Turner Broadcasting System, more commonly known by its acronym TBS to anyone who has watched cable television since the 1980s, is the SuperStation that hosted the weekly program World Championship Wrestling from 1971 until 2000 when it was canceled due to low viewership.
Turner Network Television (TNT), another Ted Turner property, began airing WCW’s new flagship program, Monday Nitro, in 1995. By this time, Turner owned the World Championship Wrestling promotion and made the move to Monday nights to compete directly with the number one company in the pro wrestling business, the WWE (the WWF at the time).
The Monday Night Wars began, with Raw and Nitro going head-to-head, ultimately resulting in the demise of WCW in 2001. World Wrestling Entertainment operated without competition for almost two decades.
In 2019, All-Elite Wrestling was founded by Tony Khan, banding together the best independent wrestlers and talent from existing, non-WWE promotions. The company quickly gained popularity, and when it came time to sign a television contract, Warner Bros. Discovery came calling.
It was a natural fit. Hardly anyone from the corporation remained from when WCW lost favor, and the new blood among the executives were poised to give the WWE a run for their money.
AEW Dynamite began airing on TNT Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. The WWE then put NXT programming up against Dynamite on the USA Network, but the AEW ultimately triumphed. NXT eventually settled into a Tuesday night slot.
Flash forward four years, and All-Elite Wretstling’s ratings are sagging with no sign of potential growth. Attendance is noticeably down at televised events, and reports from backstage indicate lightly organized chaos.
Still, AEW has three programs airing on TNT and TBS – Dynamite, Collision, and Rampage. That sweet TV money continues to keep AEW’s head above water despite a ballooning talent budget and dwindling profits at the ticket gate.
Then why is Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly discussing the acquisition of WWE Monday Night Raw?
The USA Network has decided not to re-up with the WWE for the rights to air Monday Night Raw after opting to go with the Smackdown brand on Friday nights instead.
That leaves Raw without a home, and as the reigning Monday night champion of professional wrestling, networks are going to take interest. Could WBD be looking to upgrade with a tried-and-true brand that is poised to last for generations? Perhaps.
The AEW program Collision was approved largely due to the routine presence of CM Punk on that brand. CM Punk was terminated from AEW in September and debuted at WWE Survivor Series two months later in November.
Typically, a single wrestler moving from one company to another wouldn’t have an impact of this magnitude at the corporate level, but consider this. Punk was already deemed enough of a needle-mover to establish Collision, and now his social media impact is off the charts.
CM Punk has set new online viewing records for the WWE in a few different mediums, and his return has energized their fanbase and given confidence to the new regime helmed by Triple H.
If serious investors were given the choice between retaining a relationship with All-Elite Wrestling and getting into bed with Monday Night Raw, the results would be a no-brainer. WWE all the way.
The only sticking point is that WBD is rumored to own a non-controlling stake in AEW and is also the owner of Bleacher Report, the company that airs their pay-per-views.
Should Warner Bros. Discovery begin hosting Raw on Monday nights, it is difficult to imagine a scenario where AEW is retained. Either way, the current Raw contract is up in 2024, so we’ll all find out soon where it will air for the next few seasons.
Sources – AP News, Wrestling Inc., Fortune