Browsing: AEWs

You never know what could be on the horizon in the pro wrestling world. The uncertainty is certainly mounting for AEW, because their television home was just the subject of a huge sale. Now, the company is very much in a wait and see period, and they may be waiting for a while.

Sean Ross Sapp reported on Fightful Select that he spoke with sources in AEW who predicted the outcome involving Netflix and WBD before it became public the following day. At this time, there is no information on AEWâ€s future with WBD, and most people contacted do not expect any major developments in the near future.

Netflix entered exclusive negotiations to acquire Warner Bros. Discoveryâ€s studio and streaming assets, including HBO Max, in a deal valued at roughly $82.7 billion. The agreement would place major franchises such as Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and DC properties under Netflixâ€s control. The transaction requires regulatory approval, which may take a year or longer.

The development is fascinating, especially within the pro wrestling industry. After all, AEW currently airs on Warner Bros. Discovery platforms.

Netflix is already in business with WWE through a 10-year, $5 billion agreement with TKO Group that began in January 2025. The deal makes WWE RAW exclusive to Netflix. The agreement also includes international rights to SmackDown, NXT, and PLEs. So, it will be very interesting to see what Netflix does with AEW when the time comes.

Netflix buying WBD could be a game changer in many ways. It may also put a lot of people out of work, since most mergers see people lose their jobs as part of redundancies. WWE went through the same thing when they merged with UFC under the TKO umbrella.

Only time will tell what happens in this situation, but we will have all the updates you need here at Ringside News. With so much going on in this deal, it looks like AEWâ€s future is up in the air.

Whatâ€s your take on WBDâ€s deal with Netflix? Do you believe that AEWâ€s television home will have to change? Let us know what you think in the comments section!

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By Ella Jay

Dec. 5, 2025 11:20 am EST

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Since 2023, Ring of Honor’s weekly programming has largely aired on the HonorClub streaming platform, with episodes occasionally being uploaded to YouTube as well. In contrast, ROH’s sister promotion of All Elite Wrestling is in the midst of a multi-year media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery that sees its weekly content aired on TNT, TBS, and HBO Max. On the ROH Final Battle media call, ROH owner and AEW CEO Tony Khan addressed the possibility of moving ROH to a bigger platform, specifically a television network.

According to Khan, he’s received multiple “great” offers to boost ROH to television, but so far, none of them have truly won him over. “I have had opportunities at times to move ROH to TV and from great media partners,” he said, “but right now, we have to look at the AEW situation. AEW’s got a media rights deal with a half-billion dollar contract. Given that I have a half-billion dollar contract to produce wrestling television, I really want to make sure I get good rights fees and that the situation for ROH is not necessarily equal to what we get with AEW because it’s fairly historic for a challenger wrestling brand to have the kind of media rights that we do and the kind of following that AEW has.

“ROH, I’m very interested in having an ROH TV show. I think that the media rights have to be certainly not necessarily equal or definitely not greater than, but I do think I want to get a rights fee that makes sense and the perfect situation with a media partner.”

As it stands, Khan confirmed that ROH pay-per-views and weekly “ROH on HonorClub” programming are bringing in “really good” revenue despite being behind the paywall of HonorClub. Even the occasional shows on YouTube are said to be getting a positive reception as well.

Khan Says It’ll Take A ‘Combination’ Of Factors To Sell Him On A ROH TV Deal

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When asked to further elaborate on his criteria for Ring of Honor to potentially onboard to a bigger stage, Khan noted that he is considering a combination of components.

“It’s not any one factor,” he said. “It’s got to be the right fit. To me, it’s got to be the right media partner, but also the money has to be right. And it’s got to be the combination of the two things. There’s times where we had great media offers and there’s times where we’ve had offers of money. When they line up with the right media partner and the right money [I’d make the deal]. Certainly when you get a deal like we’ve got with TBS and TNT and HBO Max, that’s one of those great situations where it’s the perfect combination.”

In the current, $555-million dollar agreement between AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery, “AEW Dynamite” and “AEW Collision” continue to air on TBS and TNT, respectively, with the ability to simultaneously stream them on HBO Max made available as well. HBO Max, which has since been named as AEW’s primary pay-per-view partner, also allows subscribers to purchase and stream AEW PPVs at a discounted rate.

