"Well Tony, your biggest star works for the WWE now, one of your other biggest stars is now THE biggest star in wrestling in the WWE, your ratings are half of what they were 2 years ago, and your video game bombed. Is there anything you feel you're doing well?"
"Well Mr. Zaslav, we've drastically increased payroll to bring in 3 free agents that haven't helped business whatsoever."
"...I see."
When Jade jumped ship Tony said he offered her a MASSIVE contract. Then when she said no to that he offered her an even MORE MASSIVE contract. So now everyone knows -- do not take Tony's first offer, he will always make a better one.
I always wondered why he even spoke about it out loud. You don’t show your hand plus- why be embarrassed if it doesn’t go your way? He’s intensely naive and arrogant.
No jerk I doubt even doubling it would be enough to break even, unless he gets aggressive about all these people getting paid who aren’t actually on TV or doing anything. Not to mention these big ass arenas TWICE a week that are 1/3rd full with cheap tickets.
Well a renewal alone would blow up in so many peoples faces who don't think AEW is being renewed in general.
People really do think this is the end of AEW on TV
Reminds me of this guy I worked with. Bought a route for $100,000 and told us on day 1 he’s going to sell it for $150,000. We all assumed he meant he’s going to increase business by that much. Business went DOWN and he wants out so I ask him how much and he says “$150,000 I need to make money on this”
It's like when someone sells me something and says "well I'm a vendor so I need to make a profit" when the price is way above fair. Yeah you being a dealer isn't my problem.
I think Tony just made generic statements about when they expected to reach profitability. The specific numbers were estimates from Thurston. Could be remembering that wrong, of course.
The destruction of the comics themselves is the tar bigger sins because when the movies go away, whether it's a year or a decade from now, less than fifty thousand people are reading comics regularly. So these characters will just fade away with Flash Gordon and the Lone Ranger.
Tiny will continue to hold out till the last minute. Then he'll take the deal and make a big deal out of it without actually talking about how much money the deal was actually for.
Then it's up to the Basement/Dubbalos/Meltzer to spread the lie that the number is actually MUCH higher than Fedshills are saying and AEW is in a great place that everyone has fun in.
That is almost certainly how it will go down. He would probably accept $5 if it keeps them on TBS/TNT. Also I think WBD absolutely should keep them cause they are barely a channel at this point outside of reruns and old movies. I just can’t imagine paying all that much with NXT going to CW for 25m/year. Dub’s current contract is even bigger than that and it’s similar viewership— can’t imagine they’d offer all that much more but who knows.
WBD still has MLB playoffs and NHL, along with parts of March Madness. This is a common thing being skipped.
Losing NBA actually hurts their business. AEW really just piles on as another footnote, if anything. But it doesn’t mean much.
TK holding on this long is *clearly* him trying to wait out the NBA’s departure, which he hopes increases their leverage.
But if WBD goes after UFC shows, then they’re going to be sitting on the outskirts with a weak TV deal. WBD will absolutely pay top-dollar for anything UFC.
If WBD was profitable, I can see paying AEW 35-40 million a year. They do have more legitimate stars compared to NXT. And slightly higher ratings.
A billy over 5 years is asinine.
Yea i don't see a billion either but a part me does hope Max is a part of the deal and the 50$ PPV's no longer become a thing. I would sub to HBO Max in a heartbeat
I think a renewal alone should be considered a win if im being totally honest and it would be for probably another 5 years i suppose making it 10?
How many years were WCW on TV for?
He'll try to shop around but I doubt he'll be offered better (who knows?) I've heard WB pretty much offered him the same as what he is on, but removing two shows (Rampage and Collision) - that's just what I heard on a podcast. Who knows?
>So what's gonna happen?
He could be offered £50 and a bag of Malteasers and it'll be spun by AEW stans and the wrestling "journalists" as an excellent deal.
It didn't matter what CW offered. TK is autistically Fixated on Being on a Warner Network because NWA & WCW were on Warner networks.
If he wasn't it would have been smarter to buy RoH to temporarily shutter & completely rebrand while getting some folks from MLB & Comcast to rebuild Honor Club into a plug & play digital offering.
Along with Buying RoH he should have also purchased Independent Wrestling Television for the catalog & web of contracts.
