Part 2: What can Ring Of Honor do to survive?

The age old formula of using television to drive house show business may be long gone when it seems the two major companies generate much of their revenue through television rights fees. Ring of Honor is definitely in no position to have valuable rights fees, but they are in a situation where they could reassess the current business model and make some changes to see how they work.

Ring of Honor's biggest problem is it's television show. The weekly product suffers from low production values and difficult distribution methods in an era where either is unacceptable. I recently watched the April 7th ROH television show and noticed a few things that were terrible and came across poorly on television, so here is another one of my awesome lists of what's wrong with the show.

1.Why is it so hard to find?

I understand that Sinclair only covers 25% of the country, but the only other way for the rest to access it is by watching it on a computer with flash on the official website. Since the debut of this show no one at Sinclair or ROH has tried to find a method to get this streaming on iPads, iPhones, Android devices, Roku, Boxee and of course on Smart TVs. It seems that many at Sinclair and ROH fail to realize that you no longer need a network to get your content out to televisions around the world.

The end goal of all this is getting the product seen, which is not happening now. Something as simple as changing the video format used on ROH.com would enable many more devices to play the show. There is also the other profit generating option of creating an app that would allow access to the episodes on a mobile device, the price could be something simple like $4.99 which would likely not scare fans away and also help the product get seen more.

2. Production Changes.
Why do I feel like I'm watching an episode of 120 Minutes whenever Kevin Kelly is doing a backstage interview?

Hideous, absolutely hideous

What would make anyone in production think that using an ugly rust-looking frame around the shot would be a good idea? I feel like I'm playing an FMV Sega CD game like Sewer Shark where the screen for the full motion video takes up a small area in the middle of the screen. This effect annoys the hell out of me. The rather Attitude-Era background of askew fences seems a bit unnecessary too, although not a big deal.


Another annoying visual effect can be seen in this following shot of Jay Lethal (apologies for the blurriness but I took a screenshot from the internet stream)

Because when I think of on screen graphics, I think of giant rusty turds

Why would ROH use this style for all on screen graphics in the show? Do they know how terrible and unprofessional this looks? It reeks of 1996! Almost any graphic design or film major currently in school could do a better job than this in next to no time, for probably an extremely low sum too.

The final gripe I have for now regarding production issues would be the fans banging on the steel dividers. This is something that works very well in a live setting, but comes across as low rent and annoying on television. It's hard to take something seriously while hearing that constant noise and then being reminded of the environment the show is in. These have to go, at least for TV tapings.

4. The music has to change.

The opening theme comes across as a rip off of UFC, which isn't a good thing because I think the UFC intro is incredibly lame too. One great thing about 2012 is it is easier than ever to get awesome music by talented bands for use in things like this, bands want exposure and many will allow you to use the music free for that exposure. The trick is to contact independent bands who actually understand how to get their music heard.

None of the companies do this and considering musicians such as Billy Corgan, Damian Abraham from Fucked Up!, Rick Ross, Clipse, ICP, The Misfits and the most famous producer of all time Rick Rubin are huge fans, there would be a wide variety to choose from. Hell Rick Rubin FUNDED Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling, there is no reason Cornette couldn't ask for a favor and have Rubin try to get a huge star down there for a free appearance. Imagine how big of a deal a Metallica, Jay-Z, RHCP, Weezer or Linkin Park would make if they showed up for just a 5 minute appearance talking about what they think about Ring of Honor.

There are all kinds of ways to get celebrities to support you and speak out on your behalf, it is all about choosing the right celebrities that appreciate the independent spirit put forth by Ring of Honor throughout the years. Don't go after old and hard to reach people, go after guys like Skrillex and The Weeknd. Try to gain some credibility off of theirs.

5. Showcase social media a little more.

This was hard to write because of how tired I am hearing about this on the other two shows. All ROH did to mention their social media outlets was a small 30 second commercial in the middle of the episode. This does an average job of getting the word out there, but it doesn't do anything to get any of the talent over. Ideally, ROH would use the idea of simply putting the wrestler's Twitter information below his name on the entrance graphic. The other thing that should be considered is on the upper left hand corner putting #ROH, this may not be ideal because the show is taped and airs at different times, but it is a good way to get that hashtag out there.

Okay part 3 will be further recommendations going forward for Ring of Honor.