ROH Tape Library Reportedly For Sale
The Ring of Honor tape library is reportedly for sale.
As noted, ROH announced on Wednesday that after December's Final Battle pay-per-view they will be going on a hiatus during the first quarter of 2022 so that they can "reimagine" the company and hopefully return with a fan-focused product in April with the Supercard of Honor event. They still have November TV tapings scheduled for Baltimore, but then Final Battle will be it until April 2022 as they have a venue booked for WrestleMania 38 Weekend in Dallas, presumably for Supercard of Honor. You can click here for the original report on ROH's statement, and click here for the update on ROH talent releases, the status of the ROH TV show, and more. You can also click here for reactions from ROH wrestlers, and click here for a new report on ROH operating more like a standard indie promotion moving forward.
In an update, Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso reports that the ROH tape library is now available and will go to the highest bidder. The library includes early career footage from stars such as Seth Rollins, Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, Cesaro, Samoa Joe, Adam Pearce, Cesaro, The Young Bucks, Kevin Owens, Impact World Champion Moose, and many others.
It was noted that ROH has been privately trying to move the library, which includes the Sinclair-owned archive from 2012-present) for more than one year now.
ROH is reportedly asking for significant money for the library, said to be much more than the current market dictates.
The ROH tape library also includes the All In pay-per-view form September 2018, which was the precursor to AEW. While AEW owns the trademark, ROH owns the footage for that key event. This, and the fact that stars like Punk and Danielson are now in AEW, would make the library an important buy for AEW, especially as they look ahead at plans for their own network.
WWE reportedly had strong interest in the ROH library at one point and even had talks with the company in 2017. It will be interesting to see if WWE still has that interest as this was back when they had so many former ROH stars being featured on all three brands.
Stay tuned for more on the future of ROH.