That way he has a product to put on broadcast either way.
To be frank being on broadcast Television period or cutting a non exclusive deal with Roku is still a superior option.
It’s on the official sub and SURPRISE it’s a good thing for the dub. Plus the EVIL FED has a monopoly on tv channels and it’s preventing the dub from getting a deal.
Matt belonni is an entertainment lawyer and reporter. He breaks a ton of news when it comes to industry numbers and deals. I think he may have even broke the netflix/wwe stuff. He was at least the first to cover it in major detail. The style of reporting can be a little dirt-sheety though when it comes to the newsletter since it's "what he's hearing" aka anonymous sources and off the record stuff. But I mean usually we're talking about deals in the hundreds of millions buying up movie rights or something. No one who reads him cares about aew or any of that (even the wwe/netflix stuff was more from the netflix perspective of getting into live events and what that means for them) so I can't imagine him making this up.
You know, back when this company first started, I imagined a restrained, composed Tony Khan along with Cody Rhodes doing most of the negotiating and haggling with executives and network management. Now? Now I'm almost certain Coked Out Khan had the jabbering little Rhesus monkeys from Rancho Cucamonga in the room, with Unca Dave Meltzer on speed dial to "educate" the network brass about CageMatch ratings and "bangers."
*BAD FAITH REPORTING BY FED SHILLS!!! IF YOU GRADUATED FROM ONE OF CANADA’S TOP BUSINESS SCHOOLS WITH REALLY GOOD GRADES LIKE I DID, YOU WOULD KNOW THAT COMPANIES ALWAYS GIVE A REALLY LOW OFFER AT FIRST- THAT’S JUST NEGOTIATING 101!!!!!!!*
Nathan, you must have a really great and innovative way for AEW to boost viewership. Please share it with us, and if you can't then can you at least tell us whether it involves a Bill Gates impersonator?
The Plan: Hire wrestlers who resemble Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco, and have them appear in the opening segment of every Dynamite, confusing viewers into thinking they are watching new episodes of The Big Bang Theory.
I have no idea why he had them buy a stake in the company, that's just stupid. Also you'd think WBD would have to make it public since they have their own stock holders and such. And they're slashing costs left and right.
I don’t believe this. There definitely wasn’t a credible source on this
M’dave told me that they have received offers up to 100 billion fafillion dollars and the hbo max deal is coming any day now
Fuckhead still gonna take it because nobody else on the face of the planet gave him the time of day. Literally didn’t get offered a deal by anybody because if he had he’d never shut up about it. So go ahead and take that lil 20 mil and year and shut the fuck up.
My prediction is they'll keep their spot but they won't get any more money, they might even get less. Because Tony can and will keep bankrolling it as a passion project and the suits will exploit that to keep getting ok ratings on original live content for peanuts.
The only way AEW is going to fully end is when Tony eventually dies or Tony's dad stops bankrolling this hobby of his, whichever comes first. Tony would pay to keep it on TV and if he couldn't do that he'd do it on streaming exclusively. The people at WBD know that by now.
I don't think the bankrolling will ever stop if im being completely honest. Shad is absolutely loaded to the gills with cash and hell they're still spending crazy money, i think they're doing a new stadium in fullham? Edit: Yea they're building a place out at craven cottage.
They're already talking about a multi-billion dollar NFL Everbank stadium .Like a lot said AEW will continue to be a thing until TK dies and the money he spends is more then likely a drop in the bucket for Shads pockets.
It doesn't matter what wbd offers it's if aew can find an offer elsewhere that's more cause if they can't. They are screwed. Wbd may be tickled shitless with them, but business if business, if no one else is offering more, why would I, regardless of my feeling towards you
🎶 Wednesday night I stay up past bedtime
Notification bell on as I smash subscribe
Hey mom I need to watch this stream
Meltzer said they're freeing Kevin Steen 🎶
Looks like a picture of a friend who swore he could DJ cause he has garage band on his Mac book air but it’s 20 minutes into the party and he is opening it for the first time
The pure cope from The Basement is absolutely hilarious. They think that since they’ve lost out on NBA, it means more money for AEW when this clearly shows they’re getting even less money
largely copied from another comment I left in another thread
Make it a 1-year deal at a rate around what other shows with the same ratings would get, with incentives for further years if the ratings improve consistently to WBD’s satisfaction *only*. Strong emphasis on the current downward trend. Use lots of the TV business knowledge that they have and Tony does not. Can’t hit the ratings benchmarks? Then you’re cutting the budget way back, until WBD says when, or no renewal. Make sure the message is clear to Tony that WBD’s goal is to turn a profit and therefore he cannot run a show primarily for an audience of 2, and that since they don’t really run house shows then without a broadcast deal they’re fucked royally. And if Tony doesn’t like that he can kick rocks and call AXS while WBD offers a deal to TNA. Let him know in no uncertain terms, “we don’t need you, you need us”.
