AEW May Face New Challenges as Warner Bros. Discovery Synergy Comes to an End

With Warner Bros. Discovery officially planning to split into two separate companies by mid-2026, questions are swirling around what this move means for AEW—and now Dave Meltzer has weighed in.

Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio with Garrett Gonzales, Meltzer didn’t hold back about the magnitude of the news, especially with AEW’s deal with WBD stretching through 2027.

“It’s a huge, huge story. It’s just that when it comes to the ramifications, you know, we’re not going to know for a while. It’s like a story that’s going to go into effect next summer. And for wrestling, I don’t think anything’s going to change next summer. But, you know, when it comes to the negotiation of the new deal, it’s—everything’s different. Whether that’s good or bad, it’s different. And, you know, I think it being good or bad depends on the state of AEW in late 2026 and early 2027.”

One of the key issues? The synergy between streaming and TV is about to disappear.

“If they’re booming, then it’s great, because they’re going to be negotiating with certainly these two entities and probably others for the next contract. If they’re sinking, you know, it’s going to be hard… because part of where they got this deal was the synergy of television and streaming, you know, with the same company. And that synergy will be gone next summer.”

“They have to be doing well enough to carry their load on both streaming and television, or they will lose one. If they are doing really well on both and negotiating differently, they can probably get more from both… but it’s not going to be evident until late 2026 or early 2027.”

Meltzer also gave credit to the two men now running WBD’s soon-to-be-split businesses—David Zaslav and Gunnar Wiedenfels—as being instrumental in landing AEW its current deal.

“Zaslav has been a big backer of AEW. So he’s the one who negotiated this very good deal for them… has put them in these time slots that have been very, very beneficial.”

“Gunner is the person who actually was a dollars-and-cents guy… allowed them to do what was a pretty strong money deal. I mean, it was higher than I think everyone expected. I was certainly expecting 150 [million], and you know, 185 is a significant boost from that. They got a better deal than almost everyone expected—because of these two guys. And they’re both in charge of these two separate companies.”

AEW’s current home on TBS and TNT is safe for now, and their deal runs through 2027 with an option for 2028. But with the Max streaming plan possibly shifting under a separate banner next year, the long-term outlook isn’t as secure.

When billion-dollar executives start playing corporate chess, things can shift fast. AEW got a strong hand thanks to Zaslav and Gunnar—but now those cards are being reshuffled.

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