A Great Sign for AEW's Future With Warner Bros. Discovery
AEW has been working with Warner Bros. Discovery (previously WarnerMedia) ever since the young promotion launched AEW Dynamite on TNT back in October 2019. The current deal between Tony Khan's wrestling promotion and the media company has Dynamite airing every Wednesday night on TBS, AEW Rampage on TNT on Friday nights and four quarterly specials on TNT dubbed Battle of the Belts.
But even with the company's early success, there have still been plenty of questions regarding what AEW's next television deal will look like following the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, which has seen plenty of cancellations and cost-cutting measures since the start of the year. Fans noticed that TBS' broadcast of the ongoing MLB Playoffs has included advertisements for AEW, which John Arezzi of Pro Wrestling Spotlight reported this week is a sign of the confidence Warner Bros. has in the AEW brand.
"They're trying to make it a sport," Arezzi said. "That's what the strategy is. The strategy is that they are pushing AEW into the sports category, not the entertainment category. They're increasing that because of the new ownership because Warner Bros. is now Warner Bros. Discovery. Everything I hear of what's going on even with TNT, it's gonna be turning into a more sports-centric network. So they are now putting their resources behind these promo announcements to increase ratings. So whether or not they're tasteful in regards to the violence and the blood, there's a method to the madness."
"I'm privy to a lot of insider conversations at least on the Warner Bros. Discovery side. I have a lot of people there in very high executive positions that I've known for many years that I worked for when I was in television here in Nashville. The same people who are now the leaders of Warner Bros. Discovery on the ad sales front. They see this property, AEW, as someone they want to be in business with long-term. They had a contract which was absorbed by them when they merged that wasn't the sweetest deal for TNT and TBS. It was kind of one-sided. So now what they are trying to do is to kind of collaborate and work together so they can work on the next long-term deal with them. I can't get into it too much but there's a lot of faith behind the AEW product right now from the folks at Warner Bros. Discovery," he continued.