ROH Management & Wrestlers Meet With Sinclair Broadcasting For Budget Increase

Ring of Honor COO Joe Koff, head booker Hunter "Delirious" Johnston, ROH World Champion Jay Briscoe and Adam Cole all met with parent company Sinclair Broadcasting executives before Final Battle to make a proposal for more money. Sinclair has kept ROH on a budget since purchasing the promotion in 2011, which hasn't given them much room creatively. The arc of their proposal was that with an increased budget ROH could become the out-and-out #2 promotion in the United States, Briscoe and Cole were brought in to represent the locker room as both are known to heavily support ROH's product and brand.

Dave Metlzer of the Wrestling Observer reported yesterday that this play did not work, and Sinclair will be keeping ROH on a budget, which they do increase depending on performance, but increase minimally. Last year was a big year for the company both as a product and behind-the-scenes with their expansion into new markets on TV and with their live pay-per-view debut in June. TNA's woes saw ROH outperform them as a business with their live attendance figures and pay-per-view buys exceeding TNA's, but with the year TNA had that isn't saying much.

SBG officials apparently told ROH management to me more disciplined in their spending. There is speculation that this could result in ROH cutting back on the number of names coming into the promotion for their New Japan Pro Wrestling crossover shows in May.