AEW Introduces the TBS Championship for the AEW Women's Division

By Connor Casey

All Elite Wrestling officially introduced the TBS Championship during Wednesday night's AEW Dynamite. The title will be a part of the AEW Women's Division and will celebrate AEW Dynamite's upcoming move to the TBS network beginning in January. It was then confirmed that a tournament would be held to crown the first champion (similar to how Cody Rhodes became the first TNT Champion) and that Thunder Rosa, Skye Blue, Ruby Soho and Jade Cargill will all be involved in January.

AEW's network change was first announced back in May, though it was later confirmed that AEW Rampage will remain on TNT along with AEW's quarterly supershows. Brett Weitz, general manager of TNT, TBS and truTV, explained AEW's move during a media conference call when Rampage was first introduced. 

"...More wrestling is a good thing, especially for the consumer. So we couldn't be more excited about having more wrestling on TBS," Weitz said. "As Tony Khan said in his quote, both TBS and TNT have an incredibly storied past with wrestling, so the idea of us being able to put more AEW onto TBS was a natural fit. The obvious idea for me to able to program these networks as a portfolio gives me the latitude to put them where it makes the most sense for the consumer.

"Did the NHL have anything to do with it? Sure, NHL had something to do with it," he continued. "The NBA had something to do with it, the new COVID schedule, a ton of pre-emptions. And so when we looked to where we believe the consumer is going to be and where wrestling fans are going to be, we want to give them the most opportunity to consume as many shows as possible, we felt that TBS had an opportunity to really be the network and the best platform for expansion."

"Tony [Khan] was able to facilitate the best possible deal for All Elite Wrestling, and that means more money for the content, and then more importantly, the term that Brett [Weitz] at WarnerMedia used is the best term, it truly is an expansion," Cody Rhodes said in an interview with ComicBook in May regarding the switch. "We're just expanding our brand on to TBS, that being Rampage, coming over to TBS, Dynamite itself, four specials, a la Clash of the Champions, our Saturday Night's Main Event. Those were kind of comparable. Having those on TNT, we're really all over, and just watching the upfronts for WarnerMedia to see our penetration and presentation, made me really proud that we've been such a nice success story.

"So for me, I was excited. I'm always kind of the eternal ... I'm very reserved in what I think, and so we put it out there on the medium, but it would be remiss if I didn't think of the fact that TBS has been a part of my life since I was a little kid," he added. "Tony Schiavone texted me that morning, and of course he said, 'We're going back to the mothership.' And the mothership is what my father used to call TBS, for good reason, because they took that first chance on WCW and Jim Crockett Promotions. And now they'll have all of the wrestling and some familiar names, and a very unique bell-to-bell product. So I'm ecstatic.

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