Final Battle, ROH’s next pay-per-view event, will emanate from Columbus, Ohio later tonight. Matches include the ROH Women’s Pure Championship tournament finals between Deonna Purrazzo and Billie Starkz, ROH Women’s Television Champion Mercedes Mone vs. Red Velvet, and ROH World Champion Bandido defending his title in a Survival of the Fittest match. The latest episode of “ROH on HonorClub,” aired Thursday night, notably saw Queen Aminata forfeit her spot in the semi-finals of the Women’s Pure Title tournament.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit ROH with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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Tomorrow night at Ring of Honor Final Battle, several championships will be put on the line. Per ROH owner Tony Khan, Nick Wayne’s ROH World Television Championship will not be one of them.

On the ROH Final Battle media call, Khan addressed the lingering injury to Wayne’s foot, which he first sustained in August. Khan admitted that he and other officials initially expected a full recovery for Wayne by the time Final Battle came around on December 5. As with life, though, an unpredicted curveball emerged.

“I’ll be honest, the timeline on this particular injury changed, which is the nature of injuries,” Khan said. “You can expect when somebody recovers, but when it’s a bad injury, it can take longer … Nick Wayne got hurt in the ring. It’s not his fault. We thought he would 100% be back for Final Battle. I’m not allowed to bet money, but if I was allowed to bet money, I would have bet money that Nick Wayne would be back for Final Battle. He’s not, but I would have to be honest, at Death Before Dishonor, I did not know that Nick Wayne would not be back by now. I didn’t know that a few months ago that was going to be the case or we probably would have crowned an interim TV Champion for when he is back.”

Despite the setback, Khan is hopeful that Wayne is now “close” to returning to in-ring action after breaking his foot. Wayne’s last match came on July 31 when he successfully defended his title against Willie Mack on the Ring of Honor YouTube special (aired August 15). His last physical interaction occurred on the August 13 edition of “AEW Dynamite” as Christian Cage knocked a chair out of his hand with Spike, the nail-filled bat.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit ROH with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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Mina Shirakawa is loving the life she’s living in the United States.

This year, Shirakawa made the decision to sign with AEW full-time and move to America upon the expiration of her Stardom contract. She has featured in both AEW & ROH and is currently teaming with Toni Storm in the tournament to determine AEW’s inaugural Women’s Tag Team Champions.

A new episode of AEW Unrestricted debuted on Thursday with Shirakawa appearing as the guest. Shirakawa said she loves American life “so much” — except for really missing the quality of sushi they have in Japan.

“I love American life so much. I miss Japanese food, only Japanese food,” she said. “Because I love sushi so much and America has sushi, but no! Totally different from Japanese real sushi. So I miss Japanese sushi, but the American people are very kind to me. So I love American life so much. Every day, I encounter new things in here.â€

Shirakawa said there are times where she gets lonely, but adopting a cat has helped her deal with that.

“Sometimes I feel alone in U.S. because this is not my country and I cannot speak English perfectly,” Shirakawa said. “So when I get home, I feel lonely: ‘Oh, I miss Japan.’ But at my house, he’s here. So it’s great. He is taking care of me.â€

When asked what her dream in AEW is, Shirakawa said she would love to become a champion. Her parents are really strict and are not accepting of her wrestling career, so she would like to compete for a title at a big AEW pay-per-view and invite them to see that success.

The first-ever AEW Women’s Tag Team Champions will be crowned next week when Shirakawa & Storm face Willow Nightingale & Harley Cameron on the Winter is Coming edition of Dynamite. Shirakawa told AEW Unrestricted that her pairing with Storm feels very natural because they both have experience wrestling in Japan and understand what the other wants to do in the ring.

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Joseph Currier

Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.

In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated’s wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.

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AEW/Ricky Havlik

Despite fully immersing himself in pro wrestling, Swerve Strickland also pursues a career in music, and as “Sw3rve The Realest,” he’s already released two albums: 2023’s “You Couldn’t Be Me” and 2024’s “Motion Sickness.” Strickland has become one of AEW’s biggest names, and to the wrestler, there are similarities to wrestling and music that allow him to be passionate about both.

