In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, AEW founder,
CEO, general manager and head of creative Tony Khan says
that Wednesday was the “biggest day in AEW’s history,”
thanks to the new deal, and the five-year anniversary of the
promotion’s launch. He adds that tonight’s episode of
Dynamite will include a celebration of the new deal.
“What a perfect time to make this announcement about our
future,” he adds. AEW stars include Bryan Danielson, Swerve
Strickland, Mercedes Moné, Will Ospreay, Kyle Fletcher, Jon
Moxley, Kazuchika Okada, Toni Storm, Kenny Omega, Darby
Allin, Willow Nightingale, Luke Perry’s son Jack Perry, The
Young Bucks, FTR, the Lucha Brothers and The Acclaimed.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO of U.S. Networks Kathleen Finch
praised AEW’s youthful audience, which skews 18-49, as a key
driver of the deal. “Nobody can deliver an audience the way
AEW can,” she says in an interview.
“The benefit now to WBD is to introduce this terrific event
to a streaming audience, the Max audience, which may not
have been exposed to AEW in any great way until now,
starting in January, is going to have it every Wednesday and
Saturday nights, as well as the library available to
stream,” Finch adds. “So we are really excited about the
growth opportunity and the excitement opportunity that the
fandom can bring once we’ve got a new platform to expose AEW
to.”
As for the PPV element, Finch noted that with the tech still
being developed, a specific launch is still to be
determined, but that it will “open up a lot of exciting
possibilities for the fans and for the Max platform as
well.”
