Tony Khan’s AEW Reaches All-Time Low Ratings Amid Disappointing WBD Negotiations Update

Tony Khan‘s All Elite Wrestling is at a very important stage that could determine its future. The promotion is currently in the middle of negotiations with Warner Bros. Discovery for the sale of its television rights. So far, WBD has an exclusive window of time to negotiate with AEW, although no agreement has sufficed yet.

As per several reports, this exclusive window for Warner Bros. Discovery ends in July. And, for now, the offer made to the promotion has disappointed the AEW President. Both David Zaslav, leader of WBD, and Luis Silberwasser, head of TNT Sports, are showing their interest in keeping the five hours of television provided by AEW each week. But the founder of All Elite Wrestling has some demands of his own that he wants fulfilled.

But now, there could be a new twist in the negotiations after the latest edition of All Elite Wrestling’s Dynamite. The main show for the Jacksonville-based promotion has suffered a major slump in ratings. This could hamper this final phase of negotiations between Tony Khan and WBD. Maybe even forcing them to agree to the deal that they did not appreciate in the first place.

Last Wednesday, June 19, All Elite Wrestling presented a new episode of AEW Dynamite through the TBS network. During the show, Kris Statlander and PAC advanced to the next round of the women’s and men’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, respectively. As reported by Wrestlenomics, the average audience for the AEW Dynamite on June 19, 2024, on TBS was 502,000 viewers and earned a rating of 0.16 in the most important demographic for television networks (18 to 49 years old).

But will this impediment cause the ongoing negotiations to take an ugly route for AEW?

Will AEW suffer in their goal of attaining a lucrative television rights deal due to lackluster ratings?

The viewership records for this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite are lower compared to last week. Last Wednesday’s show managed to attract 681,000 average viewers and earned a 0.23 rating on the top demo. In fact, it is the lowest rating received by the promotion in 2024, since all its other shows managed to hit the rating of 0.23. 14 February and 10 April show the highest rating of the year with 0.30. Because of this, fans have begun speculating about the possibility that Warner was disappointed with AEW for failing to keep viewers’ attention.

However, as reported by Fightful, the low viewership of AEW Dynamite would not be a problem for Warner and is not expected to harm negotiations between the two parties to renew the broadcasting rights of AEW programs. Something that Tony Khan would surely be glad to hear. What do you think? Will this affect the negotiations, in your opinion? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.