“The world is an oyster at this point,” he proclaimed during an interview on “Insight with Chris Van Vliet.” “I want my music on the freaking Time’s Square building, you know what I mean? Advertised and stuff like that. I want to compete with billboards.” Strickland was also asked about whether his focus is on wrestling or music. “I feel like they’re one and the same now. I’ve done so much with wrestling that kind of got me in the door with music in a lot of different ways.”

Strickland then quickly addressed his naysayers, admitting that he isn’t as good as he aspires to be, but that this motivates him to become even better. “I like the fact that I don’t know everything. I chase the fact that I don’t know everything. I chase the fact that I haven’t achieved everything, because that’s the chase!” Strickland explained about his mentality behind his career. “There’s times where I’ll find patterns that work for both.” He then further explained that timing and rhythm are essentially present in both footwork in wrestling and the beats of music.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Insight with Chris Van Vliet” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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AEW/Lee South

Last week, WWE star Becky Lynch publicly divulged the fact that she was warned to stay away from one of the company’s main roster stars after her call-up. According to Lynch, other women in the locker room passed on the information that the unnamed wrestler would try to sleep with female co-workers and had the power to “blackball” them, whether they shut him down or not.

After hearing Lynch’s story, AEW star Thunder Rosa spoke out on “Busted Open Radio” regarding the way women are treated in the industry. She commended Lynch for having the courage to discuss the situation, while also sharing her pride in all of the industry’s women for having to come up in an environment that wasn’t always friendly to them.

“It happened to me one time, when I was really, really young in the business, and one guy was just being funny, I guess, and he touched me without my permission,” Rosa said. “I went off on him in front of everybody, and then he thought I was crazy.”

Rosa also discussed the use of non-disclosure agreements in these kinds of situations, with affected women often convinced to sign these forms prohibiting them from speaking about anything that happened to them. The unjust treatment of women in pro wrestling dates back to the industry’s early days, with Rosa naming Mildred Burke’s husband Billy Wolfe as an example.

Another unfortunate aspect of these situations is that women often face harsh consequences if they do decide to go public with any allegations, with Rosa noting that they’ll often lose their job or be booted from the industry. Thankfully, the wrestler stated that she hasn’t witnessed anything like this in her current position at AEW, and Rosa feels that allegations of harassment are taken extremely seriously by company president Tony Khan.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Busted Open Radio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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AEW seemingly has a plan in place when it comes to their booking of Kenny Omega this year.

Former AEW World Champion Kenny Omega hasnâ€t competed in a singles match since his loss to Kazuchika Okada at All In: Texas, when the two men fought for the Unified Championship. But if a new report is to be believed, this has been done by design.

According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, AEW is trying to avoid putting Omega in long singles matches. Meltzer would go on to speculate that this may be the reason the company chose to reunite The Elite at Full Gear, allowing Omega to work more trios matches in the future and limit his in-ring time.

Kenny Omega has only worked six singles matches this year, one of which was a three-way match at Dynasty and another that took place outside of AEW with New Japan Pro-Wrestling. This is likely being done to prolong his career after a near-death encounter with diverticulitis, which resulted in Omega undergoing major surgery.

Itâ€s unknown if AEW has any future plans for Omega to return as a singles competitor.

Stay tuned to WrestleZone for more information as it becomes available.

Kenny Omega reveals the current “Ace†of AEW

During a recent sitdown interview between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kenny Omega for NJPW World, when Tanahashi implied that Omega was the “Ace†of AEW, Omega disagreed and bestowed that honor onto Hangman Page.

“No! Definitely not me,†Kenny Omega said. “Iâ€d say Hangman. Heâ€s a great guy, and he can wrestle all kinds of styles. AEW is an American company, but we showcase a lot of different styles. Thereâ€s some lucha, some Strong Style, deathmatch as well. Hangmanâ€s deathmatches have been scary. But heâ€s been able to work that style. He can handle anything, and heâ€s a genuinely great guy. He was my first tag partner in AEW. Itâ€s all in the heart.†[H/T: Fightful]

READ MORE: Kenny Omega Reveals That Heâ€s Batman

What do you make of this report? Are you cool with Kenny Omega working more multi-man matches if it means prolonging his AEW career? Let us know your overall thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.

