What’s the story?
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India, it seems, is the next big thing in professional wrestling. Following on the heels of both WWE and Impact Wrestling’s forays into the world’s second most populous country, Ring of Honor has now announced a major new TV deal there.
Previously...
While India certainly hasn’t been ignored by the three major wrestling promotions in North America, it’s only recently that all three have focused their attention on it. First, WWE crowned Jinder Mahal – An Indo-Canadian with Punjabi heritage – their new WWE Champion at Backlash earlier this month.
This week, Impact Wrestling taped a number of episodes of their weekly show in the country. And now, Ring Of Honor now has a new television home there.
The heart of the matter
Discovery Communications, the company behind Discovery Channel and Animal Planet – announced that they have come to an agreement with Ring Of Honor to air their show on their new Indian channel, DSPORT.
This new arrangement will bring ROH into well over 70 million homes in India. To put that in perspective, Impact Wrestling reaches an audience of that size in the United States on the Pop Network.
What’s next?
With wrestling fans in India anxious to get their hands on more and more content, Ring Of Honor has a chance to get a major foothold there. If the new show on DSPORT takes off, it could lead to a tour of the country – and maybe more.
Author’s take
As an American wrestling fan, I actually get pretty excited when a promotion like WWE or ROH make headway into a new international market.
For example, whatever WWE’s reasons were for entering the UK market (you guys can discuss that among yourselves), it’s given us US fans a chance to see talent like Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate and another new show on the WWE Network.
Hopefully, a successful ROH in India means more success for India-based promotions, followed by more successful Indian wrestlers breaking through internationally.
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