Executive responsible for bringing AEW to TNT removed from WarnerMedia
It has been announced that the executive responsible for bringing professional wrestling back to TNT and putting AEW on the air has been removed from his position and will be leaving WarnerMedia.
In an executive restructuring shake up led by new Chief Executive Officer Jason Kilar, it has been announced that TBS, TNT and TruTV president Kevin Reilly will be leaving WarnerMedia.
A portion of the memo announcing the executive shakeup at WarnerMedia has been published by The Hollywood Reporter:
"Three of those talented, admired leaders who will be leaving the company are Bob Greenblatt, Kevin Reilly and Keith Cocozza. I want to thank Bob and Kevin for getting us to this point with the integration of HBO and the legacy Turner Networks and launch of HBO Max. It has been such an impressive sequence of events, and we are so much better for it. I also owe a tremendous amount of gratitude and thanks to Keith, for not only helping me navigate these last few months at the company - and with the media - but more importantly for his 19 years at the company through its evolution. I have never met a kinder, more collaborative executive in my career. I can’t wait to see how each of these leaders change the world in the years to come."
Kevin Reilly's previous title ensured that he oversaw TBS, TruTV and TNT content and was therefore instrumental in facilitating the deal to bring AEW to TNT in 2019.
AEW Dynamite on TNT
It was announced on May 15, 2019 that All Elite Wrestling would soon be airing on TNT. This would be the first time that TNT broadcasted professional wrestling in 18 years, since the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro in 2001 before the company was purchased by WWE.
'WarnerMedia announced today that the new professional wrestling league All Elite Wrestling (AEW) will begin airing its two-hour weekly matches on TNT on Wednesday, Oct. 2, from 8 p.m. ET to 10 p.m. ET. The highly-anticipated, action-packed matches will take place in different cities across the nation each week on Wednesdays, starting in Washington, D.C., at the famed Capital One Arena. Ticket pricing and on-sale date for the televised live event will be announced on Monday, July 29, at 12 p.m. ET via AEW’s social media platforms.'
AEW Dynamite aired it's debut episode on October 2, 2019 and has seen great success in the ratings going up against WWE NXT in the same time slot on the USA Network.
It was announced in January of 2020 that TNT had renewed AEW Dynamite until 2023 with the addition of a second AEW show to soon begin airing on TNT.