AEW Received $43.75 Million From TNT In 2020, Still In The Red Due To Eight-Figure Games Investment

AEW has made big movies in the wrestling industry, establishing itself as the number two company in the United States and securing a national television deal. 

However, the company is still in the red due to a major investment in the video games department. 

Hank Tucker of Forbes notes in his feature article on AEW that the promotion received $43.75 million from TNT in 2020, but remains in the red for now as they have invested eight-figures into the video game department. 

AEW has released its casino mobile game with Elite GM, another mobile game, and a major console game on the way. Information regarding the release of the console game is currently scarce. 

AEW signed a $175 million extension with WarnerMedia in January 2020, which will keep Dynamite on Turner through 2023. AEW and Turner announced its third-hour of weekly programming, Rampage, which will debut in August 2021 at 10 p.m. ET on TNT. In 2022, Dynamite and Rampage will move to TBS.

“It was very clear we put ourselves in the right hands,” said Brett Weitz, general manager of TNT, TBS and truTV. “For someone to have the audacity to say, ‘I’m going to go take on the biggest wrestling league in the world and see if I can be a challenger brand,’ it takes chutzpah. And he nailed it.”

Wrestling on Turner networks dates back to the days of Georgia Championship Wrestling with WCW most famously occupying time on the network. WCW was the most direct competition WWE has ever faced, though the company was bought by WWE in 2001. 

“I don’t want to be the next ‘blank’ wrestling company of the past—fill in the blank,” Khan said. “We love wrestling of the past, wrestling of the present and wrestling of the future… That’s what gives us a great chance to retain and gain audience share. I’m glad that WCW failed because it created a vacancy for us to come in and succeed, but it made it a fairly bleak period for the wrestling business. There’s no reason why there only needs to be one wrestling company. The wrestling business is hotter now than it’s been in a long time.”

AEW Dynamite is currently airing on Fridays at 10 p.m. ET due to the NBA Playoffs. The show normally airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.