AEW President Tony Khan has confirmed that AEW Rampage will be discontinued for the foreseeable future following the company’s new media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Speaking during the AEW Worlds End media call, Khan emphasized that the agreement, which significantly increases AEW’s financial resources, will allow the company to focus on its flagship shows, Dynamite and Collision.
The new deal includes simulcasting on the streaming service Max, alongside Dynamite on TBS and Collision on TNT, representing a major shift in AEW’s programming strategy. Khan highlighted that the enhanced rights fees, which are several times greater than in AEW’s first 5 years, set the company on a clear path to profitability and solidify its future.
Khan described the decision to prioritize Dynamite and Collision as a way to allocate more resources effectively and grow AEW’s audience.
While Rampage played a vital role in AEW’s early years, the new strategy focuses on maximizing the impact of AEW’s core programming on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Here’s what Khan says:
“I think it’s a great situation for AEW. We’re getting a new media rights agreement that is huge for us for many reasons. It is a massive opportunity for AEW to be able to simulcast our shows and reach new viewers through the streaming service, Max.
By streaming on Max simulcast, along with every Wednesday on TBS and every Saturday on TNT, to complement that with also simulcasting, it’s a huge opportunity for us.
The deal was very favorable for AEW. We were able to get rights fees that are many times larger than what we had in our first 5 years. It completely changes the financial picture of AEW, and it is a big target that we have aspired to for many years. Part of the agreement is that we would focus on these four hours and really, it’s so important to us that we launched AEW Collision last year.
This opportunity, this deal, is why I felt like it was very important for us to launch AEW Collision, to have a two-hour primetime home on TNT. We’re coming off one of the best results in the history of AEW Collision and our biggest viewership in a year and a half. We’re really, really proud of that result.
I think it’s gonna be important for us to focus on Dynamite and Collision, and it will be a huge development for AEW. It is, in many ways, a reimagination of the calendar. But it’s also going to be great for the company. It’s a huge opportunity, and it allows us to really focus on Dynamite and Collision and put more resources into those shows and grow the company.
Rampage has been a great, great show for us, and for the foreseeable future, we’re gonna focus our resources on Dynamite and Collision because Dynamite and Collision, the rights fees around those shows have skyrocketed.
That is the way we built it up, and that was why this deal made so much sense for us and why it’s such a great opportunity to focus on Wednesdays and Saturdays.”
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