Why Did Tony Khan Text Rocky Romero To Apologize?
Rocky Romero is a busy man, working with AEW, New Japan, Impact Wrestling, various indies promotions, and next month, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) for their International Gran Prix. But that doesn't mean he's too busy to take calls from AEW/Ring of Honor owner Tony Khan, especially when Khan is calling to apologize after his purchase of Ring of Honor.
Why would Khan call Romero to apologize, you may ask? The veteran wrestler answered the question in an appearance on "AEW Unrestricted".
"The news broke and I was like, 'Oh sh*t, Tony bought Ring of Honor,'" Romero said. "And then I got a text maybe thirty minutes later from Tony apologizing to me. He was like, 'Hey, man, I couldn't really tell you. It was a last-second thing.' The deal went through and he was like, 'I wanted to tell you so bad, but yeah, I bought Ring of Honor and we're going to do some stuff. So hopefully, we can collaborate on some Ring of Honor and New Japan stuff.' And I was like, 'Oh, that's really cool.'"
As for what Khan's vision of Ring of Honor may entail, Romero compared it to New Japan's attempts to grow in America.
"It was very shocking but I'm glad that Tony bought it," Romero said. "I think, obviously, the library is in good hands, the history of Ring of Honor is in good hands with somebody who I think will do a very good job to preserve it and take care of it the right way. So, I think that's really important, and obviously, it seems like from talking to Tony and the little bits of pieces that you kind of hear from interviews and such, Ring of Honor will be similar to a New Japan Strong where there's a focus on the younger side of talent that could be part of AEW later, or whatever it might be. I think that's really cool and that's what Ring of Honor kind of was originally. And you saw the growth and wrestlers that came out of that first Ring of Honor group and second Ring of Honor group, and now, look where everybody's at. So, I think that that's really cool that the legacy will kind of live on."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit AEW Unrestricted and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription