AEW’s television programming has undergone major changes as of late, and a new report reveals when the company will announce its new deal with Warner Bros Discovery.
When the company first began under the leadership of company president Tony Khan, Dynamite was broadcast on TNT in the United States. The program has since moved to sister network TBS, leading to the creation of the TBS Women’s Championship held by Jade Cargill. The company added Rampage to its TNT programming in May of 2021.
It was recently reported that the company’s YouTube shows Dark and Dark: Elevation were ending as all AEW content would now air exclusively on Warner Bros Discovery channels. That exclusivity does not include Ring of Honor programming.
In addition, the promotion is set to add a Saturday program called Collision to its lineup, and it’s expected that the show will debut on June 17th live from the United Center, although this is yet to be confirmed by AEW. It is expected that the show will feature the return of CM Punk in the same venue where he famously made his AEW debut.
Now, a new report from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reveals that AEW’s new deal with Warner Bros Discovery along with the start of Collision are set to be announced on May 17th at WBD’s Upfront event inside Madison Square Garden.
Chris Jericho Says He And Jim Ross Are Responsible For Getting AEW On TV
Speaking during a 2022 Inside the Ropes Live show via Talk is Jericho, Chris Jericho opened up about playing a huge role in helping All Elite Wrestling secure a TV deal. He says that it was himself and Jim Ross that got the attention of their television partner.
“Well, I think once again, I mean, I remember the original television deal. Now it seems like a million years ago, especially I know in the UK, we have a great time slot. We actually do better than Raw a lot of weeks on ITV, if that’s the network, I think it is.
“But at the time, there was no television deal. And I remember at some point, we were talking about maybe going on Showtime. At some point we’re thinking maybe streaming it on, I don’t know, Amazon Prime or something along those lines, and it’s like, ‘This isn’t, it’s not good enough.’ You know, you can’t just put it on a Showtime or whatever.
“And then TBS started to get interested, I think, because Chris Jericho was involved, and Jim Ross, I think those two names were the two names that got us the TV deal along with Tony’s [Khan] passion and his commitment, and all these other factors I told you, so it was a little bit. I think that’s why we announced when we did [that] the show doesn’t start till May but we have this TV deal. So we did the press conference.
“It was weird having like, I was under contract for five months before I did a match, but it was all part of this build to cement this new company. Because once again, talking about it now three years later, it’s, you know, it’s all that and we would say AEW is huge, there were no guarantees of anything.”
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