Announcement Of AEW & WBD Deal Expected 'Imminently' — Updated With Early Details
It's never really been a question of if AEW would announce a new TV deal, but a question of when. Now, after months of speculation, it seems AEW is finally ready to announce what the future holds with Warner Brothers Discovery. According to Fightful Select, promotional materials are being prepared in anticipation of the announcement, which, unless things change, "could come as soon as this afternoon." Though the negotiation process between AEW and WBD has seemed never-ending, details have trickled out over months, with nothing confirmed. In July, it was reported that AEW and WBD had reached an agreement "in principle," and in August, reporter Andrew Zarian used the word "imminent" to describe the announcement. Meanwhile, the pages on the calendar kept flipping.
The deal is believed to be a major step in securing AEW's future, however. One tidbit of public knowledge is that AEW filed a trademark for "AEW Shockwave," which could become a new TV show under the deal. But the future of "AEW Rampage" is unclear, especially with WWE and USA reportedly working out details for a third hour of "WWE SmackDown," putting it in direct competition with "Rampage." "AEW Dynamite" is expected to remain the same under the new deal.
Many fans and pundits have questioned the delay, especially with Tony Khan saying things like "I can say with 100% certainty, AEW and TBS and TNT are here to stay for a long time," which Khan stated on "Busted Open Radio" last month. Frequent AEW critic Eric Bischoff stated that the unofficial teases seemed strange. He said that in his experience, media entities typically want to keep negotiations private, as to not influence other ongoing deals.
Editor's note: Fightful Select has updated its report with more details. According to the report, "AEW Dynamite" and "AEW Collision will both be simulcast on Max beginning in January. The outlet also reports that there will be "some integration" of AEW PPVs for Max subscribers, but it was unknown if that would be included in Max's regular subscription price or come with any discount.