Tony Khan says landing AEW’s first TV deal took the better part of a year — and that as late as April 2019, with the inaugural roster already signed, he still didn’t have a broadcast partner. He told Wide World of Sports that the television deal was the hardest part of getting the company off the ground.
“The biggest hurdle was to make the TV deal. I reached a point in early-2019 where I had signed the wrestlers, but didn’t have a deal. I had been working on the TV portion of it for nearly a year, but I had got into April and still didn’t have a deal. Reaching a point where it became a reality was very challenging. It’s hard to launch, but things have grown so quickly.”
It was a real gamble. Signing established talent to multi-year contracts with no broadcast revenue lined up is serious financial exposure, and with the May 2019 launch closing in, AEW was nearly there without the one piece that would pay for it.
The deal eventually came together with WarnerMedia, and AEW Dynamite debuted on TNT that October. The company has been on TNT and TBS ever since, and that partnership still anchors its business.
The roster Khan signed in the meantime was stacked. The Elite — Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, and the Young Bucks — ran the company as its founding executives, with veterans like Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, and PAC alongside rising names in MJF, Darby Allin, and Jungle Boy Jack Perry, plus a deep bench of international and indie talent. The women’s division launched with Britt Baker, Nyla Rose, Riho, Hikaru Shida, Brandi Rhodes, and Kylie Rae, filled out by the likes of Aja Kong, Yuka Sakazaki, Bea Priestley, Penelope Ford, Allie, and Leva Bates.
Double or Nothing in May 2019 served as the launch event, riding a wave of pent-up demand and appetite for a WWE alternative. Khan came in with an unusual business resume — the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL, Fulham FC in the Premier League, and the wider Khan family holdings — paired with a real fan’s background that helped get the company funded and built.
