Latest Details on AEW's Television Deal Emerge

The status of All Elite Wrestling's television deal has been a hotbed of speculation in recent [...]

By Connor Casey

The status of All Elite Wrestling's television deal has been a hotbed of speculation in recent months. Both Kenny Omega and Jim Ross have publicly confirmed that something is in the works to get the budding promotion on weekly television, but would not disclose which company they were negotiating with. On Wednesday night the Twitter account "The Fight Oracle" (believed to be MMA insider "Front Row Brian" on a new account) tweeted that Warner Media (Turner Sports) planned to present a planned AEW television show to advertisers at their upfront meeting in May.

He added that a weekly AEW show would premiere in October on the same week as SmackDown Live's move to the FOX network, and would air weekly on Tuesday nights.

But a new report from The Wrap on Thursday made fans pump the breaks on celebrating. The site had an insider report that AEW and Turner were in "advanced" talks, but that nothing has been signed.

"The conversations surrounding the deal are 'pretty complex' and 'not imminent,' the individual said," The Wrap's article read. "While having a pact to announce by Turner's mid-May upfront — an annual event where TV platforms debut their new programming to potential advertisers — would be ideal, it is not a definite."

The insider also reported that a weekly show would most likely air on TNT (and have a multiplatform presence on the B/R Live streaming service), but also speculated that the show not air all year like the WWE.

"That would likely be a combination of the newness of the league and its desire to be more wrestler-friendly than rival WWE, which has a punishing schedule for talent," the report read.

TNT was the original home of WCW Monday Nitro during the Monday Night Wars, airing weekly from September 1995 to March 2001. Cody Rhodes recently filed for the trademarks on several former WCW properties, including the popular summer-themed pay-per-view Bash at the Beach.

AEW will hold its first official event, Double or Nothing, on May 25 in Las Vegas.

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