Dave Meltzer Assesses AEW's Position As Companies Bid To Acquire Media Partner WBD

It's looking increasingly likely that Warner Bros. Discovery will be acquired by another company, with Paramount, Netflix, and Comcast all vying for the opportunity. This has caused speculation among some wrestling fans about the place of AEW in all this, as all three companies mentioned have ties to WWE or its parent company, TKO.

Tony Khan was asked about the possible WBD acquisition during the media call for Saturday's AEW Full Gear, and the executive didn't seem concerned. However, Dave Meltzer shared his thoughts on the situation during the latest "Wrestling Observer Radio," and he indicated that there could be some big changes coming for the company down the line. It's just too early to say for sure.

"There [are] a lot of major questions right now," Meltzer said. "The streaming – it's obviously one of those silly things, because we don't have the real numbers every single week, although we have a pretty decent idea of how it does."

Though some wrestling fans believe AEW is delivering lackluster streaming viewership for WBD, Meltzer doesn't think that's the case. Because the decision was made to offer AEW such a costly media rights deal, Meltzer is under the impression that AEW is bringing valuable subscribers to HBO Max.

"The belief, obviously, is that [AEW] can't be inconsequential, because if they were inconsequential, [WBD] would've never opened up this pay-per-view division. Because they would've gone, 'This thing's a flop. It doesn't work,'" Meltzer continued.

The writer believes there is a somewhat-even split between AEW's viewership on streaming and traditional cable, though the cable audience will continue to shrink and streaming will become more pivotal as the years go on. If AEW's streaming audience is as strong as Meltzer believes, the promotion should have plenty of bargaining leverage when their next negotiation comes around. At any rate, though, AEW will continue to stream on HBO Max through the end of 2027 as part of their current agreement with WBD.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.