Ian Riccaboni explained the differences between NXT and ROH.
Since Tony Khan purchased Ring of Honor in 2022, it has been compared in some ways to NXT. Some view ROH as a developmental brand of AEW, like NXT is to WWE. However, there are clear differences between the two, including the lack of “Performance Center” which makes NXT such an asset to the WWE.
Ian Riccaboni spoke with Lehigh Valley News recently. He was asked if ROH was effectively AEW’s NXT since being purchased by Tony Khan. He noted that ROH goes for more experienced wrestlers, rather than non-wrestling athletes that WWE train from the ground up at the Performance Center.
“With due respect to NXT, I think we’re looking for different athletes. We are looking for more experienced athletes. They in the recent past have started to start from scratch, where in the past NXT would take at the time he was Kevin Steen in Ring of Honor, he was the world champ. And then they took him and he’s Kevin Owens. Sort of in previous schools of thought they would take some of the top ROH talent and put them through NXT get them ready, and then have them on Raw or Smackdown. I think right now the folks on ROH are intentionally a little bit more well-developed, more experienced.”
Ian Riccaboni mentions Willow Nightingale as one of the success stories of ROH, before adding:
“And so I think ROH serves a lot of great purposes. I think we’re looking for folks that are a little bit more established. I think we’re looking for folks that don’t need to be molded that are more experienced professional wrestlers. So I think it’s more maybe what NXT used to be. I think right now, they’re looking for just athletes. It’s just two different approaches.”
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