WWE Failed To Purchase ROH Before AEW's Tony Khan
Tony Khan wasn't the only major wrestling player interested in buying Ring Of Honor.
Following on from AEW founder Tony Khan's announcement that he has purchased Ring Of Honor, it has emerged that WWE considered buying the groundbreaking promotion on at least two occasions.
Speaking on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer stated that Triple H wanted to buy ROH at some point around 2018. Ring Of Honor denied this at the time, but there was smoke to the fire, with Vince McMahon ultimately deciding against the takeover following talks as he wanted to acquire a bigger company.
He learned later on that the bigger company, NJPW, couldn't be bought out.
Meanwhile, PWInsider's Mike Johnson reports that WWE had interest in ROH in late 2021, when the promotion announced it was going on hiatus and ending as a full-time concern. Discussions commenced that December but a deal was never agreed upon. Then, when Khan announced his own buyout during this week's episode of AEW Dynamite, people within WWE were genuinely shocked, having believed that Khan's much-hyped "major announcement" was going to be a streaming deal with HBO Max.
As covered yesterday, it is believed that Khan plans on running ROH as a form of "developmental territory" for AEW.