AEW president Tony Khan sees nothing but positives regarding Paramount’s pending merger with WBD, citing the promotion’s recent track record on pay-per-view.
Khan spoke on Yahoo Finance’s Power Players about AEW’s pay-per-view growth since it added HBO Max as a distributor last September, beginning with the All Out event. Khan noted that this past May’s Double or Nothing, featuring MJF vs. Darby Allin, was the company’s highest since joining HBO Max.
We’re at an all-time high on our pay-per-views, and our HBO Max pay-per-view business continues to grow. Our Double or Nothing event that we had in May was a massive success. At the Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York, we sold every ticket. It was the biggest gate we’ve ever had for Double or Nothing, and as a pay-per-view, it’s the biggest one we’ve ever done yet on HBO Max, and we’ve seen continued growth.
Khan was glowing with his endorsement of Paramount Skydance leader David Ellison and the pending merger, which has faced resistance.
Paramount has come in to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery, and I think that’s fantastic. I’m so excited about it and you asked me about the opportunities for AEW and I think that’s a huge opportunity for AEW because we’ve premiered our pay-per-views on HBO Max and we have a great audience and now with Paramount making a deal to acquire HBO Max, for me, as a showrunner that’s worked at Warner Bros. for over seven years now, I have to say I’m very excited about it and really welcoming the ownership from Paramount.
AEW’s existing agreement with WBD runs until the end of 2027 with a one-year option held by the media entity.
Khan sees a stronger competitive balance in the streaming space if Paramount and HBO Max join forces to present a united front against Netflix. From his vantage point, he is confident in Ellison’s leadership and cites him as a wrestling fan.
I think HBO Max and Paramount are going to be much stronger and far more competitive together in the streaming space than they are separately, and they both have a great base, but in the world of streaming, together I think it’s a much more competitive company. It’s not going to be anything resembling a monopoly in streaming because it’s a hard fight out there, but together, I think we’ll have more viewers with Paramount, and we’ll be able to sell pay-per-views in more homes, stream the show into more homes, and we’ll have a bigger future. First of all, the leadership of David Ellison, I think is going to be huge for the companies to have the “supreme commander” coming in who is the same age as you and me, somebody who is a wrestling fan, somebody who has a vision for it and he’s already promoting sports and is growing other sports businesses and I think doing a fantastic job with Paramount now coming into WBD and it’s perfect timing for us.
On Monday, a California judge issued a two-week temporary restraining order regarding the Paramount – WBD merger following a motion presented by twelve states seeking to block the merger and led by Attorney General Rob Bonta of California. A hearing is scheduled for August 3 to determine if the TRO will be extended. Paramount is facing a ticking fee if the transaction isn’t completed by September 30, 2026.
