Dave Meltzer Provides Details About AEW's Deal With WBD

Longtime wrestling reporter Dave Meltzer noted on social media yesterday that AEW's TV rights deal with Warner Brothers Discovery for "AEW Dynamite," "AEW Collision," and "AEW Rampage" expires on December 31, 2024. It would mean that WBD activated the reported one-year option they had within their existing media rights deal with Tony Khan's promotion; the initial AEW-WBD deal was due to expire at the end of 2023. On "Wrestling Observer Radio," Meltzer spoke about the AEW-WBD situation.

"The option year, again, I don't know the numbers, but I do know that when they signed the four-year deal [in 2019], the option year, 2024, was for a pretty big increase," Meltzer said. "So for next year, they may be home free for a year, and probably are, but then what happens after that year? Either they're home free for the next five years or it's a major change."

Khan was asked about AEW's relationship with WBD last week during the ROH Final Battle media scrum, after it emerged that the broadcaster was now interested in securing the TV rights for "WWE Raw." The AEW CEO responded by claiming that he had held "really good talks" with the media and entertainment conglomerate recently. Khan believes that AEW and WBD have a strong relationship. Meanwhile, former WCW boss Eric Bischoff — who is often critical of Khan — thinks that there would be no coming back for AEW if they were to lose WBD as a broadcast partner.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.