8 ROH Stars We Need On The AEW Main Roster Now That Tony Khan Has Purchased The Company

Ring Of Honor has been purchased by AEW. This is obviously huge news, as we’ve reported here at Pro Wrestling News Hub. People have been reeling from this announcement since it was made this past Wednesday by Tony Khan on Dynamite, and that’s for very good reason, as now, the possibilities are indeed endless.

I actually wrote and predicted that this would happen way back when ROH released its entire roster of wrestlers and announced a hiatus. It was the logical thing to do. Despite interest from WWE and other companies, AEW has acquired ROH and the plans that Tony Khan has for the promotion aren’t quite clear as of yet, but many are excited, for sure.

The company deserves to flourish as it has had a plethora of stars to come through its doors and they have all shone in some of the biggest pro wrestling companies the world over since ROH’s inception in 2002…stars like Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Eddie Kingston, Eddie Edwards, and so many others I’ve failed to mention.

ROH suffered severely during the pandemic though and a hiatus seemed imminent, if not a complete closure altogether, which for a long time also seemed quite imminent.

We’re sure Tony Khan will oversee the company and merge it into his product the way he sees fit. The logical way would be to make ROH the equivalent of what NXT is for WWE, but that will be seen in the long run.

But what of ROH’s long-time stars? And what of the championships—the major ones—currently held by Deonna Purrazzo and Jonathan Gresham?

Some have signed deals with Impact Wrestling. Specifically the members of Honor No More…but how ironclad are those deals? Will we see them in ROH again now that they’re on the new AEW platform?

Questions, questions, questions…

But to say that we aren’t a little more than excited to see some of these ROH stars on the main roster of AEW would be a blatant lie. It would be epic to see some of the ROH wrestlers on the main roster in storylines and in matches, so I decided to compile a list of 8 ROH stars that anybody would love to see (or at least I hope so) on AEW’s main roster…taking in experience and time in ROH of course. Basically, wrestlers that wouldn’t even be a fit on say NXT if they were in WWE…stars that would shine on the main roster in any company and the main roster alone.

Some ROH stars have already taped matches for Dark, according to a piece at wrestlingnews.co, specifically Blake Christian and ROH Pure Champion, Josh Woods—two epic talents indeed, and young stars on their rise to greatness for sure. But for this piece, I’ll stick to what can perhaps be considered the older guard and a few men and women that deserve to shine on AEW’s larger stage.

So without further ado….

8. Adam Brooks

Because of the pandemic, we didn’t get to see all that much of this tremendous talent from Australia. He signed with ROH officially in 2019—specifically at the tail end. Matches he has had, and with ROH veterans, prove that he has what it takes to battle on AEW’s main roster for sure.

7. Tyler Bateman

More of an old guard member of the roster if you will. Bateman knows how to tell a story expertly, with conviction and with perfect pacing in the ring. He’s the perfect blend of gimmick and grit and experience. He was present for the Spring 2018 NJPW LA Dojo Camp, and has wrestled also for PWG.

6. Dalton Castle

Now talk about gimmick and experience. Castle certainly has it all. His shenanigans and ability to tell a story perfectly would find a perfect home on the AEW main roster…perhaps even in a feud with some of its top stars. Wouldn’t it be great to see stars like Adam Page dealing with Castle and his antics? I know I’d like to see that.

Castle has had some truly amazing showdowns with the likes of Adam Cole and The Young Bucks already, so perhaps even a reunion with those gents would be pretty spectacular to see as well.

5. PJ Black

Known as Justin Gabriel in WWE, he is a tremendous athlete that can only shine when in front of a large crowd. Dare I say it, that’s the allure of say even a Ricochet and a Mustafa Ali…the crowd reaction to their acrobatic styles is part of the awe factor that high flyers bring to the table. Black is an exceptional example of just this.

4. World Famous CB

He started with the “Cheeseburger” gimmick, but has since evolved. He has claimed to be more than a novelty act and has backed up those claims. He put on quite a few great matches and even if we wouldn’t see him just yet on the main roster in AEW, a few angles and/or matches on Dark would be perfect for him at this point in his career. Just keep him on your radar if this does come to fruition, because he’s got a lot to prove and is hungry to do so.

3. The Briscoe Brothers

What can be said about these guys other than they belong in this business? They just scream pro wrestling. They don’t even have to utter a word, although they are quite vocal during matches, often making the noises that Mick Foley was famous for during matches. They hold the ROH tag titles (titles they have held 12 times), so seeing them down the line in AEW perhaps is inevitable.

2. Kellyanne

There have been rumors that Rok-C had signed with WWE, according to Booker T, but these were comments that he later retracted, stating that he misspoke, according to a piece at mandatory.com, but the ROH Women’s division is full of great talents. Kellyanne wasn’t seen all that much due to the pandemic, just like Adam Brooks, as she’s from Australia too, but she’s definitely someone to look out for. And she deserves to be on the AEW platform after the hardships she’s suffered due to the pandemic and her ROH contract being voided in the process, and an overall feeling from her that she was mismanaged by ROH themselves as she told Vince Russo (video above).

Deonna Purrazzo holds the ROH Women’s title—she won it from Rok-C—but Purrazzo will be defending it at Sacrifice this Saturday, an Impact event, and against a mystery opponent. She has been issuing open challenges for that title and her AAA Reina de Reinas Championship in recent history.

What seems logical is that someone from either AEW or from ROH shows up to try for that championship, but time will tell.

1. Jonathan Gresham

The ROH Champion. Of course he should be involved moving forward. He has wrestled on Impact and defended his title there, and he has his own promotion to wrestle at (Terminus), but an angle in which he either drops the ROH title on AEW TV or defends it, seems inevitable right now. No matter what happens though, this is an exciting time to be watching AEW, especially if you were a fan of ROH since its inception.

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