Newsweek is featuring an interview with Ring of Honor COO Joe Koff where he talks about the company selling out Madison Square Garden, along with New Japan Pro Wrestling, during WrestleMania 35 weekend next year in New York City.
On selling out MSG in 19 minutes:
“After a little bit of snafu and setback that’s known in the press to everybody at this point. We were finally able to make that deal and to everyone’s joy and elation on all sides, New Japan, ROH and certainly MSG’s, the fact that it sold out as quickly as it did was a validation to everything we felt.”
Why he doesn’t like to refer to ROH as an “alternative” to WWE:
“When I hear the word alternate or alternative, it means it’s not your first choice. And I don’t feel that way about Ring of Honor at all and that’s proven by the MSG sell out that ROH is there first choice. These are our fans who pay to have our product and early-access to tickets. I don’t think they’d like to be considered to an alternate to another fan, they are real fans.”
Koff on why ROH is all about wrestling with its product presentation:
“We present a great product and we’re all about the wrestling. And I think that’s what people come to see. I don’t think they come to see spectacle, they come to see sport. And I liken it to any sport I would go to. If all the baseball players did was talk for two hours and just play ball for an hour, I probably won’t like that. I want to see a game and see what they can do.”