AEW To Air On FOX Following WWE SmackDown Departure?

WWE/AEW

AEW content could be set to air on the FOX network following WWE SmackDown’s departure and return to the USA Network.

WWE SmackDown has now officially departed FOX this past week, with last week’s episode of the show the final episode ahead of the show’s move back to the USA Network for this week’s show.

While WWE’s media rights deals are all wrapped up, AEW’s currently are not, with the company expected to react a deal to remain on TNA and TBS for the foreseeable future, though there may be a slight change to it’s distribution.

In an update from Fightful Select (subscription required), speculation mounted over the weekend that AEW content may also be set to appear on another network alongside WBD properties, with the deal between AEW and WBD believed to be ‘very close’ to being done, but not quite yet.

FOX had long been looking at bringing additional pro wrestling content to their properties, with the company nearly landing a deal with MLW for Tubi several years ago.

In recent months, Fightful had noted that FOX had been interested in a seasonal wrestling program for Tubi, with there being discussion backstage in and within the TV world that select AEW content could be headed there.

After the recent AEW Shockwave trademark was filed, there has been internal speculation in both worlds that a new program could be headed to the FOX family, whether it be FOX, Tubi, FS1 or anywhere else.

A source close to FOX had indicated to Fightful and Andrew Zarian that there were no troubles in moving ads for wrestling, but the cost of SmackDown cut into it quite a bit, and FOX would be interested in keeping wrestling as a part of their programming with the right deal.

The addition of programming on a FOX property would be a major change to AEW’s rights deal, as their current deal with WBD has exclusivity worked in as of the launch of Collision, which is why AEW’s YouTube shows were cancelled.

Fightful notes that, regardless of what deal is reached, the exclusivity clause runs through the end of the year, but was a part of the WBD discussions that could see a return of non-exclusive programming.

At least one source near the FOX side claimed that the two sides had contact, but neither FOX themselves or AEW have confirmed the talks.

To make sure you stay up to date with all the biggest wrestling and WrestleTalk news, join our exclusive WhatsApp channel by clicking this link!

• fox
• Smackdown
• AEW
• wwe

Share this article with friends