On the May 10th episode of AEW Dynamite, Tony Khan announced there is big news coming in relation to the future of the company.
It has been widely reported that this news will be the launch of a new show titled Collision, and a new media rights agreement with Warner Bros Discovery.
While the future home of AEW’s pay-per-views remains uncertain, all programming will now come under the WBD banner. This is reportedly at least one of the reasons that AEW Dark and Dark: Elevation have been brought to an end.
Writing in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer noted that the deal will include all AEW programming, but not Ring of Honor which is seen as a separate company. Popular YouTube show Being The Elite will also stay independent.
“What is known is that the deal will encompass all television and streaming programming that has the AEW banner, but not ROH, which is considered a separate company.
That would be five hours of wrestling programming per week, the two hours on Wednesday on TBS, one hour on Friday on TNT and the two hours on Saturday on TNT, as well as any and all spinoff programming other than Being the Elite, which is expected to be kept as something separate since it’s a property owned by the Young Bucks.”
AEW’s Backstage Problems Continue
The launch of AEW Collision will also see CM Punk return to All Elite Wrestling for the first time since September 2022. However, the issues that became such a flashpoint and led to his absence are reportedly far from resolved.
It has been reported that the often-discussed “legal issues” are “still in play,” and one person involved has been prevented from apologising. This person is said to not be CM Punk.