After yet another iPPV disaster on Saturday night with ‘Best In The World 2013’, ROH have finally pulled the trigger and announced the end of iPPVs.
The company released a statement that read: “This past weekend at “Best in the World” in Baltimore, MD , Ring of Honor proved once again from top to bottom why our talent is truly the best in wrestling today. Unfortunately, there were some issues with the live iPPV stream that wound up distracting from the energy and action in ring. For this, we sincerely apologize to all fans that encountered problems.
Because of how much we value the support of our fans, and understand the imperfections of the live streaming technology, “Best in the World” will be the last iPPV stream that we will be broadcasting live. All future main event shows will now be offered as a Video On Demand, which will allow Ring of Honor to present a flawless show and truly depict the excellence of our product.
From now on, fans can watch ROH Wrestling on TV, VOD, or DVD, however there is still nothing like seeing Ring of Honor in person. We thank you for your continued support and are excited to be moving forward.”
In my opinion, this is the right decision. Fans were getting screwed over time and time again, whether it be buffering or stalling at certain points, or streams just not working at all. Nobody saw Jay Briscoe win the ROH World Title due to problems and that just isn’t right.
The only publicity ROH were getting from iPPVs was bad publicity. They handled the problems badly and it’s about time they just admitted defeat on this one. The VOD service for house shows has worked pretty well so far and if that’s the way forward, it’s a smart move in my eyes.
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