With AEW currently in the final year of its current television contract, the pro wrestling promotion’s recent ratings slump couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Still, the company’s owner and CEO, Tony Khan, insists his company is well positioned as it moves forward with negotiating its critical next deal.
“It’s going to be a very exciting remainder to this year, and we’ll find out where AEW is going to live,” Khan told Sports Illustrated‘s Justin Barrasso ahead of AEW’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view event on Sunday.
“For everyone who cares about AEW all over the world, we’re in a great position. This is going to work out really well for AEW. We’re having great talks, and people should feel very confident about what that means for the wrestlers, the staff, and the fans. As a result of everyone’s hard work and endless support from the fans, there will be a tremendous deal for AEW. The outlook for the company is so bright moving forward.”
At this point, AEW remains in its exclusive negotiating period with Warner Bros. Discovery, which has been the promotion’s television home since its inception in 2019. All indications appear to be that AEW’s preference would be to remain with WBD, which currently faces no shortage of uncertainty itself as it appears poised to lose its NBA rights.
“Warner Bros. Discovery continues to be the best possible partner, and they’ve helped us grow this brand,” Khan told Barrasso.
Like any media rights negotiation, whether AEW remains with WBD will ultimately be a matter of dollars and sense and the possibility exists that the pro wrestling promotion could split its media rights across multiple partners. AEW currently runs three weekly television shows across WBD stations TNT and TBS, and the company also has its weekly Ring of Honor streaming show — and its tape library — at its disposable.
Should AEW exit its exclusive negotiating period with WBD — which is expected to end soon — with assets still available, it will be interesting to see which other suitors for the pro wrestling promotion emerge. While AEW may not be as hot as it once was, its flagship show, AEW Dynamite, still performs relatively well compared to the rest of cable and figures to be an attractive commodity for networks looking to add weekly live programming to their lineups.
