DAZN Cancels AEW Content After Just One Year Due to Underperformance

Sports streaming service DAZN has ended its contract with AEW after just one year due to what they considered underperforming numbers. The decision to terminate the contract came as a surprise to some fans, given AEW’s growing popularity in the professional wrestling world.

AEW and DAZN’s partnership, originally envisioned as a multi-year deal to bring All Elite Wrestling to a wider audience in 42 markets across Europe and Asia, has come to an abrupt end just one year after it was announced. The original deal covered a significant amount of AEW content, including AEW Dynamite, Rampage, Dark, Dark: Elevation, Battle of the Belts events, and four annual pay-per-views.

Speculation about the deal’s future arose in early 2024 after fans noticed that AEW content had quietly disappeared from DAZN’s platform. The removal initially went unaddressed, with no public explanation provided. However, it was later confirmed that the contract had been terminated on December 31, 2023, due to broadcasts falling short of DAZN’s expectations. Only a few events, such as All In 2023, the early phase of AEW Collision, and certain select episodes, met or exceeded the desired numbers.

Steven Muelhausen, who managed the wrestling social media content for DAZN, revealed on Twitter that despite AEW’s efforts to collaborate by providing talent for interviews and meeting other requests, DAZN didn’t invest much in promoting AEW on their platform.

”SCOOP: DAZN and AEW had a three-year deal with DAZN having the right to drop them after the first year. DAZN exercised the option that ended the deal on New Year’s Eve. The reason DAZN dropped AEW was because except for All In, the PPV numbers were below expectations and not enough people were watching (except for select episodes and the first month of Collision) where AEW was available internationally so DAZN ended the deal early.”

Muelhausen highlighted that DAZN allocated less than 5% of its budget for boxing and MMA to promote AEW, which limited the exposure and growth potential of the wrestling content. Muelhausen described the situation as a missed opportunity, stating that wrestling “had a real shot” at DAZN but ultimately “never got the opportunity it deserved.”

”Want to make PERFECTLY CLEAR, to me it wasn’t AEW fault the deal wasn’t renewed.

I ran the wrestling social side for DAZN. AEW bent over backwards when I asked for interviews and liners from talent to promote their major TV shows and PPVs.

”DAZN NEVER gave wrestling even 5 percent of the budget given to boxing and MMA which to me was a shame as wrestling had a real shot at DAZN but besides me and the news team, it never got the opportunity it deserved.”

AEW was also dropped from Latin American platform recently. Nonetheless, the end of this partnership poses challenges for AEW’s distribution in Europe and Asia, but the company has other platforms to maintain its reach. The fallout with DAZN might push AEW to explore new partnerships and strategies to ensure its content continues to grow and reach a global audience.

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