AEW's Tony Khan Comments On WB Acquisition, Relationships With Netflix & Paramount

Late last week, it was announced that Netflix was seeking to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, making things interesting in the professional wrestling world, as WWE has ties to the former, with AEW partnered with the latter via HBO Max and the Turner Networks. On Monday, however, it was revealed that Paramount launched a hostile bid to challenge Netflix's purchase of AEW's partner, muddying the waters of a possible acquisition by the streaming giant that plays home to "WWE Raw" in the United States. 

AEW President Tony Khan was asked about his thoughts on the Netflix purchase and how it would impact AEW, ahead of the hostile bid, at the ROH Final Battle press conference on Friday following the show. Khan noted it was too early to comment on anything that was still pending, but did speak about AEW's partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery.

"I just want to say we have a great partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery and it will continue for many, many years to come," he said. "We have years left on our remaining agreement with TBS and HBO Max. Every Wednesday night, we have great wrestling... 'Dynamite' has been on Wednesday night now for six years and it's an amazing thing. Done over 300 episodes of Wednesday night 'Dynamite' and we're going to do hundreds more."

Khan said he was proud of what they've been able to build and reiterated he's excited for the future. He explained what he could say, from things that were already public knowledge however, was that all bidders for Warner Bros. Discovery are NFL partners, and great partners at that, for the league. Khan's father, Shad Khan, owns the Jacksonville Jaguars and Khan also holds an executive role with the team as chief football strategy officer.

"Everybody who has been in the running for this is somebody that we work with in the NFL, so I have a lot of respect for all of them," he explained. "I'm on the major events and fan committee of the NFL and we worked closely with all three of the bidders that have been in the mix, so we'll see what happens. I have only positive things to say about Netflix and Warner Brothers Discovery, but when it comes to AEW and Warner Brothers Discovery, it's been a great partnership."

The AEW president said that despite changes over the years from Warner Media to Warner Brothers Discovery, things have only gotten "stronger and better" for the promotion. He said that he could tell everyone "for sure," that at least until "the end of 2027, going into 2028," AEW will be on TBS, TNT, and HBO Max, a deal that was announced last October. 

"Very proud that we've been able to continue the tradition of wrestling on TBS and TNT," Khan said. "When there's wrestling on TBS and TNT, I think wrestling is better for it, so I'm proud AEW has been able to bring that for years and years, and we will continue to bring it for years and years to come."