ROH News: Future for NJPW Talents & iPPVs in Question

[cero2k]

Source: pwponderings.com

The Wrestling Observer is reporting/confirming that due to a rejected pitch to get more funding from SBG for ROH in 2015-2016 that there will probably be less iPPVs and less talent brought over for NJPW joint shows. There was a meeting in December with Joe Koff, Jay Briscoe, and Adam Cole with head management trying to expand the budget for what many consider to be the #1 indie (the argument that it is no longer an indie is valid).

Due to the low buyrate of Final Battle at 8,000 buys coming in under projections after the 12,000 buys for their debut PPV it’s clear SBG is happy to have ROH for content but doesn’t seem to want to spend more money. A point that we’ve made numerous times on the Podcast Of Honor and weekly Newscasts.

It was also reported that both shows last weekend drew in the 800 range, which is good and obviously driven by Alberto El Patron’s appearances though the Observer is also reporting he may not be around past the April booking.

It does bring into question then about the exclusive contracts and their value IF the parent company isn’t going to be investing more to make ROH a viable #2 promotion in the United States. We’ll hopefully have more information on this next Monday when we do our LIVE Newscast recordings and as always send in your questions or comments to mailbag@PWPonderings.com

In my opinion (Chris GST) it’s not good news but also not a big detractor. Obviously it would have been better to get a lot of NJPW talent, and in that it is a huge loss. But anyone who hasn’t been enamored with the ROH product to begin with would have most likely checked into the NJPW joint shows anyway, then left immediately after. The NJPW talent are great to have, and most likely those DVDs/VODs sell well above the average shows but weren’t going to be long term solutions for how fans perceive ROH and their current product including TV. The larger story here to me is the lack of funding SBG is willing to put into a product they own. I’ve talked about it many times with Ari and Chris Miccio and each time it seems there is a moment we cling to hope SBG will change their mind and then something sets it back down to reality. A higher buyrate for Final Battle would have been great, even if it was 10,000 and not a full 12,000 again, but clearly 8,000 was going bad news and I think we all knew that. Expectations for SBG to put more money into the ROH product is still a dream waiting to come to fruition, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

[Big Red Machine]

Very disappointing news.
The thoughts on the exclusive contracts are interesting.
Hopefully this PPV will be up a bunch (they not only have Del Rio, but they have AJ on PPV for the first time, too), and that will convince SBG to get behind things more.

[Big Red Machine]

According to Kevin Kelly's Twitter, at least part of this story (the promos part) is untrue. Someone on the ROHWorld forum also pointed out that Sinclair has created a new position in ROH, which is marketing director, and hiring an experienced new full-time staff member (especially for marketing) is not the sort of thing you do if you are trying to cut budget.

[cero2k]

According to Kevin Kelly's Twitter, at least part of this story (the promos part) is untrue. Someone on the ROHWorld forum also pointed out that Sinclair has created a new position in ROH, which is marketing director, and hiring an experienced new full-time staff member (especially for marketing) is not the sort of thing you do if you are trying to cut budget.

true, but it's surely a reason why to cut some other parts of your budget if you're now moving in new positions. By cutting a PPV or two, you likely pay the salary of this person for a while

[Big Red Machine]

According to Kevin Kelly's Twitter, at least part of this story (the promos part) is untrue. Someone on the ROHWorld forum also pointed out that Sinclair has created a new position in ROH, which is marketing director, and hiring an experienced new full-time staff member (especially for marketing) is not the sort of thing you do if you are trying to cut budget.

true, but it's surely a reason why to cut some other parts of your budget if you're now moving in new positions. By cutting a PPV or two, you likely pay the salary of this person for a while

That being said, though, they also seem to be running a lot more shows this year than they have in years past. Maybe the most they've run since 2009.