AEW is facing major uncertainty as its biggest partner has announced game-changing plans for the near future. Tony Khan has publicly praised Warner Bros. Discovery since the beginning of the partnership, and now the AEW boss is opening up on the growing rumors.
All Elite Wrestling and Warner Bros. Discovery finally inked a multi-year media rights deal in October 2024, after a lengthy period of speculation. Worth a reported $185 million per year, the deal kept Dynamite on TBS, Collision on TNT, and allowed Max subscribers to stream AEW programming. This also reportedly made AEW profitable for the first time.
The future of AEW depends on what happens with WBD. As the shift to streaming makes a negative financial impact on WBD’s legacy television assets, the network announced that it will split into two leading media companies by mid-2026: WBD Streaming & Studios and WBD Global Linear Networks. The former includes assets such as Max, HBO, Discovery+, WB Motion Picture Group, DC Comics. The latter includes TBS, TNT, TNT Sports in the U.S., CNN, Discovery Channel, Cartoon Network, and many others.
Tony Khan and his team worked closely with WBD President & CEO David Zaslav, who will now serve as President & CEO of Streaming & Studios. AEW also worked with WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, who will now work as President & CEO of Global Networks.
Tony Khan Believes Warner Bros. Discovery Situation Will Not Impact AEW
Tony Khan took AEW and ROH to Mexico for the first time this week, for tonight’s Grand Slam Dynamite and the CMLL x ROH: Global Wars taping. The NFL executive traveled to Cannes, France earlier this week for the 72nd Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, where he spoke with Brian Sozzi of Yahoo Finance.
Khan was asked what the WBD split means for AEW’s media rights deal. He downplayed any potential issue, and talked up the relationship his company has with the network.
“That’s a great question. I know that AEW, for both sides of where Warner Bros. is going, we have great relationships with everybody at the top, both on Global Networks and Streaming & Studios. Mr. Zaslav himself put our deal together. Gunnar, who will be running Global Networks, also was very involved in our deal as the CFO. The two of them, and [Chief Revenue & Strategy Officer] Bruce Campbell, really negotiated this deal with AEW, and myself, and my team,” Khan said. [From 18:26 to 18:52]
Tony Khan continued:
“So, on both sides we’ve got the great relationship, and both sides that really love AEW, and have come to be great partners with AEW. So, for us it’s been a big year 2025, and now we’re kind of on both sides of that equation. We are a big part of TBS and TNT, the crown jewels of the Global Networks side, and then we’re also a huge, now part of Streaming & Studios with AEW streaming every week, so it’s exciting,” Khan said. [From 18:53 to 19:20]
AEW will present two milestone episodes next month in Ontario, California. Dynamite 300 will air live from the Toyota Arena on July 2, and Collision 100 will be taped that night to air on Saturday.