AEW Boss Tony Khan Addresses WWE/WBD Rumors

Rumors have circulated about the possibility of WWE moving "WWE Raw" from The USA Network to a Warner Bros Discovery channel, possibly TBS or TNT, which would put them in conflict with WBD's current wrestling product, All Elite Wrestling. As a major year for media rights negotiations, in wrestling and beyond, AEW President Tony Khan is seemingly unfazed by the rumors.

"It's part of sports. Everybody discusses contracts and free agency and things of that nature," Khan told "Going Ringside" on News4JAX. "I think everybody's aware that everybody's gonna be talking to everybody in the media this coming year. So they'll certainly be a lot of opportunities. We have a great history with Warner Bros. Discovery and continue to produce great ratings so we should be in a very good position next year."

WBD's negotiations with both WWE and AEW are likely hamstrung by the media conglomerate's current negotiations with the National Basketball Association, as NBA programming has been the central pillar of the Turner Networks programming and the amount of money offered to either promotion would likely be affected by whether or not WBD retains the Basketball league. AEW has been with WBD since the beginning of the wrestling promotion, which premiered "AEW Dynamite" on WBD networks in 2019, soon adding "AEW Collision," "AEW Rampage," and quarterly "Battle of the Belts" specials.

WWE has already signed a deal with The CW to bring "WWE NXT" there in 2025 when its current deal with USA is up, and USA has already landed the rights to "WWE SmackDown," which is set to move from Fox.