10 Ways to fix Ring of Honor in 2025

Ring of Honor has some solid performers who carry the promotion week to week, but the show is on a worrying trajectory. Here’s how Tony Khan can fix ROH in 2025.

ROH is considered one of the “Big Four” American wrestling promotions, along with WWE, AEW and TNA, but since being purchased by Tony Khan, it’s been more of a sister promotion to AEW. That’s a great thing, and Khan is almost certainly a better custodian than Vince McMahon would have been. Speaking from the point of view of long-time ROH fans, the idea of it’s titles and heritage being absorbed by WWE caused some Wrestlesphere writers sleepless nights.

TK clearly holds a lot of love for Ring of Honor, but it’s not exactly been plain sailing for the promotion since he purchased it. While nobody was ever expecting it to get the same level of love as AEW, ROH is entering afterthought territory and such a well-respected promotion deserves much more than this. Sadly, Ring of Honor is becoming a place where Khan’s worst booking habits are on full display, and if the ship isn’t turned around ROH risks joining AEW Rampage on the scrapheap.

But it’s not too late, here are ten things that could help fix Ring of Honor, and which could also aid AEW by osmosis.

1. Establish an actual roster

ROH needs to have a select number of stars anchoring the show. It needs certain wrestlers, feuds and factions that viewers can expect to see every week and tune into HonorClub specifically to see them. With the exception of Athena, ROH hasn’t really cultivated this since it was purchased by Tony Khan.

Sure, there are wrestlers you see on ROH more than anywhere else, but really, both AEW and ROH share the same large talent pool where different performers are rotated in and out at whim. While it makes sense for wrestlers to spend some time in both promotions, it can also prevent the audience from getting invested in them.

If the roster changes too quickly, or stars are shipped back to AEW just as they start catching fire, this hurts the ROH brand and makes it feel like an afterthought. What ROH really needs is a dedicated roster who (almost) exclusively perform there and are involved in self-contained storylines with other ROH wrestlers – like it used to have prior to the TK purchase.

This can be a mix of former AEW guys, long-time ROH stalwarts like Mark Briscoe and perhaps some brand new stars who made their name there – such as Billy Starkz, but ROH needs to decide on a roster and stick to it until there’s an AEW crossover. Speaking of those…

2. Limit the AEW crossovers

When the music of an ROH star hits in AEW it needs to be a big deal, like it was when Athena challenged Mercedes Mone. Yes, AEW and ROH are sister promotions and crossovers are part of the fun, but unless they’re used sparingly, these moments lose all gravitas. Every ROH and AEW crossover needs to feel more important, as right now, most of them happen on a weekly basis, so fans have stopped looking forward to them and fantasy booking such moments. If they were stripped back, they’d become exciting again when they do happen.

What’s worse, is that if anything of note ever happens for ROH, it tends to take place on AEW. We understand that that’s the bigger audience but this stunts any potential growth that ROH could have under TK’s leadership. ROH could look to NXTNA for a good example of how to do this. When an NXT or TNA wrestler “crosses the line” it’s almost always framed as a big deal, even when those who turn up are only members of the midcard, it still almost always works as intended and feels more exciting than it actually is.

Both promotions then cool off on the crossovers for a few weeks, so when they happen again, they’re exciting again. AEW and ROH need to go their separate ways for while, focus on their own individual rosters and do their own thing. Then, when there’s a good story to tell or match to be had, and someone like Bandido’s music hits on Dynamite, or Kenny Omega’s hits on HonorClub, we can all enjoy the massive pop, whatever fresh story is about to be told, and whatever clinic is about to be put on.

3. Utilise the Pure Division

What separates Ring of Honor from every other promotion is its rather fantastic and highly regarded Pure Division. This is one that focuses on traditional wrestling without any of the “Sports Entertainment” trappings we’ve all become accustomed to. Even wrestlers only having a limited number of rope breaks creates a new level of drama which is almost always nail-biting to watch.

Lee Moriarty holds the strap currently, and this has elevated him into one of the most exciting young stars across both promotions since winning it. There’s also a tournament to crown the first Women’s Pure Champion which is gaining some momentum and has the potential to cement a new star.