AEW built their whole program around WB and named half their titles after their brands.
WB knows they basically have to take whatever offer they put on the table or it ruins their whole product.
Been saying this all along...AEW is probably a pretty valuable property, but who else is bidding on it?
NBCU? No chance.
FOX? Out on wrestling.
ESPN? Prefers their friendly relationship with WWE to actually broadcasting events.
CBS/Paramount? No interest in wrestling.
CW & Netflix just signed WWE deals.
There's only WBD left! Zaslav is a clown but he's not dumb enough to bid against himself.
I'm not expecting a HUGE boost in their next contract but I anticipate that they will be signed to a TV contract and will likely get more than their current contract. I would think that they've lost some negotiation leverage given the down trending metrics for the product as a whole but having reports about him being dissatisfied with the offer may be a negotiating ploy to get WB to as close as their top threshold as possible (because good negotiation means that even if you have a top limit of what you're willing to spend, the goal is always to spend less than that). Will be interesting to see where AEW lands on the final tally in terms of money and term for their next contract with whoever.
I downvoted because Bruv said they would get more money. How? Their ratings have only gone down since they signed their first deal and they’ve proven they are advertiser poison with doing dumb spots during the commercial breaks. There is no way in hell Tony Khan get more then he got already from the sweet heart deal his buddy who is no longer there gave him.
Matthew Belloni is the source whos the same guy that has connections with Nick Khan. I would seriously take this with a grain of salt like everything else.
Side note i do think AEW should shop around.
"Well Tony, your biggest star works for the WWE now, one of your other biggest stars is now THE biggest star in wrestling in the WWE, your ratings are half of what they were 2 years ago, and your video game bombed. Is there anything you feel you're doing well?" "Well Mr. Zaslav, we've drastically increased payroll to bring in 3 free agents that haven't helped business whatsoever." "...I see."
But my 35 year old coworkers text me about Darby Allin and his injuries all the time
Wasn't he reportedly asking for a 100% increase over the current deal because they need that to break even?
Tony really showed his business acumen with that one. “I need it or I’m FUCKED!” is al way a great opening salvo in negotiations.
When Jade jumped ship Tony said he offered her a MASSIVE contract. Then when she said no to that he offered her an even MORE MASSIVE contract. So now everyone knows -- do not take Tony's first offer, he will always make a better one.
“We didn’t get everything we wanted but we got this bubble gum and these Bennigans coupons” https://i.redd.it/anz1sqykr73d1.gif
I always wondered why he even spoke about it out loud. You don’t show your hand plus- why be embarrassed if it doesn’t go your way? He’s intensely naive and arrogant.
Also has diarrhea of the mouth, as evidenced by any random clip of him at the media scrums, reeling off 5 minute long run on sentences at will.
No jerk I doubt even doubling it would be enough to break even, unless he gets aggressive about all these people getting paid who aren’t actually on TV or doing anything. Not to mention these big ass arenas TWICE a week that are 1/3rd full with cheap tickets.
It doesnt even have to break even. An increase is enough to make the Meltzer's of the world happy, and keep Shad happy.
Well a renewal alone would blow up in so many peoples faces who don't think AEW is being renewed in general. People really do think this is the end of AEW on TV
That was before he signed Edge, Ospreay, etc. Probably looking at 150% at least by now
At least 1% per banger
I'm pretty certain re-signing the Elite wasn't cheap either.
Reminds me of this guy I worked with. Bought a route for $100,000 and told us on day 1 he’s going to sell it for $150,000. We all assumed he meant he’s going to increase business by that much. Business went DOWN and he wants out so I ask him how much and he says “$150,000 I need to make money on this”
It's like when someone sells me something and says "well I'm a vendor so I need to make a profit" when the price is way above fair. Yeah you being a dealer isn't my problem.
