Led by Cody Rhodes, the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega, Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling’s working relationship have helped to chip away at the leader in sports entertainment, WWE.
After years of ROH gaining ground in what is still a wide margin to WWE, the parent company Sinclair Broadcasting fired its first public shot by announcing the booking of a show (rumored to be over WrestleMania weekend) in Vince McMahon’s backyard at the iconic Madison Square Garden. WWE responded within a week by reportedly communicating its displeasure to MSG, which resulted in an abrupt cancellation of the ROH/NJPW megashow and a refusal to set another date.
Sinclair Broadcasting is understandably furious at how everything has been handled and is threatening legal action. While it’s not clear how ugly this could get, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer speculated what Sinclair could do if it hopes to shoot right back at WWE.
WWE reportedly inked a still unannounced $1 billion deal with FOX to air Smackdown beginning in 2019. Sinclair owns more than 40 FOX affiliates. As the show moves to Friday nights, Sinclair could opt to preempt Smackdown with local programming, Meltzer noted. This is relatively unheard of considering preemptive shows generally are used with sporting events running long and network programming essentially being delayed until the event is over. In some situations, the programming is joined mid-show, which could seriously affect how Smackdown is written, produced and certainly consumed.
Meltzer cautions that this would be the “most drastic step” in escalating the situation. He also, however, mentioned that it’s “not like that step was not in discussion last week,” as word of the MSG debacle trickled down.
Strap in folks, this one could get bumpy.