As the Pure Division is so quintessentially Ring of Honor (almost like how TNA’s X-Division is to that promotion), this should be front and centre and used as a unique selling point for ROH. While we’ve already established that both promotions should have separate rosters and use crossovers sparingly, pursuit of the Pure Championship would be an excellent reason for an AEW wrestler to show up in ROH, and such challenges would be ideal for selling PPVs.

Also, when ROH made Pure matches the focus of its crowdless shows back during the pandemic, this was easily the best wrestling on TV. You can keep your Thunderdomes, and Daily’s Place, too.

4. Have a different booker to AEW

It isn’t the purpose of this article to throw shade on Tony Khan’s booking, love it or hate it, that is an integral part of AEW – and it’s not going anywhere. However, ROH is a different beast and should be treated as such. The issue is that ROH in it’s current form just feels like another version of AEW Dark – and the twenty-three year old promotion deserves far, far better than this.

But the main reason why ROH needs a separate booker is simply so it offers a different flavour of wrestling rather than just being AEW lite. ROH needs its own identity, it needs to feel like a different product. Viewers need to tune in and get something unique, connected to AEW sure, but not just more of it.

This different vibe would shine through in both subtle and significant ways if ROH had it’s own booker and it would also give TK some bandwidth back. Let’s be honest, AEW Rampage felt like an unloved afterthought and ROH, and dare we say AEW Collision, sometimes feel like this, too. Nobody’s saying Tony Khan shouldn’t have final oversight, just let someone else book and then collaborate on the long-term plan.

Let’s not forget that the much-loved black and gold era of NXT modelled itself on old-school ROH. Let’s get back to that and remind everyone down in Florida what it’s supposed to look like.

5. Be a consistent length

Like AEW Dark, episodes of ROH on HonorClub vary wildly in length. It’s different every week and this can be a chore for fans. When we know how long an episode of TV is going to be, we can plan our viewing habits accordingly.

When a show could be anything from 45 minutes to over two hours, this inconsistency can cause viewers to simply not bother, or not arrange enough time to watch it all. Essentially, it hurts the show and viewing numbers by not respecting the audience’s time.

There’s already a lot of wrestling on TV, especially for those of us who watch everything AEW, WWE, TNA and beyond put out. And yes, there are people who watch more than one promotion rather than having tribal loyalty to only one.

We’re fine with ROH being 90 mins, two hours, or even a more bitesize show of 45 minutes, what we’re asking is that they just pick a length and stick to it. And remember, ROH, it’s okay to have dark matches, not every two-minute bout needs to be on HonorClub.

6. Drop the throwback segments

Regardless of an ROH episode’s of length, it’s often artificiality inflated by an old match from years ago. Now, if this was designed to encourage fans to subscribe to HonorClub it may make sense, but those watching ROH’s weekly show are already subscribed to the service. This also means that we can go back and watch historic content whenever we want.

So including these segments in weekly episodes of TV just doesn’t serve any purpose. Sure, it may give some younger fans an insight into ROH’s past, but the vast majority of subscribers are just going to fast-forward these matches and may even feel shortchanged by the fact that they were even included.

This content should just be added to YouTube. There, it might actually tempt some fans into subscribing to HonorClub. And yes, we know other members of the Big Four have throwback segments, we’d assign the same feedback to them.

7. Stop cutting between venues

Episodes of ROH are usually a selection of matches taken from a variety of shows in different locations. The problem with this is it’s hard for fans to follow storylines, if there even are any, and it just makes ROH feel like a perpetual pre-show. It’s also jarring and communicates to the viewer that they’re not going to see anything of note.

Ideally, Ring of Honor should run it’s own shows, possibly the night before tapings of Dynamite and Collision, which have their own roster, storylines and matches, rather than ROH serving as a pre-show to AEW. We get that this is done for practical reasons, but it shows a lack of faith in the promotion, and if the brass don’t have faith, why should the fans continue to have it?

8. More PPVs

Currently, ROH only has three annual PPVs: Supercard of Honor, Death Before Dishonor and Final Battle. Admittedly, they’re usually pretty great, but three just isn’t enough. It’s also odd that from Final Battle to Supercard, there’s typically a five-month gap where ROH just fades into obscurity, this feels especially prevalent in 2025 after Supercard has been delayed – twice.

