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In a move that will make New York City fans extremely happy, Ring of Honor will be returning to the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC starting with the 12/2 Final Battle PPV event. The company quietly added the date to their schedule of events on www.rohwrestling.com this morning. There should be an official announcement forthcoming as well.
PWInsider.com has additionally confirm via sources at the venue that ROH's return is not a one-time event and that the company has completed a deal with the Hammerstein that will see ROH run there several times a year in 2017 and beyond.
Ring of Honor had been in conversations with The Hammerstein Ballroom regularly since they had stopped running there in May 2014 and moved to Terminal 5. The issue, as we have noted previously on PWInsider.com was that the venue wanted ROH to pay to use their equipment and production staff, which would require ROH to incur additional costs in an already costly market and didn't make running the venue cost-effective. When TNA ran Impact Wrestling tapings at the facility in the smaller Grand Ballroom, they utilized the venue's assets, which made the Hammerstein request that ROH use those assets as well.
ROH was well aware of the issues revolving around sightlines and other logistical problems surrounding running Terminal 5, but did not want to pull stakes up out of the NYC market since it has always been a regular stop for ROH dating back to it's first anniversary in 2003.
The Terminal 5 issues had been a regular source of stress for the company and the fan complaints never fell on deaf ears. ROH was just never in a position where they could do anything about them, publicly. Privately, however, management had been regularly scouting different venues in all five boroughs of NYC in an attempt to find a regular replacement while also at the same time, keeping conversations and negotiations with Hammerstein management going.
Two weeks ago, the company and the Hammerstein were able to come to terms on a deal that worked for both sides, paving the way for ROH to go back to a larger venue that can accommodate far more fans and give them a better ROH experience as well. I can tell you firsthand that ROH management is very excited about that.
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