Tony Khan Acquired ROH For Less Than $4 Million

The landscape of professional wrestling in North America was altered earlier this year when Tony Khan announced on AEW Dynamite that he was the new owner of Ring Of Honor, having purchased the promotion from Sinclair Broadcast Group. ROH have since lost their TV deal with Sinclair and the promotion has been a presence on AEW TV instead alongside two pay-per-views in April and July. 

Speaking about buying the company on Wrestling Observer Radio, Tony Khan revealed that he paid less than Jim Crockett Promotions did for the Universal Wrestling Federation. JCP bought the promotion from Bill Watts for $4 million in 1987.

"I think this is the start of a really big time for us. So in talking about some of that...it's a relevant comparison. Like I said, I think the promotion AEW is probably more like Jim Crockett Promotions, and honestly acquiring Ring of Honor, it's different. I paid a lot less for Ring of Honor than they paid for the UWF man. Yeah," Khan said. 

Khan also revealed that he has no plans to take his other promotion All Elite Wrestling public, noting it is a family business. 

"No, this is a family business. From the beginning, if you look at how I've set up the routing of the tours, and sometimes people say I make conservative decisions, but it's also because I don't want to end up like Crockett Promotions and end up in somebody else's hands. This is a family business. Theirs was around for a long time, but some mismanagement, and trusting people and letting people take your chequebook, letting people take your TV book and your pay-per-view booking. And you see what can happen," he continued.

"So people say I keep my fingers in a lot of pies, whether it's all the creative, or the booking of the buildings or how the business is run, but I've also seen that it's the most successful way to run a wrestling promotion is to manage the entire thing from the top down, and not let people screw you. Because if you turn your back in this business, people will screw you at every turn I've learned, and not just the people that work for you. But anybody from the outside if you show weakness."

H/T to WrestlingNews.co