We’d argue that there needs to be at least six annual ROH PPVs for the promotion to maintain it’s momentum all year round. Where not suggesting that ROH has as many as AEW, it’s a smaller shop afterall, but a show every two months would communicate that the promotion is alive and that it matters.

Also, ROH has a plethora of awesome PPVs that could be brought back, there’s the Anniversary Show, Survival of the Fittest, Best in the World, Glory by Honor, Honor Reigns Supreme just to name a few.

Heck, Tony Khan brought back Global Wars during AEW’s Australia tour in 2025, maybe make this a fully fledged PPV where AEW takes on ROH? Isn’t the whole point of having a sister show to see them eventually face off?

While ROH detangling itself from AEW in some of the ways we mentioned above will help it thrive in the long run, a shared PPV with AEW, with ROH positioned as the underdog, would give a lot of fans something to root for.

9. Enough with the squash matches

Perhaps our biggest gripe with modern Ring of Honor is that ever since it came under new management, the vast majority of TV episodes have been stuffed with pointless squash matches that serve absolutely no purpose. Others may argue, “Well, squash matches serve to show how strong the winner is and help them build momentum” – the issue being, this simply isn’t true.

For example, Lance Archer does not look strong by squashing Jon Cruz, or any local talent who are told to look terrified before their 30-second match. And most of the time, this “momentum” doesn’t go anywhere. The squasher doesn’t go on to do amazing things, they’re still doing the exact same match six months later.

A wrestling TV show where the more over star always wins against someone we’ve never seen before (and for nearly every match) is a pointless viewing experience. There’s nothing for us to get invested in, there’s no story, it’s not an exciting spectacle, and it goes nowhere.

However, this is part of a wider problem with AEW and ROH, and it’s an issue that plagued AEW Dark, Elevation, Rampage, and sometimes even happens on Collision. Would it not be better to simply utilise the under and midcard instead? Get some stories brewing and showcase some of the talent on the roster we rarely see?

We understand that its part of the industry to invite local talent to get some experience, it’s even how some members of the AEW roster got their big break. But these moments should be reserved for dark matches in front of the live crowd, they should not make up the bulk of TV time – especially when that TV show comes at a premium.

After a you’ve seen a few of these matches, you’ll know exactly what’s coming, so you’ll reach for the fast-forward button, but with some modern ROH episodes, you’ll find yourself doing this with every match – and when you’re paying for a show you’re mostly fast-forwarding, it’s probably time to close the wallet.

10. Bring back AEW Dark

We get this seems like an odd one on a list about ROH, but hear us out. A lot of the above points could be resolved by the return of AEW Dark and possibly Elevation – essentially freeing ROH from their ghosts.

You see, AEW Dark served a purpose, for whatever reason, Tony Khan wants to book an abundance of squash matches and have a place where AEW talent can go and work matches when they’re not on TV, and with the length of the show varying on week to week.

For several years, this was the purpose of AEW Dark and Elevation. Neither were essential viewing. Hardly anything storyline related ever happened, and most matches were entirely missable. However, once Dark and Elevation were canned, this role fell to ROH, and soon after, it started bleeding into AEW Rampage.

In the view of this humble scribe, if Tony Khan bought ROH just to turn it into the new AEW Dark, then he’s not the committed long-time Ring of Honor fan he claimed to be when he announced its purchase. Essentially, ROH can’t thrive when it’s used as a repository for wrestlers without a story on AEW or a selection of utterly pointless and boring squash matches. It needs more thought and care than that.

Also, nobody wants to watch this on TV or pay a subscription fee for what used to be free. AEW Dark did have a solid following on YouTube, so if these dull squashes mush happen, then perhaps AEW Dark makes sense to be the place? Just keep it away from ROH – and Dynamite/Collision, too for that matter.

So we’re advocating for the return of AEW Dark mostly so that Ring of Honor can be freed from its going the way it originally did, that way it can go on to be a true sister promotion to AEW, something both brands deserve.

Sure, you might watch Ring of Honor every week and not see any issue, you may enjoy the squash matches, or tribal loyalty may motivate you to see any constructive criticism as an attack on something you love.

But admitting there’s a problem is the first step in solving it, and if we look at the fate of AEW Dark, Elevation and Rampage, it’s hard to deny there’s not a worrying pattern. Some of us just want Ring of Honor to still exist in another twenty years and not join that list of cancelled shows.