Why New AEW Show Still A Long Way Off

AEW Rampage is over and it seems fans hoping for a new show from Tony Khan’s company might be waiting for a long time yet.

On September 6th AEW filed a new trademark for “AEW: Shockwave” for purposes relating to “Entertainment in the nature of wrestling contests.” That filing led to many believing Tony Khan would soon be bringing yet another show to TV after AEW signed a new multi-year deal with Warner Brothers Discovery.

That new deal, however, signalled the end for Rampage as the last taping for the Friday night show has now been held. But as of yet, there is no Shockwave show and no AEW presence at all on Fox, where many expected the new show to land.

AEW Shockwave A Long Way Off

Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer was asked when AEW fans could expect Shockwave to become a reality and it doesn’t seem it will be any time soon:

No time soon. Obviously there were talks with Fox and AEW’s numbers fell, that’s the key. If their numbers had stayed stronger I think they would have had a lot better shot to get on Fox because there are several nights a week where an AEW show from a year ago or even 6 months ago could have done better than Fox does on those nights. There are still nights you could do that but it’s not as much as a sure thing.

The thing with wrestling and the stigma with advertising is that it has to do much better than the [other] programming would.

WWE SmackDown recently ended its five-year run on Fox as it moved to its new home of the USA Network in the fall. USA is set to lose Monday Night Raw as WWE readies itself for its seismic move to Netflix in 2025.

If you use any quotes from this article please credit original source and then h/t with a link back to TJR Wrestling for the transcription.