Reported details on AEW show potentially being cancelled by Warner Bros Discovery
There has been a recent update on the status of an AEW TV show that could be canceled by either TBS or TNT, before it has even made it on the air.
All Elite Wrestling has had a strong relationship with WarnerMedia since its debut on TNT in 2019. Now that WarnerMedia has merged with Discovery, things have certainly looked to change in the near future for the TV channels and programs under their umbrella.
Both Dynamite and Rampage are included in this, with the former in particular being one of the flagship shows for TBS in 2022, and has been used as a way to promote high-profile Warner Bros Discovery products such as Shark Week and Game of Thrones.
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Breakdown of quarters for Dynamite, Rampage, Raw, SD, and NXT are up now at patreon.com/wrestlenomics as well as a podcast recorded today on latest ratings, ticket sales, and the AEW media call.
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However, with all of the impending inbound changes, some of AEW's programming could be axed, according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Here's what he had to say:
"The idea is that it would be low cost prime time programming and would alleviate the need to produce first run programming. How this affects AEW will be unclear until negotiations start, although TBS and TNT dropping the development of new shows may threaten the planned reality show on AEW couples (which was to replace Rhodes to the Top) that was scheduled for late this year but nothing has been said about it as of late." (H/T WrestleTalk).
Meltzer did note that due to the fact that filming for the AEW couples show was done well before this executive decision was made, the show could avoid being canceled.
"That show was being filmed months ago so it may not fall into the shows beimg axed." (H/T WrestleTalk).
Will AEW Dynamite and Rampage stay on TBS and TNT?
Further on in the report by Dave Meltzer, the respected journalist touched on the future of both Dynamite and Rampage due to the fact that Turner Sports is planning on making either one of TBS or TNT a 100% sports centric channel.
"They are also talking about Turner Sports taking over the programming of either TBS or TNT and making it a station with a heavy sports emphasis. If the perception internally is that AEW is sports, and it does better ratings 52 weeks a year than most of the sports properties, this would seem to be a good thing. If they view it as entertainment programming, it doesn’t sound like as much of a good thing." (H/T WrestleTalk).
However, it all depends on how All Elite Wrestling is viewed by its higher ups on whether it will be safe, and quite possibly flourish more, on a sports channel, or be at risk of losing its time slot for being too entertainment focused.
"The idea is to use the sports content to promote and get people to watch the HBO and HBO Max shows and then drive them to order both services. The big question is how WBD views AEW." (H/T WrestleTalk)
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What do you think the future holds of All Elite Wrestling on TBS and TNT? Let us know what you think in the comments section down below!