AEW All In: London 2024 takes place on August 25, and fans have begun speculating that AEW President Tony Khan could be saving some major announcements for the Wembley event.
In a recent interview with “TV Insider,” Khan teased that the announcements are imminent.
He said, “It is a very exciting time in AEW for many reasons…We’re days away from AEW All In on August 25. This is the most important and exciting time in AEW’s history. In addition to what is happening in the ring, there are so many exciting things happening behind the scenes at AEW right now. We’re on the verge of the most important announcements in the history of AEW. There are multiple aspects. The arrival of these announcements is imminent. We’ll have big news that could come at any time. Isn’t that the best kind of wrestling surprise when you know something is coming and you want it and it’s exciting, but you’re not sure when it’s going to happen? You have that feeling it’s going to happen. In this case, I have more than a feeling to paraphrase Boston. I have been working on this for a long time. We have a great team here. The future of AEW is very bright.”
Khan also noted that he wishes to run more shows and major events at the Esports Stadium in Arlington, TX.
He continued, “I think we found something very special around Arlington’s Esports Stadium in Texas. There is magic in the building and magic in those fans. I would love to keep doing more shows there and having major events there. And if there are other great wrestling markets, legendary wrestling markets that could sustain that kind of excitement week after week, I would love that. We found something very special there in Texas.”
AEW’s residency in Arlington will conclude with a Collision/Rampage taping on Saturday, August 17.
Tay Melo took a hiatus due to a back injury and then went on maternity leave after having her first child with her husband, Sammy Guevara, last November.
In a recent social media post, Melo shared that she is getting back into training for her return to the ring. Meanwhile, Guevara made his return to television on the ROH brand, where he has embraced a babyface character and aligned with Dustin Rhodes.
Pwinsider is reporting that there is talk at AEW’s tapings in Arlington, Texas, that Melo’s return is imminent. Some individuals within the company believe that she could return as early as this Wednesday’s edition of AEW Dynamite.
AEW’s plans for Melo upon her return remain unknown at this time.
Ricky Starks last appeared on the March 30th episode of AEW Collision, during which he suffered an injury scare, which changed the planned outcome of the match.
Since that show, Starks has publicly stated that he is not injured and expressed uncertainty regarding AEW’s decision not to involve him in programming. Meanwhile, AEW President Tony Khan publicly expressed his desire to bring Starks back to television.
There were plans to reintroduce Starks to television as a babyface and initiate a storyline involving a betrayal by Big Bill, leading to a feud between the two. However, the planned babyface turn did not materialize due to Starks’ decision not to pursue this direction.
Pwinsider reported earlier this week that there is “certainly interest” in several AEW stars, including Starks, whose deals are close to expiring or who have been absent from TV for some time.
According to the latest update by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Starks is expected to sign with WWE when his AEW contract expires.
As AEW and Warner Bros Discovery continue their negotiations surrounding AEW’s future on WBD networks, the company has made an announcement that appears to be good news for the fledgling wrestling promotion. On WBD’s Q2 Earnings Call on Wednesday, CEO David Zaslav announced a plan to rebrand TruTV’s primetime schedule as “TNT Sports” in October, according to Brian Steinberg.
WBD CEO: Converting TruTV to TNT Sports in Prime in October
According to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, the programming block is intended to be similar to the Adult Swim programming block on Cartoon Network, which is treated as a separate brand despite sharing a channel with Cartoon Network, in the same way as TNT Sports and TruTV. This, coupled with AEW talents being a focal point in the advertisement for the upcoming “TNT Overdrive” program, likely spells good news for AEW. WBD continuing in the sports programming world, despite seemingly losing the NBA to Amazon Prime, means they’ll likely need sports-centric programming like AEW and even potentially Ring of Honor. AEW President Tony Khan has been publicly adamant throughout the negotiation process that ROH is an important part of AEW’s portfolio, though there have thus far been no concrete plans to bring the streaming promotion to television. There have also been conflicting reports as to how dedicated WBD is in investing in the television side of things.
Some clarification on TruTV/TNT Sports — TruTV still will exist, but is just adding TNT Sports blocks as announced in July.
We're told that prime time block will become TNT Sports branded, similarly to how Adult Swim is a block on Cartoon Network.
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) August 7, 2024
Khan has described negotiations with WBD as “complicated” but has maintained an upbeat attitude throughout the process, recently meeting with Zaslav in Paris during the Olympics, about which Khan later tweeted very positively. The exclusive negotiating window with WBD recently expired, and AEW is free to entertain offers from competing networks unless a deal is announced in the coming days.
According to PWInsider Elite, AEW star Britt Baker will appear in season six of “Cobra Kai.”
The second half of season six is scheduled to premiere Friday, November 15 on Netflix.
The report further notes Baker, on the show, will be on one of the teams competing in an international karate tournament known as “Sekai Taikai.”
Martin Kove, who plays Karate instructor John Kreese in the Karate Kid movies and “Cobra Kai” made an appearance in a segment back on the February 16, 2022 episode of Dynamite, in which he gave karate advice to Baker.
AEW President Tony Khan traveled to Paris last week to meet with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav during the Olympic Games. The two parties are continuing to negotiate a new media rights deal.
In a recent interview with “Q101,” Khan commented on the ongoing talks between AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery regarding the new television rights.
Khan said, “Right now is the most important time ever in AEW. We’re on the verge of the most important deal we’ll ever make, this upcoming media rights, and it’s been great working with Warner Brothers Discovery on the future. For all these years, we’ve had so much great experience with Warner Brothers Discovery, and now, under the leadership of David Zaslav, the company, for us, the connection, the things we’ve been able to do, I think it’s getting stronger and stronger. I think now, over five years, it’s really been building to this point where AEW’s going to jump into the media rights and be a very profitable, successful company that has lived up to every expectation we ever could have had because we’ve done so many amazing things in this years. We’ve had all these amazing pay-per-view records. We’ve really come in and we’ve done pay-per-view numbers, whether adjusted or straight-up, head-to-head, very strong compared to the last few years of WCW, and I think that’s really a success story. I think pay-per-views are really fun, but it’s a really interesting business point that our business on pay-per-view has continued to get stronger. This year’s been great for us, we’ve had some huge events, including Revolution, which was one of our biggest pay-per-views ever.”
Since the launch of AEW Dynamite in October 2019, AEW programming has been featured on Warner Bros. Discovery channels. Khan has consistently emphasized the significance of bringing wrestling back to TBS and TNT following the conclusion of WCW in 2001.
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