscriptions and build customer loyalty? Ring of Honor should get rid of its standard Honor Club and offer only the VIP option and allow customers the option to pay the fee monthly or yearly. Meet the customer needs to build your brand.
2. Over-reliance on New Japan Pro Wrestling
While a healthy partnership can reap benefits for both promotions if handled correctly, a one-sided partnership can spell doom for the underrepresented party. By all outward appearances, it seemed as if Ring of Honor was deferring to its wrestling partner. There was a perception that Ring of Honor wrestlers were disproportionately being used to get the NJPW wrestlers over and that ROH was a second-tier promotion as compared to NJPW.
Despite some of the negative perceptions about Ring of Honor’s role in the partnership with NJPW, there were benefits to RoH such as global exposure to a new audience. While many felt the relationship was not quite equal there was no denying that RoH needed the partnership. On October 21st NJPW announced the launch of NJPW of America in an effort to gain
“A footprint and increased consciousness in America will become a key factor, especially as competing cash rich promotions are being established,”.
As of now NJPW plans to continue its relationship with AXS TV but the future of the partnership with Ring of Honor remains unclear.
1. Ring Of Honor’s failure to keep top stars
History has also shown us that RoH has been abysmal at retaining top tier talent. Less than a year ago Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks were members of Ring of Honor and are now the cornerstone members of its competition. Rhodes called ROH home for nearly two years after leaving WWE and helped build credibility for ROH. The Young Bucks left Ring of Honor disappointed in the contracts being offered to them. Fast Forward to present day AEW, Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks are sitting on top of the world while ROH is a minor player in the world of sports entertainment. Ring of Honor must find a way to retain their talent and not allow them to leave for other promotions. Just as building a loyal fan base is a necessity, establishing employee loyalty must be a top priority for the promotion moving forward.
It is no secret that many of the top tier wrestlers in the world today as well as legends of yesteryear got their start in ROH. AJ Styles, Awesome Kong, Jon Moxley, Mick Foley, and Ric Flair all spent time in Ring of Honor at one time or another. The fact that the company has launched the careers of some of the world’s most notable performers should offer hope to the powers that be at RoH. The main cause of concern should be that the company has not been able to consistently retain its top talent over the years. It is difficult to keep fans vested in the product when the top tier talent is constantly leaving for greener pastures and bigger paychecks.
As a fan, I sure hope Ring of Honor can turn things around and become relevant in the realm of professional wrestling. ROH has a rich history and has launched the career of many of the sports most famous superstars. Competition amongst multiple promotions is very good for sports entertainment and great for the fans.
If Ring of Honor can develop and retain creative and compelling characters and storylines and find a way to address the five issues above then they have a shot to return to legitimacy in the world of professional wrestling. The competition is fierce and the expectations from fans are at an all time high. Ring of Honor needs to adjust to an ever fluid landscape in the world of professional wrestling if it hopes to compete in a meaningful way in today’s world of sports entertainment.
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