This past Friday night, Tony Khan presented two pro wrestling shows simultaneously, ROH Final Battle and AEW Rampage. Of late, one of the biggest stories in pro wrestling has had less to do with the content Khan is presenting in the ring and more with where it will wind up in 2024. Haus of Wrestling exclusively reported that Khan passed on talks with The CW about bringing ROH to their network in favor of pairing it with AEW’s TV rights at the top of the year to take to market. As he awaits talks with potential suitors, it appears WBD has begun its own conversation with WWE regarding Raw, throwing doubt on what deal Khan can make with his current television partner.
During the ROH Final Battle media scrum, Khan addressed the reports about AEW’s talks with Warner Brothers Discovery and whether Ring Of Honor had come up.
“Ring of Honor, we haven’t had recently as many, but we’ve had really good conversations about AEW, even in recent days, I’ve had really good talks with Warner Brothers Discovery,” he said. “We’ve been with them for several years. It’s a really exciting time for AEW. We were the number one show on cable on Wednesday in, really, what are considered both of the key demographics in TV, which are 18 to 49 and 25 to 54. So, it was a great week for AEW. I think we’ve been putting out some of the best shows we’ve ever done. Right now, we’re on this incredible run.”
“We’ve performed incredibly well for Warner Brothers Discovery. And we’re very, very, very strong relationship. I think with media rights and all the things coming up, everyone has to do their due diligence. It’s just part of the TV business. But I think where we stand, we stand in a position for AEW to have a huge growth year in 2024. There’s a lot of really exciting things happening that I know Warner Brothers is really excited about that we’ve talked about. The advance for All In just being a massive success as we’re approaching a $5 million gate for a show that is eight and a half months away.”
“To be AEW is to be under constant attack. You do a great show, and the next day, somebody’s saying something negative. You do five great shows in a row; somebody says something negative. You break the ticket record for the most tickets ever sold for any wrestling show in the history of the world, and somebody has something bad to say about it. I just, at this point, I don’t worry about it; we just need to go out and do great shows week after week.”
If you use any quotes from this article, please give a h/t to Haus of Wrestling and credit the ROH Final Battle Media Scrum