Warner Bros Discovery has been cancelling a lot of shows and movies due to budget cuts recently, with their movie Batgirl the highest profile one as yet with others rumored to be on the chopping block.
The term budget cuts has an interesting place in the hearts of wrestling fans as it led to the WWE released many fan favorites over the last couple of years despite making over a billion dollars.
The WWE’s budget cuts helped reinvigorate the Indie scene with AEW and Impact Wrestling gaining a large boost to their rosters as a result.
But now there’s a chance it could affect AEW in a way many didn’t expect.
AEW’s contract ending soon
One of the easiest budget cuts to make is allowing a contract to end. It avoids some of the bad press that goes with cancelling a show or releasing someone, but there’s always some kind of backlash coming.
AEW’s contract with TNT, a network Warner Bros Discovery owns, expires at the end of next year, and that’s put them in a dangerous position according to The Wrestling Observer:
“Your parent company is slicing budgets everywhere, they are stopping movies and TV shows in production, it’s been bloodletting there and there’s probably more to come. The timing for All Elite Wrestling with their deal coming up at the end of next year, the last few days haven’t been looking good.”
While there is always a risk and AEW’s ratings haven’t rivaled WWE’s, live events tend to be great attractions for ads. There’s a lot of growth potential for AEW, if Tony Kahn decides to appeal to more than his core audience.
On the flip side, this could open AEW up to moving to another network and creating a new relationship and growing through them.
One of the reasons many have stated for WWE Smackdown to bring in the ratings is because they’re on a network like Fox where people don’t need to have a certain level of cable provider to watch.
If AEW is let go by TNT, there’s a chance they could follow WWE’s lead and go to a network like CBS, NBC, ABC, or even Fox, depending on their future commitment with WWE. Fox could maximize their exposure by having both companies on their network.
Of course, this all could be moot and AEW could remain where it’s at for another fun. In this age of budget cuts, nothing is ever certain.
What do you think? Will AEW remain on TNT or should we start making plans to watch it elsewhere once their contract ends? Let us know in the comments below.
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