Since Tony Khan made the official announcement on the March 2nd broadcast of AEW Dynamite that he’d purchased the rights to Ring of Honor, fans have been waiting for the announcement of an ROH television deal. Until now, the brand has operated solely across AEW programming, bar two critically-acclaimed pay-per-views.
This has, in large, been met with dismay from the AEW faithful, who are now more eager than ever to see ROH content move away from All Elite Wrestling. This continued as recently as the latest AEW Dynamite broadcast, as Chris Jericho defended the ROH World Championship against Dalton Castle, while Final Battle was confirmed for December 10th.
“Belts Everywhere!” – Jim Cornette Calls AEW/ROH Crossover An “Infestation”
Jim Cornette hasn’t taken kindly to the crossover between the two Tony Khan-helmed promotions. Speaking on the latest Jim Cornette Experience podcast, the legendary wrestling personality slammed AEW for failing to appropriately build up ROH performers and personnel, specifically addressing Prince Nana accompanying Brian Cage:
“Establish what you’re doing, don’t assume everybody already knows! That was a memo we got from Bill Watts 40 years ago. Everyone – in quotation marks – knows everything, but if you’re in a stipulation match: explain it. If your promo is about someone, remember what you did in the town last time and talk about it. Make things make sense, people don’t just appear and disappear!”
Continuing, Jim Cornette likened the crossover to an “infestation”, with wrestlers and championships now in abundance:
“Infestation is appropriate, not because any of the Ring of Honor guys are cockroaches, but because by the time you see one or two, there’s a bunch more lurking around the corner! And belts everywhere!”
In total, there are fourteen active championships when factoring in both the AEW and ROH titles, eight under the AEW banner and six licensed through ROH. All of the ROH championships have now been defended across AEW programming, with the World Television and Pure Championships changing hands on AEW Dynamite.