It seems like it’s only a matter of time before AEW announces a new media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery. Earlier this week, Puck reported that a four-year deal — three guaranteed and one optional — worth around $170 million had been agreed to, with AEW programming remaining on TNT and TBS and additionally airing on TruTV. Andrew Zarian touched on that report during his “Mat Men Podcast” on Saturday, confirming that the deal is done with just a few things left to be finalized. Zarian also said AEW pay-per-views will finally make its way to the Max streaming platform in January, though he noted that they can still be accessed on other selected platforms.
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Additionally, Zarian noted that he hadn’t personally heard about TruTV as part of the package, but he speculated TruTV could be used to air replays of “AEW Dynamite” and “AEW Collision.” Meanwhile, it seems “AEW Rampage” will not be airing on TNT or TBS, implying it will either be canceled or itself aired on TruTV, possibly paired with “AEW Shockwave,” whatever that turns out to be (Zarian would only say it was another hour of weekly programming). Fox has been reportedly linked to “Shockwave,” though Zarian noted that network executives could be referring to any Fox network as “Fox” just as they refer to both TBS and TNT, for example, as “Turner.”Â
Zarian also said WWE isn’t expecting Fox to use AEW as a replacement for “WWE SmackDown” after its move to USA Network, but that Fox’s sales team is reportedly confident that wrestling was something they could sell. Fox was the only network Zarian had personally heard to be in talks with AEW. As for when the actual deal would be announced, Zarian said he’d heard it will be announced next week, but he’s also heard the same thing for weeks now.
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