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AEW is looking to avoid putting Kenny Omega in long singles matches.

Omega did several media interviews recently where he commented on the injuries he deals with on a daily basis and his thoughts on retirement. In todayâ€s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, our own Dave Meltzer mentioned that AEW doesnâ€t want to put Omega in long singles matches and that this may have been what led to his reunion with The Young Bucks.

Meltzer wrote:

“They are trying to avoid putting him in a long singles match and that may be part of the reason they put him back with the Young Bucks.”

Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson were the inaugural AEW World Trios Champions after winning the tournament that culminated at All Out 2022. However, the backstage incident at the show involving CM Punk led to Punk, Omega, and The Bucks being suspended and Tony Khan stripping the Elite of the Trios titles.

During an interview with CBS Sports earlier this month, Omega mentioned he wants to retire while he still has “some semblance of athleticism†left.

“I would like to be in a situation where I left the ring not having any regrets, and not feeling embarrassed or that I tarnished my reputation. So Iâ€d like to leave while I have some semblance of athleticism left in my body.“

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Ian Carey

Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.

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AEW/Lee South

From 2011 into 2013, following a run with WWE, MVP wrestled a stint in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. MVP previously stated that he had a great time in NJPW, but that doesn’t mean the experience wasn’t without its difficulties. Speaking on his podcast, “Marking Out,” the AEW star reflected on that time in his life and was asked about the hardest part of wrestling in NJPW’s annual G1 Climax tournament.

“The schedule,” MVP answered. “Going from WWE to New Japan was a culture shock in many ways. In WWE, you’re on the road – f**k – 52 weeks a year. The only time you get off is if you get hurt.”

During his tenure in NJPW, MVP got more time off than he had before. He explained that the company would fly himself and tag partner Shelton Benjamin over for two or three weeks at a time, then they’d return to the United States and spend a few weeks at home. On occasion, New Japan officials would fly them out for a single pay-per-view event and then they’d return home.

“But the G1 Climax tour – they asked me … if I’d be okay with staying for the full six weeks, which, of course, I said yes,” MVP said. “But I had six weeks of hotel life, just living in hotels.”

MVP went on to explain that, for those six weeks, the company traveled all around Japan, and unlike with the WWE schedule, he spent no time at home. After two years, the exhaustive travel schedule burned MVP out. He returned home, spent some time in TNA and other promotions, and eventually made a comeback to WWE before leaving for AEW in 2024.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Marking Out” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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AEW Full Gear 2025 was a show full of twists, turns, and surprises, but the one thing that once again has people talking is the show’s length. Including the Tailgate Brawl pre-show that aired on TNT, Full Gear 2025 ran for almost five-and-a-half hours, which has become a common runtime for AEW pay-per-views. WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray was asked about Full Gear and its runtime on a recent episode of “Busted Open Radio,” where he stated that there is a sweet spot that AEW can hit as he knows all too well about long shows from his time in ECW.

“When it comes to the length of the show, I understand some fans being upset with that. In ECW, back in the day, we would have very long shows at the ECW Arena, but that was for the 1,000 people who showed up to see the show. It wasn’t for the people watching on pay-per-view at home. There was no pay-per-view back then for ECW, so it was for the people in attendance. Listen, five hours is a long time to keep an energy level up, no matter what you are doing, and we always compare things to rock ‘n’ roll, I think that for AEW, the sweet spot for them might be four hours. Knock it down one hour, we know you’re never getting this done in three, maybe four hours.”

Bully went on to say that there are number of things that last around four hours that manage to keep people interested from start to finish, such as a football game or even a concert from the likes of Bruce Springsteen. With that in mind, Bully believes that four hours is the mark AEW need to be hitting to keep everyone happy. AEW President Tony Khan recently spoke about the length of the AEW pay-per-views, stating that they are contracted to produce events that last around four hours, but that isn’t including the pre-show, or any extra time that they may be allowed depending on the city they are in.

Please credit “Busted Open Radio” when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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