AEW President and ROH owner Tony Khan participated in the post-ROH Final Battle 2025 media scrum, where he discussed various topics, including his reaction to Netflix winning the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery.
Khan said, “Well, I think first of all, it’s early to comment on anything that’s pending, and without getting into anything that is yet to be determined, I just want to say we have a great partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery, and it will continue for many, many years to come. We have years left on our remaining agreement with TBS and HBO Max every Wednesday night. We have great wrestling. There’s been wrestling on TBS for over 50 years. 55 years to 1971, right? And there was a 20-year gap in that 55-year history. And I’m really proud now that we’ve been continuing it. Dynamite’s been on Wednesday night now for six years. And uh it’s an amazing thing. We’ve done over 300 episodes of Wednesday Night Dynamite. We’re going to do hundreds more. We have a long time to come and a very successful partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery. And now it extends thanks to the great leader of Warner Bros. Discovery, who’s been such a great friend to AEW, Mr. David Zaslav. Mr. Zaslov is the one who came up with the idea to put AEW on Saturday nights on TNT. We actually started originally on TNT in 2019 and and it was January of 2022. We moved to TBS, and then we brought wrestling back to Saturday nights on Turner, and we have a great show every Saturday on TNT. Collision. We’re going to do it right here hours from now in this very arena and we’re going to change this ring out and it’ll be AW and these seats will be the same because they say AEW and we’ll have Collision here tomorrow and I’m really proud of what we’ve been able to build and I think it’s going to be for a long time to come. Also, it’s going to be like this with Warner Bros. Discovery for a long time before anything settled out. But I’m very excited about uh the future. I think we have great partnerships.”
On the companies seeking to bid on acquiring WBD:
“What I can say is that it’s public from the things that are public knowledge. All of the bidders that were bidders on Warner Bros. Discovery are media partners of the National Football League, and they’re great media partners of ours, and everybody who has been in the running for this is somebody that we work with on the NFL. So I have a lot of respect for all of them. I’m on the major events and fan engagement committee of the NFL, and we work closely with all three of the bidders that have been in the mix. So, we’ll see what happens. And I have only positive things to say about Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery. But for when it comes to AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery, it’s been a great partnership. It was a great partnership that started with Warner Media, with a conversation in April of 2018, in Beverly Hills, between myself and the man who was at the time the president of TBS and TNT, my friend Kevin Reilly. And there have been changes. A lot of things have changed along the way. Warner Media became Warner Bros. Discovery. Mr. Zaslov took over years ago, and things have only gotten stronger and better and better for us. So, I’m really excited about that leadership, that relationship.”
On what fans can expect for the future of AEW with WBD:
“But I can also tell you for sure that at least until the very end of 2027, going into 2028, we’re going to be here for years and years to come. Over two more years with AW on TBS, TNT, and HBO Max. So, I’m very excited about it and uh really proud that we’ve been able to continue the tradition of wrestling on TBS and TNT. I think wrestling and TBS and TNT go together very well. I feel like wrestling fits very well on TBS and TNT, and feels to me, at least just me personally in my own opinion like a part of the identity of the channels but I also think the wrestling business TBS and TNT are a big part of the wrestling business and when there’s wrestling on TBS and TNT I think wrestling is better for it. So I’m proud that AEW’s been able to bring that for years and years and we will continue to bring it for years and years to come, and now having a tradition of wrestling on HBO Max and having the HBO brand associated with professional wrestling, the greatest brand in all of television entertainment and all the greatest content, just in my own personal opinion, uh, most of my favorite shows, probably 90% of my favorite shows and content come from HBO. So to have AEW sit side by side with all that, it’s an honor, and I’m so proud of it.”
On his thoughts on Netflix and other WBD bidders:
“Now, with the news today again I have only great positive things to say about both the companies you asked me about with Netflix and Warner Brothers Discovery and frankly also great things to say about everybody who’s associated in bidding uh uh also about Paramount and Comcast who are also great media partners of the National Football League, and we’re proud to work with all thanks for asking and uh and thank you again to Warner Brothers Discovery for making all this possible what has been I think with the launch of AW on HBO Max continuing the siumlcast I think has the biggest and most important year for AW after being on TNT since day one and then TBS now for several years and having that every Wednesday and Saturday and now expanding it on to HBO Max and having it be successful and retaining great audience on cable and now also having a whole new audience we built the streaming it’s really special so Warner Brothers Discovery and AW is a great relationship that will continue for years to come.”
You can check out Khan’s comments in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
