2011 - Sinclair Broadcasting announced that they had purchased Ring of Honor from Cary Silkin during a meeting with the ROH locker room prior to ROH's Supercard of Honor in Chicago, IL. Sinclair issued the following press release:
RING OF HONOR ANNOUNCES SALE TO SINCLAIR BROADCAST GROUP
BRISTOL, PA. (MAY 21, 2011)--Ring of Honor Wrestling owner, Cary Silkin, announced today the sale of the promotion to Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., one of the largest television broadcasters in the country and which owns and operates, programs, or provides sales services to 58 television stations in 35 markets across the United States.
ROH, currently the third largest wrestling promotion in the country, just celebrated its ninth anniversary, and Mr. Silkin is excited about taking the next step towards increasing the company's visibility and expanding its operations.
"We have been waiting for and working for this opportunity for quite some time", he said, "and of our 9 years in business, there has been no better roster of wrestlers than this one to expose the ROH product to the masses. With Sinclair's resources and many avenues of distribution, we believe many new fans around the world will be as captivated as those who have followed Ring of Honor over the years."
The month of September will see the debut of the new Ring of Honor television program which will be syndicated across the Sinclair network of stations, and with it, ROH will become the only wrestling promotion in the United States with a major, multi-market presence on broadcast TV. But if you don't live in a market with a Sinclair station, fear not, says Mr. Silkin. "Through our revamped website we will be able to make the TV show available to anyone in the world with internet access."
Sinclair officials are enthused about the project as well.
"We are very excited about this acquisition," commented Steve Marks, COO of Sinclair's Television Group. "Television and professional wrestling have a long history of successful partnerships and driving viewership. Unfortunately, the broadcast networks have not protected that relationship, allowing professional wrestling to migrate to cable network distribution. We believe that the powerful promotional platform that our TV stations provide, coupled with our 22% share of the U.S. TV households, will allow ROH to achieve name brand recognition and grow its share of the wrestling market. When you consider the makeup of our station mix and the number of CW, MYTV and FOX affiliates we operate, this is a perfect fit for our viewer demographics." Mr. Marks also noted, "Longer-term, we can envision syndicating ROH wrestling to broadcasters in markets where Sinclair does not have a presence, and even internationally."
Mr. Silkin assures the ROH fans worldwide that they will be seeing the same exciting, hard-hitting style of pro wrestling that they have become accustomed to. "We have established the name Ring of Honor as synonymous with the best in-ring action in the sport. The only thing that will change is that it will now be easier for fans around the world to follow. Our visibility will increase greatly--our production will be upgraded--but the work ethic of our incredible talent roster and our athletic style of wrestling will remain the same. This is what our fans have told us they want, and we will continue to give it to them."
The current front office staff, including Cary Silkin, Syd Eick, and Ross Abrams, will remain with ROH going forward. Hunter Johnston, a favorite of ROH fans for years as the masked grappler Delirious, will still handle matchmaking, Jim Cornette will remain as executive producer, and other familiar faces like ring announcer Bobby Cruise and senior referee Todd Sinclair will be in place."
Additionally, longtime wrestling broadcaster Kevin Kelly, already the voice of ROH internet pay-per-views, will assume the TV play-by-play chair this fall. Veteran NWA and WCW promoter Gary Juster will come aboard to be in charge of live event operations, which are planned to continue in current ROH markets as well as expanding into new locations concurrent with the increased TV exposure.
Mr. Cornette, who along with Mr. Johnston, will be in charge of talent and matchmaking, sees this as a new beginning for pro wrestling. "This is not old-school wrestling, and it's not sports entertainment," said Mr. Cornette. "This is wrestling for the 21st century, a new style developed by fresh, young stars that incorporates wrestling, mixed martial arts and high-flying, high-risk action with unique personalities, and it's showcased by a sports-based presentation completely different from any other product out there. In my 30 years in the sport, it's the most exciting live-event wrestling experience I've seen, and I'm thrilled to help bring it to broadcast TV."
A major press conference, open to wrestling press and mainstream media alike, is being planned for Baltimore on Friday, June 24th. This event will feature a number of the ROH staff and wrestlers both announcing news about ROH's future and answering questions. The media event will be presided over by new ROH COO, Joe Koff. Mr. Koff, a longtime Sinclair executive with an extensive background in TV sales and management, also has experience in pro wrestling television production and syndication. Most visible of his projects may have been the first-ever live, prime time syndicated pro wrestling events, the Battle of the Belts, which aired from 1985 to 1987. These Championship Wrestling from Florida-based cards were broadcast live to a syndicated network of stations and may be best-remembered for the classic Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham NWA World Title contest from St. Petersburg.
The press event will kick off a weekend which includes ROH's next internet pay-per-view event, "Best In The World 2011," live from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Sunday, June 26th at 4PM EST. In addition to all the top stars on the ROH roster, this event will feature the return of some favorite stars from Ring of Honor's past, and can be ordered by anyone in the world with internet access through Gofightlive.tv for only $14.95. More information about Ring of Honor can be obtained through their website,
www.rohwrestling.com.
On the official ROH Forums of the company website, Cary Silkin wrote the following:
"It's a new dawn!!
