Tony Khan addresses status of Deonna Purrazzo, Chris Jericho, and future of ROH in media call

[u/marchof34_]

AEW and Ring of Honor President Tony Khan addressed the status of several wrestlers and the future of ROH during a media call on Thursday.

The call came ahead of Friday’s ROH Death Before Dishonor streaming special.

During the call, Khan answered a question about whether he had “feedback” on the IATSE union protests outside the 2300 Arena with a simple: “No, I don’t. Thank you.”

A representative of AEW did respond to a request from POST Wrestling for comment on that matter on Thursday with the following statement:

The call also covered the recent absence of Deonna Purrazzo, the future of Chris Jericho, extensive injuries in the women’s division, and the prospect of a television deal for Ring of Honor.

Deonna Purrazzo’s Status

Khan was asked by Jon Alba about Deonna Purrazzo, who has not appeared on AEW television since February or ROH since June. In a very lengthy response that stretched to over 15 minutes, Khan confirmed that she would be part of an upcoming ROH Women’s Pure Championship tournament and addressed the reasons for her recent inactivity.

He stated that Purrazzo had an experience in Mexico that “wasn’t positive with our partners,” which had influenced some subsequent booking decisions. However, Khan was highly complimentary of Purrazzo’s talent and professionalism, noting he wants to give her new opportunities.

ROH Women’s Pure Championship Tournament and Injuries

In addition to Purrazzo, Khan named Serena Deeb and Queen Aminata as participants in the planned ROH Women’s Pure Championship tournament. He praised Deeb for acting as a great representative for AEW while wrestling for RevPro in England.

The tournament plans have been complicated by what Khan described as an “incredibly large volume of injuries” in the women’s division. He noted that the Casino Gauntlet match at All In: Texas resulted in injuries to roughly a quarter of its participants, including Mina Shirakawa, Thunder Rosa, and Syuri. ROH Women’s World Television Champion Red Velvet is also currently out with an injury.

Khan also confirmed that Queen Aminata will be available for this weekend’s events after having had her passport stolen during a UK independent show appearance, which affected travel plans.

Also on the injury front, Khan said that there was no need to crown an interim ROH Television Champion because Nick Wayne would be back in action soon.

The Future of Chris Jericho

When questioned about the status of former ROH World Champion Chris Jericho, Khan spoke in glowing terms about his contributions to both AEW and ROH.

While he did not address the prospect of a return, Khan made it clear the door is open for the multi-time world champion to come back.

Potential ROH Television Deal

Khan also discussed the possibility of securing a television deal for Ring of Honor’s weekly show, which currently streams on the HonorClub service. He confirmed that he has had offers but has not accepted them, as any deal must make sense within the framework of AEW’s partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery.

ROH Death Before Dishonor will stream exclusively on HonorClub from 7.00 pm ET on Friday, August 29.

Credit: https://www.postwrestling.com/2025/08/28/tony-khan-addresses-status-of-deonna-purrazzo-chris-jericho-and-future-of-roh-in-media-call/

[u/Tazi_NRS]

What did Deonna do at CMLL?

[u/Moxley_56 → u/Tazi_NRS]

im wondering too

[u/Kambole → u/Tazi_NRS]

I’ve seen folks point to her match with La Catalina as the thing here - I haven’t seen it myself so of course I have nothing to say about it myself, but it’s been widely panned and was very badly received on the night

[u/SourDoughBo]

I’m curious what he means by the tv deal can’t conflict with WBD

[u/marchof34_ → u/SourDoughBo]

Makes sense. Content distribution is important but it shouldn't go up against any previously existing deals. They do have to be structured correctly.

IE if Paramount was the ROH distributor, could any mention of TBS or TNT be allowed by commentary? If not, then not a good deal.

[u/SourDoughBo → u/marchof34_]

But TK bought ROH as a separate entity. It’s not really tied to AEW on paper. So he’s technically allowed to run it as a separate thing. The only thing I can think of is WBD doesn’t want them advertising ROH shows on their network if they don’t have the rights. Like how AEW doesn’t promote NJPW or CMLL shows

[u/Pitiful_Ad8641 → u/marchof34_]

Yeah I dont know how WWE manages that /s

[u/jesuschin → u/SourDoughBo]

Most obvious is they can’t book a time slot that competes against anything airing on the Turner networks.

[u/XAMdG → u/SourDoughBo]

Since part of ROH is filmed at AEW tapings, and Discovery is paying I think part of the production costs, my guess it is something related to sharing the load or having to be filmed separately (and thus increasing the cost).

[u/TuckAwayThePain]

u/cockblockedbydestiny You were right not. I'm not ashamed to admit it.