Tony Khan Breaks Silence On WBD After WWE Rumours
Tony Khan has opened up about AEW’s relationship with Warner Brothers Discovery amid rumours that WWE could do a deal with the media giant.
Reports have emerged in recent weeks that Triple H and Nick Khan have met with WBD bosses to discuss a deal for Monday Night Raw. SmackDown has a new home from late 2024 and NXT is moving from the USA Network then as well leaving Raw as the last piece of the puzzle to fall in WWE’s TV rights.
That has raised eyebrows due to WBD’s own relationship with AEW as TNT and TBS have aired AEW programming since it began in late 2019. There have even been rumours that WBD has some sort of ownership stake in AEW but this has never been confirmed.
Tony Khan Admits Companies Are Doing Due Diligence
Speaking at the ROH Final Battle Media Scrum, Tony Khan addressed the situation and said he has spoken to people at WBD but suggests that their media partner has been in talks with WWE. He also asserted that his company has a big future where it is:
Ring of Honor, we haven’t had recently as many, but we’ve had really good conversations about AEW, even in recent days, I’ve had really good talks with Warner Brothers Discovery. We’ve been with them for several years, it’s a really exciting time for AEW.
We’re performing incredibly well for Warners Brothers Discovery and we’re a very strong relationship. With media rights and all the things coming up, everyone has to do their due diligence. It’s just part of the TV business. Where we stand, we stand in a position for AEW to have a huge growth year in 2024. There are a lot of really exciting things happening that I know Warner Brothers is excited about, that we’ve talked about.
It’s a great relationship and it’s going very very well for us and part of the TV business, for both sides, is doing their due diligence and that’s just a part of sports and television, really. Being part of the NFL and Premier League, I’ve seen that process play out with certainly different TV networks looking at different sports and the sports looking at different TV networks. I’ve been part of this multiple times in the NFL.
That seems to fly in the face of a recent report that suggested there has been a “vibe” that AEW is in danger on TBS should WWE get a deal done with WBD.