Dave Meltzer Provides Update On Potential WBD Acquisition

AEW's broadcast partners are all WBD properties. From HBO Max to TBS to TNT, the fate of the Jacksonville wrestling promotion is thoroughly tied to the fate of the currently-up-for-sale WBD. On one side of the bidding war is Paramount, on another side is Comcast, home to "Saturday Night Main Event's" home of Peacock, and on the last side is Netflix. On the latest "Wrestling Observer Radio," Dave Meltzer assessed the various parties' interest in the former Warner Brothers.

"It could be going down within the next couple weeks, and Netflix and Paramount are the frontrunners. I believe Netflix has no interest in the cable side," Meltzer said, speculating that Netlfix would simply buy the WBD library of movies and shows, and the HBO Max streaming service, and sell TBS, TNT, and the other Turner Networks to other parties. "From WBD, I think there's hope that it's Paramount because Paramount has interest in keeping the cable stations."

Even in that situation, Turner Networks would still exist, but simply be sold to a different entity, likely leaving Turner broadcasting deals unaffected. The news comes just months after AEW signed a new media rights deal with WBD, seemingly securing its future with Turner Networks for the foreseeable future.

Paramount is currently involved in a broadcasting deal with WWE sibling company UFC, which theoretically could cause issues, but not according to Meltzer.

"If they're gonna keep TBS and TNT, I don't know about dropping the most popular programming on those stations," Meltzer said of AEW programming.