Is ROH Honor Club worth it in 2024?
Honor Club is the only legitimate way to see AEW stars without spending money on cable. AEW's TV deal with TNT is complicated and it doesn't seem like we will be getting a streaming platform on Max anytime soon. Meanwhile, WWE fans can see their content through Hulu, Peacock, and the WWE Network app for as little as $5.
We live in an era that expects wrestling to be a monthly subscription that includes all major events and weekly shows. In fact, the mere thought of paying $40 for a PPV that you can't access again seems criminal. TNA, WWE, ICW, DDT, Dragon Gate, and MLW have submitted their programming to this model and ROH has followed suit.
But the question remains? Why pay $10 for ROH Honor Club, when there are so many other choices out there?
The Catalog
ROH has been around as long as TNA, having its humble roots in smokey ballrooms and baseball parks. Almost every Mount Rushmore of wrestling has been featured in an ROH roster. AJ Styles calls ROH his true home, New Japan Pro Wrestling participated in the first Forbidden Door with ROH, CM Punk got his first 5-star match in an ROH ring. All of this has been cataloged for your viewing pleasure. Some of it has been combined into compilations so you can follow a wrestler's career. I believe ROH's history is one of the strongest reasons to get Honor Club.
The Future
For those who want to get the latest episodes of the show, Honor Club is the only way to watch it. ROH is not a huge production. They produce one wrestling show every week and only three special events every year. Also, sometimes ROH invades AEW's airtime so you are out of luck if they bring their matches to Dynamite and Rampage.
This is small potatoes compared to a WWE subscription which gives you three different weekly shows and a monthly PLE. Furthermore, some critics complain that ROH's weekly show is just filler matches that don't progress the story. AEW used to have a free show on YouTube that did that.
Since AEW acquired ROH, they have sped up their technical matches, added high-budget flair, and doused the product in a lot of hype. This is the place where we see indie stars like Billy Starkz, AR Fox, Jack Cartwheel, and Rachel Ellering turn the ring into career-growing matches. If ROH can make Wheeler Yuta a draw then they are doing something right.
The Interface
ROH's platform is very good at making you realize it has a long and rich history. Sometimes it is easier to find their classical stuff than their recent episodes.
One thing that seems completely unhelpful is that none of the events or shows have any descriptions. If you need to look up a certain match then you better have Google handy. I think there is a vacancy in that job that ROH needs to fill.
Other omissions include closed captioning and an accessible continue watching category. This doesn't break the experience, but most $10 subscriptions have at least this.
Conclusion
ROH Honor Club offers a lot of great historical content. It has a lot of room to grow for its future (and I hope it does). If $10 seems a little too steep for you then you can always try Fite+ to get the best indie wrestling experience.