AEW Dynamite Dropped From French Language Sports Channel

French-speaking Canadian fans of "AEW Dynamite" will have to watch Chris Jericho and friends in English next year — RDS, Canada's Francophonic sports network, is dropping the show from its schedule in 2023. According to a Slam Wrestling report, the final AEW broadcast on RDS occurred with the December 28 "Dynamite." Long-time Quebec announcer Jean-François Kelly relayed the news while offering his unhappy opinion of the loss.

"It's been exactly 25 years since I've been in RDS," he said. "This decision (that I can understand) by management to cut AEW wrestling show is the hardest one for me to take." The La Lutte à RDS Facebook page confirmed the news and stated AEW was being canceled "due to budget constraints."

RDS has provided French-speaking Canadians viewers with a variety of wrestling promotions over the years, including WWE, WCW, Impact and ROH plus the Canada-based IWS and TOW. WWE is available to Canada's French language population on the TVA Sports network in a weekly one-hour show featuring highlights from "WWE Raw." AEW, meanwhile, is still available in Canada in English-language broadcasts, with "Dynamite" airing on Wednesday nights on TSN 2 and "Rampage" on Friday nights on TSN Direct. TSN is the English-sister station of RDS.

Last October, AEW hosted its first live events in Canada, staging episodes of "Dynamite" and "AEW Rampage" at Toronto's Coca-Cola Coliseum; those shows also marked the first time Tony Khan took his promotion outside of the United States. The company is returning to the Great White North on March 14 with a "Dynamite" event at Winnipeg's Canada Life Centre.