I just want to take a moment to thank everyone for all the years of support.As corny as it sounds if is was not for the fans and the passion of all of you we would have never made it to this day. ROH will now live on bigger and better than ever.We look forward to this new era of ROH. Lots of news will be coming out over the next few weeks and I am thrilled to stay on with the company and be able to enjoy a bigger and better Ring of Honor.
Thank you Joe Koff and the Sinclair team for making this happen and I will see everyone in NYC !!!
It's a new dawn!!"
Oh yeah, there was a show too! Gregory Davis filed the following live report:
As always, I'm bad with numbers. It was close to a sell out. While it was almost filled to capacity, they now only use half the bleachers when compared to previous years, so that's a couple hundred less seats than in the past.
We had no dark matches.
Jim Cornette came out to start the show. He explained everything that was announced earlier in the day. He also added a couple new details. The internet broadcast of the TV show will have a lot of extras with it, although he didn't say anything about whether or not that part would be paid or free. And he announced that the first TV taping would be right here at the Frontier Fieldhouse on August 13. He said all the stars would be here, and I think he said all the titles would be on the line. Tickets were I believe the usual prices, between $60 and $20. Finally, the whole roster came out as Cornette thanked them for all their hard work and for making this possible.
Throughout the night, I could see Jim Cornette at the production table talking with what I presume were the Sinclair representatives. I could only imagine what some of those conversations were like as the night went on. Speaking of representatives, Delirious came out a few times to watch the show, mask and all. I understand why he still has it on, but it's still weird to see him just casually watching the show among everyone in a mask.
1. Homicide defeated Michael Elgin with the Ace Crusher. Not that good. They worked hard, and hit some good moves, but it was way too slow, and they just couldn't gel together.
2. Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly defeated the Bravado Brothers. The Bravados tried cutting a promo, but were booed quite a bit. A quick, hard hitting match. Very fun. Cole and O'Reilly hit a combo of either lungblowers or codebreakers for the win.
Steve Corino, now freshly bald, came out to introduce his sponsor. He noted it was so easy to break rules, and so hard to be clean, especially for him, as he only has five moves. Before the sponsor came out, Mike Bennett interrupted him. Standard heel stuff from Mike, and eventually, Jimmy Jacobs came out to a nice pop. He was sharply dressed, with nicely groomed hair. He talked about how a few years ago, everyone, from the wrestlers to management to the fans, couldn't wait for him to leave. Most importantly, he said that he wasn't back yet, and that it's up to ROH to let him come back. Eventually, all the officials came out to make him leave, since his allowed time had ended.
3. Mike Bennett defeated Steve Corino with a piledriver. A good match, but a bit odd at times. Corino brought out the ring bell and gauged the crowd on whether he should hit Bennett in the face or crotch with it. Crotch beat face...... twice, as he did it two times. He would also tease the "thumb up the ass" bit, eventually doing it as well. But it was a piledriver at the end that won it for Bennett.
4. El Generico defeated Chris Hero. A little on the short side, but good while it lasted. To start, Generico brought out a toy hammer, and acted like Hero was Thor. The match originally ended with Hero getting the pin with his foot on the ropes. The ref eventually realized that, and restarted the match, which Generico then won quickly.
5. Davey Richards defeated Charlie Hass. Very intense. We also had a german suplex battle, as one would hit two in a row, the other would counter, and hit two of his own.
Intermission
Before the show resumed, the roster came out again and held a ten bell salute and moment of silence to both Randy Savage and Larry Sweeney, and then left to Sweeney's "More More More" theme.
6. Shelton Benjamin defeated Claudio Castagnoli with a top rope suplex. The "hey"s were out in full force. Good stuff as usual. I know I've been saying that alot, but that speaks of the quality of the action. Chris Hero and Charlie Hass came out to encourage their tag partners. After the match, I believe the two teams brawled, but Benjamin and Hass ended up standing tall.
7. Colt Cabana defeated Christopher Daniels. This featured one of my favorite chants: "Fallen Chippendale!" Before the match, Colt said Truth Martini shouldn't really be out here. The ref agreed, and Truth went to the bank. Another good match. Colt won with a unique top rope move. He was standing on the top rope, with Daniels on his shoulders, and he dropped straight down, driving Daniels into the turnbuckle.
8. The Briscoes defeated the All Night Express in a Chicago Street Fight. Despite their recent turn, the Briscoes were getting a lot of cheers. A hardcore, bloody brawl. There was a surprise table bump in less than a minute. There was also chairs, a fire extinguisher, and a ladder, which led to some insane bumps.
9. Eddie Edwards defeated Roderick Strong to retain the ROH World Championship. Another great, solid match. They definitely turned up the stiffness and intensity. I believe the match ended with a leg lock, rapid kick to the head combo. The House of Truth came out for a beat down, and Davey Richards made the save. To end the show, Eddie wanted Davey to fight him in a championship match, and he'd quit if it didn't happen. But Davey did accept, and I'd bet it'll happen at Best in the World.
As always, a great night of wrestling. I apologize for not being too specific with the moves, as they give you so much, that I can't remember them all. Maybe a bit long, as the show lasted four hours, but I can't complain when the action is this good.