AEW TV DEAL

[Zakk_Sabbath]

On 6/1/2024 at 6:34 AM, Shartnado said:

Or it would have, if it was a real word.

I was going through a creativity slump last time I played EWR about a decade ago, and couldn't decide what I wanted to name my secondary titles, so I went with all tongue-in-cheek portmanteaus like that: the Intertelevision title, the CruiserX title, the Atlantic States title, etc. I say bring it!

[ka-to]

Speaking of Chigusa and crazy title names, the tag title in MARVELOUS is the Plenipotentiary Championship Award.

 

[Kevin Wilson]

Not sure where our "made a new account just to spread doubt about the new AEW TV Deal" guy went but we should see some movement soon. WBD is out of the NBA race (per the NBA), I don't know if the two are nceessarily related but either way the higher ups now have a clearer picture of the direction they want to go forward, for better or worse. There are also lots of rumblings about a tentative deal being reached, or a general framework, or nothing concrete depending on which dirtsheet you believe. Either way, I think hearing something within the next few weeks isn't out of the question.

[COLETTI]

Dude posted thrice and Poochie'd, apparently?

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

1 hour ago, Kevin Wilson said:

Not sure where our "made a new account just to spread doubt about the new AEW TV Deal" guy went but we should see some movement soon. WBD is out of the NBA race (per the NBA), I don't know if the two are nceessarily related but either way the higher ups now have a clearer picture of the direction they want to go forward, for better or worse. There are also lots of rumblings about a tentative deal being reached, or a general framework, or nothing concrete depending on which dirtsheet you believe. Either way, I think hearing something within the next few weeks isn't out of the question.

If I'm not mistaken, WBD didn't consider AEW to be under the sports umbrella/TNT Sports, so them being out of the NBA picture wouldn't have much bearing on AEW's deal because they would be different aspects of the company and different budgets.

[username]

Warner and the NBA are almost certainly going to go to court over the upcoming TV contract as Warner says they matched Amazon's offer while NBA says they did not so I would not expect any real clarity on this front for several months.

[The Natural]

F4wonline.com c&p:

Several updates are available regarding a new AEW media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery.

John Ourand of Puck News published a report yesterday, stating that a formal announcement of the long-awaited deal could come as soon as next week, barring any last-minute changes.

Key figures of the deal according to Ourand’s report include:

• New AEW-WBD media rights agreement will be four years (three years guaranteed plus an option)
• $170 million is “in the ballpark” of what AEW will receive annually.
• AEW programming will air on TNT, TBS, and TruTV twice a week.
• This is part of a WBD strategy to make TBS and TruTV more sports-oriented.
• There was no mention of AEW pay-per-views airing on MAX in the report.
• AEW is also pitching a package to broadcast channels.

“This deal marks a clear success for AEW, which launched five years ago with a threshold WBD deal,” Ourand wrote.

Our own Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez discussed Ourand’s report on today’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, with Meltzer noting a key part of the deal will be whether AEW’s pay-per-views are included in what WBD receives for the $170 million paid annually.

“If it’s $170 million not including the pay-per-views, that’s one number. If that includes the pay-per-views, it’s not as big of an increase, it’s not really technically a (doubling of the rights fees they’d received previously), but it would be a substantial increase,” Meltzer said on the show.

Another potential source of revenue growth for AEW, Meltzer continued, is in international media rights agreements, particulary on stations and in countries where WWE’s programming will be moving to Netflix.

“When it comes to the international days, next year opens up a lot of content, only because WWE will be getting out all of those international deals: Canada, UK, India, everywhere, Australia, Phillipines, whatever country. International TV is not a giant number, it’s not a big number for AEW, it can grow bigger. The WWE deal in India and the UK are both substantial numbers,” he continued.

According to the numbers in Ourand’s report, the new media rights agreement will make AEW the most profitable company in the history of wrestling other than WWE.

“As far as next year 2025, (AEW) would be the largest grossing pro-wrestling company in history other than WWE, and it would actually be larger than WWE was until the Austin era. Inflation makes that sort of a misleading statement but as far as profitability goes, it would be the most profitable company that there has ever been in pro wrestling except for WWE,” Meltzer continued.

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

OUR LONG NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS SORT OF OVER

[MoeCristyV.1.6]

To be continued... 

[Log]

What a disaster. I give them a year before they’re out of business. 

