Joe Koff on Daniel Bryan in ROH, if the “Indie” Label Is Insulting

ROH COO Joe Koff spoke to the AV Club about the term “indie wrestling” and Daniel Bryan potentially coming back to ROH after his WWE contract expires.

On if the term “indie wrestling” is seen as a pejorative or not:

“I don’t see it as pejorative at all. When we bought the company from Cary Silkin back in 2011, Ring Of Honor was considered one of the top independents in the country. We’ll always be labeled as that because that’s how we’re remembered, and sometimes memories are much stronger than present tense. But I hardly look at us as an independent promotion. We’re in the middle of a four-day, four-city tour. We have weekly television. We have incredibly distribution. We’re on internationally. I don’t think we’ll ever get that [indie connotation] out of the hardcore fan’s mind. I’m not insulted by it by any means. But when you lump everything into that category, then we’re either at the top of that category or we shouldn’t be included in it at all.”

Koff then comments on whether WWE ‘Smackdown Live‘ General Manager Daniel Bryan may return to ROH once his contract with WWE expires:

“I’m not gonna give you odds, I wouldn’t even know how to set those. Bryan’s under contract with the WWE, from what I understand, until September 2018. If he chooses not to renew that contract, and he is able to wrestle from a health standpoint, I would welcome him. It would be a triumphant return. I think we would be the right place for him, the right fan appreciation, the right respect from the industry plus management plus everybody. But there’s so many variables in that. Even though it’s not far away, a year in wrestling is a long period of time. But he is more than welcomed to come back and I would love to have him on our roster.”

On ROH potentially adding a streaming service:

“It’s in development right now. I would expect it to be around the first of the year or a little bit after.”

If you would like to see an audio report on this, we highly suggest checking out the following video explaining Koff’s comments.

ROH's COO Joe Koff Talks New Streaming Service, Talks With WWE & Daniel Bryan

What are your opinions on Bryan leaving WWE? Will you use a potential ROH streaming service? Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page or Twitter account. Additionally, you can find me on Twitter at @SOSNH1995. We also want to remind you that we have a Newsletter you can sign up to. This will allow us to send you the best news in one place via an email. We also have the Wrestling Rumors app that we encourage you all to download to get updates faster than they release on our various pages. It is available on Android and iOS devices.