What if WWE buys out Impact Wrestling and Ring of Honor?
For nearly two decades, WWE was beyond reproach as the single, dominant force among US-based wrestling promotions. We’ve seen a proliferation of good smaller promotions like Lucha Underground, CZW, Chikara Pro, House of Hardcore, and PWG. Out of these less prominent wrestling companies, though, only Impact Wrestling and Ring of Honor have stood the test of time when it comes to having a reasonable fan base, national television deals, and PPV.
With the arrival of All Elite Wrestling, fans have started speculating about them emerging as a meaningful challenger to WWE. More realistically, though, it will take some time before the company really threatens WWE. It’s more realistic that they could edge Impact and ROH out of their spots, and conceivably out of business.
So what if WWE were to buy Impact and ROH, either because they were going under like WCW and ECW in 2001, or as a more aggressive acquisition against AEW? It’s an intriguing possibility, and this article looks at five potential results.
#5 Ring of Honor remains its own brand
Ring of Honor is a brand that still commands respect among hardcore wrestling fans. Indeed, the company has, unintentionally, functioned as sort of a feeder for WWE, as top stars from it like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens, and Seth Rollins have gone on to become top guys in WWE.
As such, if WWE were to acquire ROH, it stands to reason they might keep it intact, using the brand as a space in between NXT and Evolve as a preparatory ground and a product that caters to hardcore fans. Of course, owning the promotion would come with a degree of oversight, with WWE personnel influencing creative and roster decisions, so, for better or for worse, it’s not as though this ROH would ultimately be the same as the long-running company up to this point. We could expect to see ROH TV, and even PPV style specials airing on the WWE Network.