The WWE Network was a game changer for wrestling, and AEW may not be too far behind with a network of it’s own. An AEW Streaming Service would be a welcome addition for many wrestling fans, with AEW putting on some of the most incredible wrestling events of all time, since their launch in 2019.
With their current being events, like All Out, Double or Nothing and Forbidden Door, all only being made available via pay per view, the market is there for a dedicated All Elite Wrestling streaming service like Netflix, to catalogue the AEW shows over the past four years. An AEW Network could be the answer to fans pleas across the world for easier access the companies biggest shows and best matches
Fite TV currently holds the rights to stream AEW shows worldwide. However, this requires a monthly cost and does not include pay per view events in this deal, only the Dynamite and Rampage shows. Navigating between shows is not ideal and the service is not set up to re-watch 100s of episodes of television in a row, only one off events.
With Tony Khan’s acquisition of Ring of Honor earlier this year, this streaming app would also include the past 20 years of content from the independent brand. Featuring matches from big stars like CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn (and many many more), it would be a huge thing for fans to watch their early careers and could be a big selling point for WWE fans interested in the AEW version of the WWE network.
Luckily, Tony Khan has been speaking about an AEW streaming service and the deal could be sooner than we think.
AEW Streaming Service
Speaking to ComicBook.Com, Tony Khan revealed that now would be ” a great time” for the AEW streaming service to launch and that they are in continued discussion with Warner Brothers over the companies future in the world of online streaming.
“As we’ve developed more content, growing the library, I think, and the demand has grown for a variety of reasons. I think all the stars are aligning, AEW as a streaming service has more potential value in the future.”
“And then the purchase of Ring of Honor, now to have access to one of the best wrestling libraries in North America with some of today’s top stars and some of the top stars in the past few decades, and those thousands of hours of Ring of Honor footage in conjunction with the hundreds of hours of AEW footage we’ve assembled and continued to assemble on a weekly basis, week in, week out, and the growing demand from our fans.”
“I think all these factors contribute to why this would be a great time for AEW to launch a streaming service. And it’s a conversation that I’ve had and continue to actively have with Warner Brothers Discovery, who are one of the worldwide leaders in streaming and sports content.”
There has been speculation that HBO Max (which Warner Brothers Discovery owns) would be the home of AEW streaming content, but that has not been confirmed. Other option considered would be turning Honor Club (the Ring of Honor streaming site) into an AEW streaming app, with a renaming and rebranding effort required to make it work, as well as work behind the scenes to make it work for a growing audience.
With the potential inclusion of AEW Dynamite, AEW Rampage, pay per views and Ring of Honor content from the past two decades, the AEW streaming app could be the one to challenge the WWE Network as the “Nettlix of Pro-Wrestling”. Time will tell whether or not this will take off or TV deals with prevent AEW from reaching it’s true potential in the world of streaming.
