Warner Bros. Discovery executives are heating things up by attending AEW Dynamite amidst crucial TV rights negotiations. The stakes are high, and the clock is ticking as All Elite Wrestling and Warner Bros. Discovery have an exclusive window for deal-making until July. Since their partnership kick-started in Fall 2019 with AEW Dynamite, expanding to include AEW Rampage and AEW Collision on TBS and TNT, the relationship has seen significant growth. However, tension simmers as reports suggest that AEW President Tony Khan is not exactly doing backflips over the current offer.
In a ring-side twist, Warner Bros. Discovery’s bigwigs made a special appearance at the KIA Forum in Los Angeles for AEW Dynamite. Among them is Associate General Manager and Senior Vice President, Sam Linsky—a real heavyweight champion for AEW within the WBD family for the past five years.
With their media rights deal set to expire at year-end and with NBA games set to exit WBD’s lineup soon, all eyes are on how they’ll pin down AEW’s future within their network fold. One exciting possibility fans have been grappling with is the idea of bringing AEW content to WBD’s streaming platform, Max. Tony Khan seems stoked about this, hinting at a potential long-term streaming solution that could see AEW matches body-slamming their way onto Max for live-streaming action.
While negotiations rumble on behind closed doors (and on ComicBook for juicy updates), it looks like there’s a lot more action-packed drama awaiting fans off-screen than in the ring! Stay tuned to see if this TV rights showdown plays out like a classic underdog story or a surprise twist worthy of a championship belt swipe.