[Death From Above]

Hopefully they stay on regular TV in Canada. I don't catch Dynamite every week but it's nice to have the option to track it down easily without needing yet another subscription I forget I have.

[COLETTI]

39 minutes ago, Log said:

What a disaster. I give them a year before they’re out of business. 

I just had to browe through my ignored list to see if certain folk finally got Cashed - apparently not, but realizing that I hadn't seen their doom and gloom parasocial "should we contact the authorities?"-level of hate boner for TK in quite some time made me wonder

[caley]

7 minutes ago, Death From Above said:

Hopefully they stay on regular TV in Canada. I don't catch Dynamite every week but it's nice to have the option to track it down easily without needing yet another subscription I forget I have.

While TSN seems to be semi-promoting it (And using it to prop up their subscription service ("Order TSN to see Rampage and Collision!") and happy with it, I do wonder if Rogers comes calling with them seemingly losing WWE rights.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

Seeing AEW included as part of a sports focus is interesting, as they haven't been historically included in WBD's sports lineup. Considering how much they've cut from scripted/variety entertainment, it makes sense to move AEW over to the TNT Sports fold, especially for programming for TruTV.

The per-year rights numbers listed don't really make sense if there isn't a Max component (either archival for their shows or for PPVs, or both). WBD's been hedging on when to take the B/R Sports addon to Max from free to being a paid add-on, so if they're moving AEW to the sports side, then I wouldn't be too surprised to see that being where they land in terms of Max's archival process for when/if they finally make B/R Sports a paid add-on component to Max.

The full deal will be interesting to look over, to say the least.

[Technico Support]

WON is reporting that Rampage might be done, possibly replaced by AEW Shockwave on a different network.

 

 

That was Rampage, baby.

[Go2Sleep]

That's probably for the best. Rampage needs to complete its transformation back to Dark/Elevation and go on Youtube.

[Casey]

Early days of Rampage will always hold a special place in my heart. Besides the obvious, First Dance, that show did have some real good stuff on it for awhile until it just kind of slipped into being WWF Jakked but on cable at 9PM on a Friday.

Reddit actually reminded me the other day that the YUTA/Mox bloodbath was on Rampage. Grand Slam 2021 was good, too. Not as good as their All Out 2021 match, but Christian/Omega on the debut episode was a good match.

EDIT: I’m ashamed that I forgot to mention the match that spawned a thousand memes, and was pretty fucking badass to boot: The Bunny & Penelope Ford versus Tay Conti & Anna Jay at Rampage: New Year’s Smash in December 2021.

Edited September 18, 2024 by Casey

[Zimbra]

Rampage also gave us Danielson/Kingston I and Danielson/Suzuki

[Casey]

I will add Punk/Garcia and Andrade/Darby/Guevara as well.

2021-2022 was peak Rampage, but somewhere in 2022 it started to taper off. It’s wild that back to back years on that show, there was a tag team match on the Grand Slam edition that had unexpected run-ins: 2021 with Homicide, 2022 with the Great Muta.

[Technico Support]

58 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

Rampage also gave us Danielson/Kingston I and Danielson/Suzuki

Wasn’t Danielson/Suzuki YouTube exclusive?  Man, what a flex that was.

[NikoBaltimore]

Sure was.  I still remember how insane people went over that match and the announcement.

[stuntmanc]

Can someone go check on Eric Bischoff?

[just drew]

On 9/18/2024 at 7:04 PM, StuntmanCrowley said:

Can someone go check on Eric Bischoff?

He'll just move the goalposts again. He and Cornette both have gone from saying "AEW will be out of business by the end of their tv deal" to "They'll stay in business as long as daddy Khan is willing to spend $, but they'll never turn a profit." I'm sure they'll find a new gloom and doom perspective that'll continue to drive their angry listening bases.

Also, someone ask Phragile Philliam if AEW is "a real business" yet. That sanctimonious prick can go play in traffic.

[twiztor]

On 9/18/2024 at 8:57 AM, Technico Support said:

WON is reporting that Rampage might be done

AEW Rampage has more episodes than WCW Thunder, so there's that at least.

Whatever prestige that Rampage had was lost completely when Collision debuted. 

[For Great Justice]

On 9/18/2024 at 6:04 PM, StuntmanCrowley said:

Can someone go check on Eric Bischoff?

With this new TV deal, Dynamite will surpass Nitro in longevity.

We are pretty close. Pretty sure when we were this many episodes into Nitro we are at/around the New Blood debut, and well, well past the show’s peak