There has been a reported update on the relationship between AEW and WBD, as well as when a potential new deal is likely to be announced.
In 2019, All Elite Wrestling officially penned a five-year media rights contract with Warner Bros. Discovery, initially allowing WBD access to AEW Dynamite, and later adding Rampage and Collision to the weekly lineup. However, with their current deal set to expire later this year, the sides are yet to agree terms on an extension, and PWInsider recently revealed that AEW won’t be mentioned at the media company’s upcoming presentation.
To provide an update on this, Fightful Select are reporting that a deal between the two sides is likely to be kept ‘close to the vest’ with any announcement possibly coming around summer or autumn.
“We’re told that the announcement of a new deal is expected to be kept very close to the vest and Summer or Fall could be a more likely announcement point. The exclusivity window between AEW and WBD continues into the summer, though we don’t have a firm date on when that ends.”
-Fightful Select
As for what Warner Bros. Discovery are likely to prioritise in negotiations, it’s said that the company are placing heavy importance on streaming, and WBD reportedly have strong interest in adding AEW’s pay-per-views to MAX, which is something that the sides have been discussing since last year.
“WBD sources that we spoke to had indicated that WBD had interest in adding AEW PPVs to the MAX slate for quite some time, and noted that the two sides have been in talks for quite some time about what a deal would look like, with some proposals being made as far back as last year. It was also noted to us that almost every deal that WBD does is with MAX in mind, and that at the time of AEW’s last deal with WBD, there wasn’t nearly the heavy focus that there is now on the platform.”
-Fightful Select
Interestingly, the report mentions that a new AEW-related program on WBD is set for a pilot and will be announced via the relevant social channels this week. While details on this aren’t confirmed, it’s believed that the new show won’t be a reality series.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on negotiations between AEW and WBD as soon as we hear more.
