Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery are one step closer to a merger as Paramount has reached a settlement with the states that sued them because they believe the deal will violate anti-trust laws. It is unclear how the merger would affect AEW, whose programming airs on TNT, TBS, and HBO Max.
While Paramount doesn’t have any wrestling programming, it does have UFC. According to Dave Meltzer, Paramount’s deal with UFC caused a wrestling promotion to lose a deal on Paramount+. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer said Ari Emmanuel is a wildcard. He recounted a story that he was told about a wrestling promotion that lost a deal.
“There was a wrestling company that was negotiating with Paramount+. It would’ve been a little over a year ago and they did not have a written deal. They were confident in a deal. They were negotiating with people at Paramount – top people, one of whom ended up losing his position in the Skydance merger. The company was confident they were going to get on Paramount+ because at the time there was no wrestling on Paramount+.”
As it was coming down to the wire, the UFC deal came in. “Everything suddenly got cold with them (Paramount+) completely. They don’t know, but their thought was Ari Emmanuel,” Meltzer said. This story has made some people think that AEW could be in trouble, but Meltzer believes that AEW “will probably get something somewhere because the reality is their television stuff is strong enough.”
Meltzer pointed out that Khan and Ellison have a relationship because of the NFL and confirmed that they have talked. In the past, Tony Khan has been eager to work with David Ellison.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Wrestling Observer Radio and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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