AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery: Latest on "Huge Money Increase" TV Rights Negotiations

By Liam Crowley

All Elite Wrestling has had one broadcast home for its entire existence. Months before the company debuted its flagship weekly television show AEW Dynamite, AEW announced a four-year television partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery. This would see AEW Dynamite air on WBD channel TNT while AEW pay-per-views would be broadcasted via WBD's Bleacher Report Live. The deal evolved over the years, with AEW Dynamite migrating to TBS and both AEW Rampage and AEW Collision being added to TNT's weekly schedule. Despite these expansions, AEW and WBD's television rights deal has remained unextended. 

That could be changing soon. As reported by Fightful Select, AEW has been negotiating with WBD for several months. The belief is that if the two sides reach a deal, an official announcement will come either this summer or fall. This deal would be a "huge money increase for AEW, by the way things are looking now."

Despite the lack of agreement at this point, WBD is said to be happy with its current AEW partnership, citing an appreciation for the company's flexibility and its variety of content. AEW has regularly pivoted both AEW Dynamite and AEW Rampage to different time slots when scheduling conflicts with other sports' broadcasts arose.

The one avenue that WBD and AEW have not seen eye-to-eye on is Ring of Honor. Tony Khan purchased the historic wrestling promotion in early 2022 and ran multiple one-off pay-per-view events while he was searching for a television deal for the promotion. Khan ultimately opted to resurrect ROH's streaming service, HonorClub, and stream its weekly television there. WBD's lack of interest in ROH was reportedly due to the company's history with Sinclair Broadcast Group.

While the year is only half over, the clock is running thin on AEW and WBD to reach an extension. It has been reported that the deal expires in 2023, although a specific date is not known. AEW Dynamite turns four years old this October, so if the contract was a strict four-year deal, that would give AEW and WBD less than three months to come to an agreement.

AEW Dynamite returns to TV tonight at 8 PM ET on TBS. The full card can be seen below...

  • Nick Wayne vs. Swerve Strickland
  • Owen Hart Cup Tournament Semifinal: Ruby Soho vs. Skye Blue
  • AEW Blind Tag Team Eliminator Tournament: Orange Cassidy and Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia
  • AEW Blind Tag Team Eliminator Tournament: MJF and Adam Cole vs. Big Bill and Brian Cage
  • Chris Jericho vs. Komander
  • The Elite and Blackpool Combat Club reveal their Blood & Guts teams' fifth members
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