"He's not controlling the money" - Former WWE personality believes Tony Khan would not "care" even if AEW loses its TV deal (Exclusive)
A former WWE personality believes that Tony Khan wouldn't 'care' if AEW loses its TV deal. This comes after the promotion has not yet struck a new deal with WBD.
Vince Russo is the latest analyst to weigh in on AEW's biggest issue. The last few weeks have been pretty hard for the Jacksonville-based promotion when it comes to its ratings. The promotion has been struggling to sell out its arenas and viewership has been on the decline. In fact, the company recorded its lowest numbers two weeks ago. To make matters worse, AEW has not yet signed a new deal with Warner Bros. Discovery amidst its drop in viewership. Failure to sign a new deal means that Tony Khan will have to find a new home for his weekly shows.
Speaking on a recent episode of Sportskeeda's WrestleBinge podcast, Vince Russo mentioned that Tony wouldn't care if AEW loses its TV deal as long he gets to book three shows a week and hang out with the talent.
"Bro, it really depends on pride. It really depends on pride. But we have to look at this, you know. Shahid is a businessman dollars and cents bro it's making money, we're going to put more money into it. It's not we're bailing out. This really isn't Tony's money and you know, Tony like you said earlier bro to keep the dream alive, I don't think he would care if they were on destination X or I don't think that would matter to him bro as long as he can book three shows a week and hang out with the talent and sit at scrums but he's not controlling the money here bro. A very smart astute businessman is looking at profit and loss." [16:38 - 17:30]
Vince Russo believes that AEW could end up on YouTube if Tony Khan isn't able to strike a new deal with WBD
Without a TV deal in place, AEW wouldn't be able to run Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision on TNT and TBS. Instead, these shows will have to find a new home, which could take time.
Earlier on in the same podcast episode, Vince Russo highlighted the urgency for Tony Khan to strike a new deal with Warner Bros. Discovery since it's getting to the end of the year. He also noted that the promotion's inability to get a new deal in place will result in its shows airing on YouTube.
"Maybe it is the rights deal, you know, maybe they don't get one, you know. I mean that definitely bro is a game changer and you know, we're getting closer and closer to the end of the year bro. There's no deal made. We know that Warner Discovery did not talk about them at the Upfronts which is huge and if there's not a TV deal. There's not a streaming deal, what are you going to do? You going to put the show on YouTube." [5:35 - 6:06]
It will be interesting to see if Tony Khan will be able to sign a new deal with WBD before the current one expires.