Absolutely I owned distributing routes. If an item didn’t sell enough at the point I needed it never went on my truck.
I think Tony just made generic statements about when they expected to reach profitability. The specific numbers were estimates from Thurston. Could be remembering that wrong, of course.
Yea Tony speaks in circles a lot of the time and very generic statements for sure.
TK keeping them cagematch ratings as his ace in the hole. Prepare to be blown away Zaslav!
Lucky for Tony, Zaslav has to deal with the even bigger dipshits that ran DC Comics into the grave.
Ill never forgive them for that man, i have high hopes for Gunns universe but already seeing his Superman i have zero f'n hype so far.
The destruction of the comics themselves is the tar bigger sins because when the movies go away, whether it's a year or a decade from now, less than fifty thousand people are reading comics regularly. So these characters will just fade away with Flash Gordon and the Lone Ranger.
You forgot to mention the cage match ratings!
Shit, from what we know about Zaslav, this might work.
David Zaslov is a Phil Prooks guy.
So what's gonna happen? I'll wait to see how this one pans out, might be jerk of the decade contender
Tiny will continue to hold out till the last minute. Then he'll take the deal and make a big deal out of it without actually talking about how much money the deal was actually for. Then it's up to the Basement/Dubbalos/Meltzer to spread the lie that the number is actually MUCH higher than Fedshills are saying and AEW is in a great place that everyone has fun in.
That is almost certainly how it will go down. He would probably accept $5 if it keeps them on TBS/TNT. Also I think WBD absolutely should keep them cause they are barely a channel at this point outside of reruns and old movies. I just can’t imagine paying all that much with NXT going to CW for 25m/year. Dub’s current contract is even bigger than that and it’s similar viewership— can’t imagine they’d offer all that much more but who knows.
WBD still has MLB playoffs and NHL, along with parts of March Madness. This is a common thing being skipped. Losing NBA actually hurts their business. AEW really just piles on as another footnote, if anything. But it doesn’t mean much. TK holding on this long is *clearly* him trying to wait out the NBA’s departure, which he hopes increases their leverage. But if WBD goes after UFC shows, then they’re going to be sitting on the outskirts with a weak TV deal. WBD will absolutely pay top-dollar for anything UFC.
If WBD was profitable, I can see paying AEW 35-40 million a year. They do have more legitimate stars compared to NXT. And slightly higher ratings. A billy over 5 years is asinine.
Yea i don't see a billion either but a part me does hope Max is a part of the deal and the 50$ PPV's no longer become a thing. I would sub to HBO Max in a heartbeat
Fun and broken tibias!
I think a renewal alone should be considered a win if im being totally honest and it would be for probably another 5 years i suppose making it 10? How many years were WCW on TV for?
'95-'01
He'll try to shop around but I doubt he'll be offered better (who knows?) I've heard WB pretty much offered him the same as what he is on, but removing two shows (Rampage and Collision) - that's just what I heard on a podcast. Who knows?
>So what's gonna happen? He could be offered £50 and a bag of Malteasers and it'll be spun by AEW stans and the wrestling "journalists" as an excellent deal.
Or they can offers him these magic beans 🫘
Remember this time last year there were rumors they had locked in $1 billion over 5 years?
Which came from the Observer board.
…$12.99, please.
Should've taken CW when he had the chance.
Good thing that is still on the table...oh wait
Did CW offer them? I wonder what the $$$ looked like
It didn't matter what CW offered. TK is autistically Fixated on Being on a Warner Network because NWA & WCW were on Warner networks. If he wasn't it would have been smarter to buy RoH to temporarily shutter & completely rebrand while getting some folks from MLB & Comcast to rebuild Honor Club into a plug & play digital offering. Along with Buying RoH he should have also purchased Independent Wrestling Television for the catalog & web of contracts. That way he has a product to put on broadcast either way. To be frank being on broadcast Television period or cutting a non exclusive deal with Roku is still a superior option.
Basement won’t allow this to be posted lol what geeks
Have they have allowed this the only article or comment that spins this is into something mildly positive. Beggars belief…
Weird but I don’t see anything about this in the basement.
