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COMPLETE TONY KHAN DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR MEDIA CALL COVERAGE

Welcome to PWInsider.com's live, ongoing coverage of Tony Khan's ROH Death Before Dishonor 2022 PPV media call.

Tony thanked everyone for joining the call and said he is excited for the PPV.  He appreciates all the support since the relaunch of ROH under his ownership.  

Khan was asked if he had an ideal size of for the ROH roster.  Khan said it would be sliding scale in some ways.  AEW's roster grew as AEW expanded.  They added more with Rampage and Elevation, with the latter adding lots of young talents.  They moved to three hours of programming with Rampage.  With ROH, they haven't gotten the weekly deal yet and he stresses yet because he's not going to do it until the "distribution deal is right for everyone."  They don't have the biggest version of the roster right now because most of the content is happening on the PPVs or on AEW programming or companies they work with but they could and would change - it would probably expand if and when the TV gets going.

He was asked about who he was talking to about potential ROH deals.  He has talked with Warner Bros. Discovery about it and they have come to a deals to have the PPV on Bleacher Report.  He feels it will be one of the biggest ROH PPVs and they've had the chance this week to help familiarize WBD execs with ROH.  He would love to parlay that into a weekly ROH show.

On whether ROH would remain on AEW if and when they get a TV product, Khan said he would want the primary attention to be on ROH shows but there's a lot of excitement in having the stars and champions on different shows and have some crossover.  He feels ROH has one of the strongest lineups of champions in wrestling right now.  That makes for an interesting lineup of PPV matches this Saturday.  AEW could be involved in populating and promoting ROH and creating competition going back and forth.

Khan was asked if more matches were planned to be added.  Khan said they will add matches between now and the show.  There will be more details on Rampage and ROH social media.

I asked Khan about the differences in his approach to this show vs. Supercard of Honor, which he inherited as a show that was originally going to be promoted by Sinclair Broadcast Group.  He wants there to be echoes of the past.  He wants to make the older fans happy while also bringing in new fans.  This show will be less of a transition.  The ROH Pure Rules scoreboard will be back.  He said that Supercard of Honor was one of the best reviewed shows of the year and he feels Death Before Dishonor's card is even stronger.  He wants to build the promotion for the future.

My power just went out so going forward, this will be more bare bones in my recap.  Blame mother nature.

Khan was asked about ROH touring for TV and beyond.  Khan said he "suspects' there are a lot of great venues they can tape at, including Universal Studios and others around the country.  He's open to that but he's open to doing some bigger venues.  They have run big arenas for PPV events and he'd like to continue that.  He said the PPVs he's done are among the biggest ROH PPV gates of all time.  He's not locked into one fixed thing.

Khan was asked about titles that could run through AEW and ROH.  He noted they have the AEW All-Atlantic title being defended outside the company right now and some of the other titles defended outside the company and other companies have had their titles defended here.  As far a Hybrid shared by the two companies, not likely at this time.

Khan was asked if ROH would have the same ranking system as AEW.  He said he's not settled one way or the other but isn't sure he would keep things exactly the same as he'd like to have some differences between the companies.

Khan was asked if there were talents who are signed for ROH who haven't been seen but are signed.  He stated the Briscoes.  

Khan praised the arrival of Claudio Castagnoli.  He said Claudio and Gresham have had two different paths in ROH.  He praised Claudio as one of the most respect athletes in the business but the World title has eluded him. He said their match is a clash of styles in some ways but a very unique battle.

Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman will be the announcing team for the PPV,

Khan said there will be some wrestlers from AEW who will never appear in ROH.

Khan was asked about the video packages capturing the feel of Ring of Honor and what he envisions ROH will be like when they get TV going.   Khan said Caprice has been on Rampage a lot and thinks that helps show ROH has a different voice and presentation.  He's looking forward to and is hopeful that the show will have another flavor of what to expect from ROH.

Khan said at Final Battle, he wanted to show that if a company needs help and it's not going to hurt AEW, he's willing to help.  Sinclair reached out and were interested in some of the legends of ROH like CM Punk and Bryan Danielson.  He sent Jay Lethal to work the show.  He gets asked for favors and when he can, he tries to accomodate it and this was one of those times he was glad he did.  He feels it was good for the relaunch that some of the stars are coming back.

Khan was asked about anything being revealed at SDCC this weekend.  He said he is hoping there will be but there's unpredictability.

Khan was asked the differences between the two promotions.  Code of Honor.  History.  Different presentation.

Khan was asked about New Japan working with ROH again given their history.  Khan said he believes that's possible and all three companies working together is possible.  We saw some of that at Forbidden Door with the FTR tag bout.

Khan was asked about the status of Willow Nightingale with either company.  Khan said she's been with AEW and had been with ROH in the past.  She's a great wrestler for any promotion.  She's a great face for any women's division and they are watching her getting better and better.  He's appreciative of how hard she works.  He's excited about her growth.  He did not say whether she was signed or not.

Khan was asked Colt Cabana being part of ROH.  Khan said he was involved in Supercard of Honor and he's planning to have Cabana involved this weekend.  They haven't announced everything for the card thus far.   He's happy to have Cabana around.  Khan was asked about Cabana's relationship with CM Punk.  Khan declined to comment on that.

Khan said he's followed and been a fan of ROH and pay tribute to the history of the promotion vs. AEW where he tries to pay tribute to the history of all of wrestling.  He said AEW is the home of pro wrestling on TV and they have their own homegrown history vs. taking over ROH and re-imagining the company.  He said he enjoys it and it's different from say starting Rampage and booking another hour of TV.

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