Following months of speculation that AEW’s TV rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery would expire at the end of the year, things may be coming to an end.
As previously reported, WBD CEO, President David Zaslav, and TNT Sports head Luis Silberwasser want to keep the five hours of AEW programming per week on TNT and TBS, which includes Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision. The reported figures exceed the estimated $110 million per year.
AEW has worked with WBD since its launch in 2019. Since then, they’ve signed some of wrestling’s biggest names and expanded to become the world’s second-largest promotion. The AEW’s exclusive negotiation period with WBD expires in a few weeks.
In the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that “there are expectations the deal would be announced imminently, maybe even before the expiration of the exclusive window for negotiating that is just about over. I will say that we’ve gotten people who say they know from all over saying completely contradictory things about the talks.”
Meltzer went on to say that AEW President Tony Khan has suggested the new deal is good news and a game changer, while his rivals have quietly spread the word that it is the opposite because that is how the game is played.
This Sunday, AEW and NJPW will host Forbidden Door, a pay-per-view event.
