AEW News: Troubling New Details Emerge On AEW's TV Deal With TNT

What's the story?

It was revealed earlier this month that AEW was in early negotiations with Turner Media to bring the newly formed pro wrestling company to TNT, and while the news has had a lot of fans excited about a viable alternative to WWE on television, the deal is reportedly not what fans think it is.

In fact, even though AEW has an absolutely stacked roster right now including Chris Jericho, Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks and various others, the entity is still unproven and might not be worth how much they think they are. Beyond that, the company faces a market that is pretty much dominated by WWE.

With that being said and rumors circulating that AEW will be airing on TNT in October, new details about the negotiations reveal some pretty grim details about the deal. It also shows that AEW, no matter how much hype it has behind it, has a big hill to climb if they ever want to be considered a viable alternative.

In case you didn't know...

According to an insider that spoke with The Wrap.com "Turner is in advanced talks with upstart professional wrestling league AEW (All Elite Wrestling) for a weekly television show likely on TNT."

However, the insider said the deal is “definitely not signed"

The insider also cautioned fans that " The conversations surrounding the deal are “pretty complex” and “not imminent."

This statement goes against the rumors circulated by various wrestling blogs that called the partnership between AEW and Turner Broadcasting a done deal. It also contradicts rumors that AEW would be a three-hour show.

Interestingly enough, however, new details are emerging of the potential deal between Turner Broadcasting and AEW, but they don't seem very promising either. In fact, if you compare WWE's television deal with Fox Sports, which is set to go into effect later this year, AEW isn't even near the same ballpark.

The heart of the matter

Reports say that the potential deal would include AEW paying for airtime on the network and would probably be a one hour broadcast. This is due to the fact that AEW is still an unproven entity and of course the overall domination of the market by WWE.

Speaking to Jeffrey Harris of 411 Wrestling Interviews podcast, Tony Maglio said, "he expected that it won’t be a three-hour show and that a one-hour show could make more sense, noting, “they have to pay for air time.” Later on in the discussion, he said that according to people he’s spoken to, “they’ll be buying their TV time, essentially, in all likelihood.” He noted that AEW is “unproven.”

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer also confirmed that AEW and Turner Media were in talks about bringing the show to the network, but disputed some of the details of the potential deal. For example, Meltzer noted that the idea of AEW having an off-season is not true and that TNT isn't the only suitor in line to bring the company to a network.

Meltzer claims that the suitors are major broadcasting companies that are interested in having AEW shows streamed on their network. The two companies have yet to be named as of yet, but the idea of AEW being streamed versus put on live television with TNT, could be an advantage for the promotion and could help them avoid as hefty bill for airing the show on TNT.

Another one of Meltzer's claims is that AEW would not be paying for the television time on TNT, which is a contradiction of The Wrap's previous reporting. The Wrestling Observer notes that there are multiple suitors in the situation and that TNT is only one of them.

What's next?

In the end, no one is going to know where AEW is going until a deal is made and everyone signs on the dotted line. In the meantime, fans might want to start anticipating that AEW might go to a streaming network instead of competing with WWE on television.

They also probably need to prepare for hardships, especially monetarily wise, if they go with above-mentioned deal with TNT.