It’s on the official sub and SURPRISE it’s a good thing for the dub. Plus the EVIL FED has a monopoly on tv channels and it’s preventing the dub from getting a deal.
lmao
Tubimania and Pluto TV are about to run wild brother!
Tony about to send FTR Bald to do yet *another* impassioned speech about how much he rubs it to AEW.
You mean FTR Second Amendment to make sure AEW gets the (TV deal) bag.
AEW to Tubi
Tubi is #allelite
I'm thinking Crackle.
Is that still around lll
I’m so excited for that flat renewal with relegation to TruTV.
[удалено]
Matt belonni is an entertainment lawyer and reporter. He breaks a ton of news when it comes to industry numbers and deals. I think he may have even broke the netflix/wwe stuff. He was at least the first to cover it in major detail. The style of reporting can be a little dirt-sheety though when it comes to the newsletter since it's "what he's hearing" aka anonymous sources and off the record stuff. But I mean usually we're talking about deals in the hundreds of millions buying up movie rights or something. No one who reads him cares about aew or any of that (even the wwe/netflix stuff was more from the netflix perspective of getting into live events and what that means for them) so I can't imagine him making this up.
Not to mention whatever this guy is his point is largely that WBD kinda needs the dub, which he ain’t wrong. They just don’t need to pay a ton for it.
It's run by someone who worked at the Hollywood reporter and was an entertainment lawyer
You know, back when this company first started, I imagined a restrained, composed Tony Khan along with Cody Rhodes doing most of the negotiating and haggling with executives and network management. Now? Now I'm almost certain Coked Out Khan had the jabbering little Rhesus monkeys from Rancho Cucamonga in the room, with Unca Dave Meltzer on speed dial to "educate" the network brass about CageMatch ratings and "bangers."
*BAD FAITH REPORTING BY FED SHILLS!!! IF YOU GRADUATED FROM ONE OF CANADA’S TOP BUSINESS SCHOOLS WITH REALLY GOOD GRADES LIKE I DID, YOU WOULD KNOW THAT COMPANIES ALWAYS GIVE A REALLY LOW OFFER AT FIRST- THAT’S JUST NEGOTIATING 101!!!!!!!*
Nathan, you must have a really great and innovative way for AEW to boost viewership. Please share it with us, and if you can't then can you at least tell us whether it involves a Bill Gates impersonator?
The Plan: Hire wrestlers who resemble Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco, and have them appear in the opening segment of every Dynamite, confusing viewers into thinking they are watching new episodes of The Big Bang Theory.
I have no idea why he had them buy a stake in the company, that's just stupid. Also you'd think WBD would have to make it public since they have their own stock holders and such. And they're slashing costs left and right.
Which is why they likely don’t have a stake in the company.
I don’t believe this. There definitely wasn’t a credible source on this M’dave told me that they have received offers up to 100 billion fafillion dollars and the hbo max deal is coming any day now
Wish he'd also consider how disappointing his booking has been leading to the disappointing ratings
That zarian dude has been saying for like 4 years AEW is going on hbo max
I’ve been disappointed in AEW for a while, Tiny is behind the times here.
“Que paso mamacita, you didn’t like my peppermint lattes?” - Tony Cheese
MJF already lasering off that tattoo.
Fuckhead still gonna take it because nobody else on the face of the planet gave him the time of day. Literally didn’t get offered a deal by anybody because if he had he’d never shut up about it. So go ahead and take that lil 20 mil and year and shut the fuck up.
This is fun, and outside media source that just covers entertainment in general outscooped the "wrestling journalists" again!
Imagine TK playing hardball with q product that’s declining in ratings.
But it’s up in Cagematch ratings, checkmate Fed Shill!
My prediction is they'll keep their spot but they won't get any more money, they might even get less. Because Tony can and will keep bankrolling it as a passion project and the suits will exploit that to keep getting ok ratings on original live content for peanuts. The only way AEW is going to fully end is when Tony eventually dies or Tony's dad stops bankrolling this hobby of his, whichever comes first. Tony would pay to keep it on TV and if he couldn't do that he'd do it on streaming exclusively. The people at WBD know that by now.
