Tony Khan Details How AEW On TNT First Came To Be

2024 marks five years since AEW first began and it all started with discussions between Tony Khan and the former TNT & TBS Presidient.

AEW President Khan was on Locked On The NFL to talk about his Jacksonville Jaguars but of course a little AEW discussion was conjured up. When asked as to how the promotion first fired off Khan talked about approaching then-Turner President Kevin Reilly, who he considered a friend. The two happened to be at a party together in Beverly Hills.

"I said, 'Kevin, are you looking at bidding on wrestling TV rights?' He was, and he was looking to bid on SmackDown. He told me what he was willing to pay, he said, $150 to $175 million a year. I follow the industry closely, so I knew that it was going to go over $200 million, and it did. I pointed out, 'I don't know if that's going to get it done. For a lot less than that, we could launch a new wrestling league on TNT and eventually TBS, too.' That's what happened."

WWE notoriously went to Fox and AEW sure enough found a home on TNT. Now being a decade down the road, the television landscape is very different. SmackDown will be heading to USA Network in 2025, Raw will be moving to Netflix and the status of AEW is currently unknown. An initial report said that Tony Khan was disappointed with the first offer made by WBD, but Dave Meltzer refuted that report.