Joe Koff Says Women of Honor is Strong but Not Huge

In an interview with Newsweek, ROH COO Joe Koff spoke about the women’s division of Ring of Honor, which he said was strong but not very big. Here are highlights:

On the growth of the division: “Talent will speak to that. And the reason you see a slower growth is because we have high standards for our talent. There’s a lot of women’s wrestling and good women’s wrestling. To be a wrestler right now is an excellent time. To be a fan is an excellent time. The business right now, it’s a cyclical business. If you’ve followed wrestling before, you’ve seen these cycles before. Maintaining, staying focused keeps you in the game to keep playing and playing on.”

On the state of the division: Our women’s division is strong, it’s not huge. We are still looking for a stable of high-profile women, and that’s not to say women who are wrestling aren’t, but you need more than four, five, or six to have a robust division. And there’s a lot of training and development going on, and we are a patient company, so I don’t feel the need to rush that out. We’ve had some pretty good signings over the last couple of months in the women’s division, and I think you’ll see an uptick in that shortly.”

On Maria Manic: “She’s not necessarily the profile that you would expect to see from a women’s wrestling perspective. That element is what we see. It’s the eye of our creative and bookers so see something different. Lots of women can wrestle right now. When Maria Manic walks into a ring, you know she’s a wrestler.”