With each passing day, we’re getting closer to hearing an announcement about AEW’s television show to debut this October. As things stand right now, it will be airing on one of two nights.
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The latest information has AEW airing on Tuesday or Wednesday nights, with these two days being the only possible nights being discussed internally as of now. Obviously, they are not going to go head to head with WWE on Monday nights or Friday nights (SmackDown will have moved to FOX by October).
Thursday nights would be a scheduling conflict during NBA season as TNT airs NBA games on Thursday evenings all season long. This leaves solely Tuesday or Wednesday when it comes to a weekly, prime time, two hour live show.
Tuesday nights will be a conflict during the second half of the NBA season as TNT expands their NBA coverage to both Tuesday and Thursday nights in the spring, but that’s something that could be worked around after the show has been on the air for several months versus AEW debuting on Thursday nights and immediately dealing with NBA pre-emptions upon the NBA season beginning a couple of weeks later at the end of October.
Wednesday will also be a problem eventually once the NBA postseason starts as TNT does air NBA playoff games on Wednesday evenings, so there is no foolproof night for 12 months of the year on that network. However, when things begin in October, Tuesday and Wednesday should be safe.
Interestingly, AEW recently applied for the trademark “Wednesday Night Dynamite.” They had previously applied for “Tuesday Night Dynamite” several months ago, so it’s looking more and more likely that will be the name of the show and the company is getting all their ducks in a row in regards to owning the trademark for both nights.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW and TNT are leaning more toward airing on Wednesday nights as of this week. A decision will have to be made soon as the international television deals are awaiting word on which night the AEW show will air in the United States so that they can make their own announcements.
