Getting their weekly show picked up by a television network like TNT was a major step in establishing AEW as a real alternative to WWE in people’s eye. Though they initially didn’t get paid any TV rights fee for their program, according to Chris Jericho.
The former champion recently appeared on Reinvented with Jen Eckhart. Discussing the start of the company, Jericho mentioned how being the inaugural world champion meant that the first three months of the promotion were on his shoulders.
Y2J went on to reveal the terms of their initial TV deal. He mentioned that their first deal was on a revenue share basis. Though Jericho revealed that the network upgraded their contract after seeing their performance:
“We had a TV deal, but it was an ad rev share was what had for a contract, which means, people buy ads and we get a piece of that. Three months later, after the show’s been doing super amazing in the ratings, the demos, we suddenly had a contract for $175 million over four years from TNT. “
Chris Jericho defeated Adam Page to become the inaugural AEW world champion in the main event of the first ever All Out PPV in August 2019. He held the title for 182 days before dropping it to Jon Moxley at the Revolution PPV in February 2020.
AEW and WarnerMedia initially announced their TV deal for a weekly wrestling program in May 2019. The show named Dynamite made its debut on TNT on October 2, 2019. AEW is celebrating the second anniversary of Dynamite’s TV debut this week.
