All Elite Wrestling
All Elite Wrestling, LLC is an American professional wrestling promotion founded in 2019. Its inception was announced by entrepreneurs Shahid Khan and his son Tony, with the former acting as the promotion's lead investor, and the latter being the founder, president and CEO of the company. Professional wrestlers Cody Rhodes as well as Matt and Nick Jackson, collectively known as The Elite, are the promotion's inaugural contracted talents. The three are serving as both in-ring performers and executive vice presidents alongside Kenny Omega, fellow professional wrestler and co-founder of The Elite.
Since October 2, 2019, AEW has produced a two-hour weekly TV show, AEW Dynamite, airing live on TNT in the United States. CBS Sports described AEW as "the first company with major financial backing to take a swing at beginning to compete with WWE on a major level in nearly two decades".
History
Background
In May 2017, professional wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer made a comment that the American professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor could not sell 10,000 tickets for a wrestling event. The comment was responded to by professional wrestlers Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks, who were then top stars signed to ROH and good friends both inside and outside of professional wrestling as part of the group Bullet Club. They promoted and held an independent professional wrestling event called All In in September 2018, featuring wrestlers from ROH as well as other promotions. The event sold out in 30 minutes and had the largest audience in attendance for a professional wrestling show in America held and organized by promoters not affiliated with WWE or World Championship Wrestling since 1993. The event was attended by 11,263 people. The event was acclaimed, and it led to much online speculation that Cody and The Young Bucks would expand their ambitions and create their own professional wrestling promotion or do a second All In event. People in the television industry were also very impressed with the show.Formation
On November 5, 2018, several trademarks were filed in Jacksonville, Florida, that indicated the launch of All Elite Wrestling. Names filed for trademark included: All Elite Wrestling, AEW All Out, All Out, AEW, Double or Nothing, Tuesday Night Dynamite, AEW Double or Nothing, and several logos. In December 2018, Cody, The Young Bucks, and several other wrestlers left ROH. The official announcement of AEW's creation came at midnight Pacific Time on January 1, 2019 in an episode of Being the Elite, a YouTube web series created by and featuring The Elite. Also announced in the episode was Double or Nothing, AEW's inaugural event and sequel to All In. On January 2, 2019, Cody and The Young Bucks officially signed with the promotion as competitors as well as serving as AEW's co-Executive Vice Presidents, while entrepreneur, football executive, and longtime wrestling fan Tony Khan was announced as the president of the company. Tony and his father, Shahid, were reportedly backing the promotion as lead investors. The Khans are billionaires and part of the ownership group of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham F.C.Cody's wife, Brandi Rhodes, was announced as the company's Chief brand officer on January 3, 2019. On January 8, 2019, the company held its inaugural press conference on the forecourt of the TIAA Bank Field, where they announced talents that were going to perform as part of the promotion, including former ROH wrestlers the team of SoCal Uncensored, "Hangman" Adam Page; independent wrestlers Dr. Britt Baker, Joey Janela, and former WWE wrestlers Pac, and Chris Jericho. They also announced a working relationship with Chinese professional wrestling promotion Oriental Wrestling Entertainment. On February 7, 2019, the group held a press conference where tickets were released for Double or Nothing. Other big announcements included Kenny Omega joining as a competitor and the company's fourth co-Executive Vice President, as well as the signings of Lucha Brothers, Best Friends, and a partnership with Mexican promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
As other sports cancellations and postponements were being announced in March 2020, AEW began to be impacted by the American onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Following the Suspension of the 2019-20 NBA season after two players tested positive from the virus, the March 18 episode of Dynamite was held without spectators from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida. Double or Nothing was supposed to take place on May 30, but on April 8, the MGM Grand Garden Arena announced that they had canceled all events up through May 31 due to the virus. Nevada has been in a state of emergency since March 12, banning all public gatherings indefinitely. In response, AEW announced that Double or Nothing would still proceed as planned but from Daily's Place, as well as TIAA Bank Field stadium for the main event match. The announcement also confirmed that a third Double or Nothing event would emanate from the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 29, 2021.On April 13, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had deemed AEW, like WWE, an essential business critical to the state's economy, and had added an exception under the state's stay-at-home order for employees of a "professional sports and media production" that is closed to the public and has a national audience. In a interview on the AEW Unrestricted podcast, Tony Khan stated the pandemic has deprived AEW millions of dollars in revenue from live events.
Programming
On May 8, 2019, AEW reached a new media rights deal with British media company ITV plc to broadcast AEW shows on ITV4 with pay-per-views being broadcast on ITV Box Office starting with Double or Nothing on May 25, 2019. On May 15, 2019, AEW and WarnerMedia announced a deal for a weekly prime-time show airing live on TNT beginning on October 2, 2019—the network that formerly had broadcast WCW's Monday Nitro during the Monday Night Wars. CBS Sports describes AEW as "the first company with major financial backing to take a swing at beginning to compete with WWE on a major level in nearly two decades".On May 25, 2019, AEW produced their first ever pay-per-view, Double or Nothing. It took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and saw the debut of Jon Moxley. The event earned positive reviews from critics including Canadian Online Explorer, CBS Sports, ESPN, Pro Wrestling Torch, Pro Wrestling Dot Net and WrestleView, with the last three matches earning the most praise. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter wrote that "after just one show", AEW is already "the hottest non-WWE force in the U.S. pro wrestling business in more than 20 years". On September 19, 2019, TNT's website listed AEW show's as AEW Dynamite, a one-hour preview show was also scheduled for October 1 at 8 PM.
AEW releases a "Road to..." and "Countdown to..." series of videos on its official YouTube channel prior to Dynamite and pay-per-view events. The videos consist of interviews, video packages, and backstage segments. The series is used to hype pre-existing matches, as well as create new rivalries.
In November 2019, AEW announced Bash at the Beach, a nine-day series of events, featuring two episodes of Dynamite, including one aboard Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea.
On January 15, 2020, WarnerMedia and AEW announced a contract extension for Dynamite on TNT through 2023 and that AEW would be launching an upcoming second weekly show.
| Program | Original release | Original network | Notes |
| AEW Dynamite | October 2, 2019–present | TNT | AEW's flagship program. |
| AEW Dark | October 8, 2019–present | YouTube | Features untelevised matches held during Dynamite tapings on AEW's YouTube channel. |
Events
AEW pay-per-view events are available via B/R Live in the United States and Canada, and via FITE TV internationally. Additionally, AEW PPVs are also available via traditional PPV outlets in the United States and Canada and are carried by all major satellite providers.On February 19, 2020, AEW reached a new media rights deal with German media company Sky Deutschland to broadcast AEW pay-per-views on Sky Select Event.