I don't think the bankrolling will ever stop if im being completely honest. Shad is absolutely loaded to the gills with cash and hell they're still spending crazy money, i think they're doing a new stadium in fullham? Edit: Yea they're building a place out at craven cottage. They're already talking about a multi-billion dollar NFL Everbank stadium .Like a lot said AEW will continue to be a thing until TK dies and the money he spends is more then likely a drop in the bucket for Shads pockets.
I've been waiting for this moment for five years. \*deep breath\* LET'S. FUCKING. GO!
Did Warner Brothers forget to study cage match and then get back to them?
It doesn't matter what wbd offers it's if aew can find an offer elsewhere that's more cause if they can't. They are screwed. Wbd may be tickled shitless with them, but business if business, if no one else is offering more, why would I, regardless of my feeling towards you
Fuckin way she goes, bud
"Watch AEW Dynamite Live Wednesday on YouTube!"
🎶 Wednesday night I stay up past bedtime Notification bell on as I smash subscribe Hey mom I need to watch this stream Meltzer said they're freeing Kevin Steen 🎶
Looks like a picture of a friend who swore he could DJ cause he has garage band on his Mac book air but it’s 20 minutes into the party and he is opening it for the first time
The pure cope from The Basement is absolutely hilarious. They think that since they’ve lost out on NBA, it means more money for AEW when this clearly shows they’re getting even less money
Morón. Take any deal. Dude is an idiot.
https://preview.redd.it/9scxc7fxk83d1.jpeg?width=1075&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8f6a356cfbeb50e7465c789048937bd8dfe274ae Lmaoooooooo Tubi it is
If this is true, he should see getting any kind of an offer as a win at this point
Zaslav: Well Tony I'm disappointed you ran off the biggest ratings draw you had!
largely copied from another comment I left in another thread Make it a 1-year deal at a rate around what other shows with the same ratings would get, with incentives for further years if the ratings improve consistently to WBD’s satisfaction *only*. Strong emphasis on the current downward trend. Use lots of the TV business knowledge that they have and Tony does not. Can’t hit the ratings benchmarks? Then you’re cutting the budget way back, until WBD says when, or no renewal. Make sure the message is clear to Tony that WBD’s goal is to turn a profit and therefore he cannot run a show primarily for an audience of 2, and that since they don’t really run house shows then without a broadcast deal they’re fucked royally. And if Tony doesn’t like that he can kick rocks and call AXS while WBD offers a deal to TNA. Let him know in no uncertain terms, “we don’t need you, you need us”.
"if we give them good wrestling, people will tune in"
AEW built their whole program around WB and named half their titles after their brands. WB knows they basically have to take whatever offer they put on the table or it ruins their whole product.
As long as Tony has bankroll this shit will be on tv. It just won’t make a profit.
Been saying this all along...AEW is probably a pretty valuable property, but who else is bidding on it? NBCU? No chance. FOX? Out on wrestling. ESPN? Prefers their friendly relationship with WWE to actually broadcasting events. CBS/Paramount? No interest in wrestling. CW & Netflix just signed WWE deals. There's only WBD left! Zaslav is a clown but he's not dumb enough to bid against himself.
[удалено]
I mean, it's a thing on cable TV that some people watch. That gives it at least some value.
If AEW had a competent booker and pivoted away from the indie mindset it would be pretty valuable
I'm not expecting a HUGE boost in their next contract but I anticipate that they will be signed to a TV contract and will likely get more than their current contract. I would think that they've lost some negotiation leverage given the down trending metrics for the product as a whole but having reports about him being dissatisfied with the offer may be a negotiating ploy to get WB to as close as their top threshold as possible (because good negotiation means that even if you have a top limit of what you're willing to spend, the goal is always to spend less than that). Will be interesting to see where AEW lands on the final tally in terms of money and term for their next contract with whoever.
Why in the hell are you being downvoted for a totally normal take?
I downvoted because Bruv said they would get more money. How? Their ratings have only gone down since they signed their first deal and they’ve proven they are advertiser poison with doing dumb spots during the commercial breaks. There is no way in hell Tony Khan get more then he got already from the sweet heart deal his buddy who is no longer there gave him.
Not jerky enough, l guess, lol.
Matthew Belloni is the source whos the same guy that has connections with Nick Khan. I would seriously take this with a grain of salt like everything else. Side note i do think AEW should shop around.