AEW has found great success under the leadership of its President Tony Khan who just two years ago took the leap of starting his own wrestling promotion.
In their first year, they reached a television deal with WarnerMedia that would see them air a weekly two-hour flagship series every Wednesday night in primetime on TNT. In January 2020, they reached an extension through 2023 with a fourth-year option for 2024 that would give AEW a significant pay increase.
It was reported around this time by Dave Meltzer that the new deal was worth $175 million, just under $45 million per year.
Khan talked about AEW’s finances in a new interview with the Associated Press. It was noted that Khan stated to them, “AEW has already turned a profit.”
“Our TNT deal is very fair. I think we’ve performed at such a high level that we’ll justify a big increase on our next deal,” he said. “We are very fortunate to have their support. The timing of that deal was great, to get that in January 2020, that is a huge revenue stream for us.”
It was announced earlier this year that Dynamite will move to TBS in January 2022. Part of AEW’s deal was to introduce a new one-hour show, AEW Rampage, that premiered in August. Also in 2022, AEW will air four “supercard” specials on TNT.
