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As we noted over the weekend, a camera crew from HDNet were at the Orlando, Florida event over the weekend. At the event, they were shooting footage that will be used for commercials to promote the series on the network as well as familiarizing themselves with shooting professional wrestling from ringside. The ROH series will be post-produced at HDNet's production facilities in Denver, Colorado.
There will some ROH changes with the debut of the series. TV tapings will be exclusively done for the HDNet airings and won't be immediately released on DVD. I have heard HDNet will have exclusivity to the TV footage for a period (one source stated one year, which I am unable to 100% confirm), which is fair. If they are producing the series, they should be able to have exclusivity to the footage. The hope within ROH is that the new audience will want to seek out ROH DVDs and PPVs, with an interest in not just the current product but also the company's back library of DVDs. Down the line, ROH can always try and release the series in some sort of box set form as well.
I can see some ROH fans being upset about this, but if they are, it's from a selfish point of view. The reality is this is the start of a new era for the company and one that they needed. After seven years, they had to have a television outlet or else there was no other way for the company to grow. When there's no growth, it's just a matter of time for the inevitable. Whether the new deal sparks ROH's business immediately or not, it gives the company a larger viewership than it will ever have before and also provides them a chance to learn, via trial and error, how to produce a weekly series while building a track record for the ROH brand. That is far more important than fans being able to buy *every* show on DVD in chronological order. Fans cannot look at it as just their ROH anymore as the company will have to work with and answer to business partners and make compromises that in the end, will hopefully be positives for the long-term viability of the company. ROH has been hand to mouth for seven years. It has to grow - with that will be some growing pains, but it has to grow. The alternative, especially in today's economic environment, is ROH running the same treadmill they have been on until financially, they are out of gas.
There will also be changes to a lot of the wrestler theme music due to rights issues. ROH issued an announcement earlier this week that they were seeking bands who were interested in having their music utilized on the HDNet series and if so, they could contact rohwayne@gmail.com. In my mind, every theme song can be changed except for Bryan Danielson's as his entrance to Europe's The Final Countdown is almost iconic at this point.
Talent announced for the weekend of the first TV tapings on 2/28 and 3/1 in Philadelphia, PA so far are ROH champ Nigel McGuinness, Bryan Danielson, Tyler Black, ROH Tag Team Champion Kevin Steen, Chris Hero, Larry Sweeney, Austin Aries, Jerry Lynn, Jimmy Jacobs, Eddie Edwards, Jay Briscoe, Kenny King, Rhett Titus, Cheech and Cloudy, Sterling James Keenan, and the Dark City Fight Club. For ticket information, visit www.rohwrestling.com.
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