All Elite Wrestling

All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion founded in 2019. Its inception was announced by entrepreneurs Shahid Khan and his son Tony, with the former acting as the promotion's lead investor, while the latter serves as president and CEO of the company. Professional wrestlers Cody, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson), collectively known as The Elite, were the promotion's inaugural contracted talents, serving as both in-ring performers and executive vice presidents.
==Current champions==
Current Appearance	Championship 	Champion(s) 	Defeated 	Date Won 	Event 	Days Held
 	AEW World Championship 	Samoa Joe 	MJF 	December 30, 2023	Worlds End	
 	AEW Women's World Championship 	Toni Storm 	Hikaru Shida 	November 18, 2023	Full Gear 	
 	AEW World Tag Team Championship	Vacant 	 	 	 	
 	AEW TNT Championship 	Adam Copeland 	Christian Cage 	March 20, 2024 	Dynamite 	
 	AEW TBS Championship 	Julia Hart 	Three Way Match 	November 18, 2023	Full Gear 	
 	AEW International Championship 	Roderick Strong 	Orange Cassidy 	March 3, 2024 	Revolution	
 	AEW World Trios Championship 	Billy Gunn & The Acclaimed (Max Caster & Anthony Bowens)	House of Black (Brody King, Buddy Matthews & Malakai Black)	August 27, 2023 	All In 	
 	AEW Continental Championship 	Kazuchika Okada 	Eddie Kingston 	March 20, 2024 	Dynamite 	
== History ==
In May 2017, journalist Dave Meltzer made a comment that the American professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor (ROH) could not sell 10,000 tickets for a professional wrestling event. The comment was responded to by professional wrestlers Cody and The Young Bucks (the tag team of Matt and Nick Jackson), who were top stars signed to ROH and good friends both inside and outside of professional wrestling as part of the group Bullet Club (and, later, The Elite). They promoted and held an independent professional wrestling event called ALL IN in September 2018, featuring wrestlers from ROH as well as other promotions. The event sold out in 30 minutes and had the largest audience in attendance for a professional wrestling show in America held and organized by promoters not affiliated with WWE or World Championship Wrestling since 1993. It was also the largest crowd for a non-WWE wrestling event in America since World Championship Wrestling was acquired by WWE. The event was attended by 11,263 people. The event was acclaimed, and it led to much online speculation that Cody and The Young Bucks would expand their ambitions and create their own professional wrestling promotion or do a second All In event and even certain people in the television industry were very impressed with the show.
=== Formation ===
On November 5, 2018, several trademarks were filed in Jacksonville, Florida that indicated the launch of All Elite Wrestling. Names filed for trademark included: All Elite Wrestling, AEW All Out, All Out, AEW, Double or Nothing, Tuesday Night Dynamite, AEW Double or Nothing, and several logos. In December 2018, Cody, The Young Bucks, and several other wrestlers left ROH. The official announcement of AEW's creation came at midnight Pacific Time on January 1, 2019 in an episode of Being the Elite, a YouTube web series created by and featuring The Elite. Also announced in the episode was AEW's first event AEW Double or Nothing. On January 2, 2019, Cody and The Young Bucks officially signed with the promotion as competitors as well as serving as AEW's co-Executive Vice Presidents, while entrepreneur, football executive, and longtime wrestling fan Tony Khan was announced as the president of the company. Khan and his father, Shahid Khan, were reportedly backing the promotion. The Khans are billionaires and part of the ownership group of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham F.C.
Brandi Rhodes was announced as the company's chief brand officer on January 3, 2019. On January 8, 2019, the company held its inaugural press conference on the forecourt of the TIAA Bank Field, where they announced talents that were going to perform as part of the promotion, including SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Scorpio Sky, & Frankie Kazarian), Britt Baker, Joey Janela, "Hangman" Adam Page, Pac, and Chris Jericho. They also announced a working relationship with Chinese professional wrestling promotion Oriental Wrestling Entertainment (OWE) founded by the wrestler Cima. On February 7, 2019, the group held a press conference where tickets were released for Double or Nothing. Other big announcements included Kenny Omega joining as a competitor and the company's fourth co-Executive Vice President, as well as the signings of Penta El Zero M, Rey Fénix, Trent Baretta, and Chuck Taylor, and a partnership with Mexican promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA).
== Programming ==
On May 8, 2019, AEW reached a new media rights deal with British media company ITV plc to broadcast AEW shows on ITV4 with pay-per-views being broadcast on ITV Box Office starting with Double or Nothing on May 25, 2019. On May 15, 2019, AEW and WarnerMedia announced a deal for a weekly prime-time show airing live on TNT beginning on October 2, 2019, the network that formerly had broadcast WCW's Monday Nitro during the Monday Night Wars (1995–2001). CBS Sports describes AEW as "the first company with major financial backing to take a swing at beginning to compete with WWE on a major level in nearly two decades".
On May 25, 2019, AEW produced their first ever pay-per-view (PPV), Double or Nothing. It took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and saw the debut of Jon Moxley. The event earned positive reviews from critics including Canadian Online Explorer, CBS Sports, ESPN, Pro Wrestling Torch, Pro Wrestling Dot Net and WrestleView, with the last three matches earning the most praise. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter wrote that "after just one show", AEW is already "the hottest non-WWE force in the U.S. pro wrestling business in more than 20 years". On September 19, 2019, TNT's website listed AEW show's as AEW Dynamite, a one-hour preview show was also scheduled for October 1 at 8 PM.
AEW releases a "Road to..." and "Countdown to..." series of videos on its official YouTube channel prior to Dynamite and pay-per-view events. The videos consist of interviews, video packages, and backstage segments. The series is used to hype pre-existing matches, as well as create new rivalries.
In November 2019, AEW announced Bash at the Beach, a nine-day series of events, featuring two episodes of Dynamite, including one aboard Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea.
On January 15, 2020, WarnerMedia and AEW announced a contract extension for Dynamite on TNT through 2023 and that AEW would be launching an upcoming second weekly show.
On May 17, 2023, AEW announced a third weekly television show, AEW Collision to air on TNT. It would be a two hour show on Saturdays starting June 17, 2023.
Program 	Original release 	Original network	Notes
AEW Dynamite 	October 2, 2019–present 	TNT 	AEW's flagship program.
AEW Dark 	October 8, 2019 – April 25, 2023	YouTube 	Features matches held during TV tapings and aired AEW's YouTube channel.
AEW Dark: Elevation	March 15, 2021 – April 24, 2023 	YouTube 	Featured untelevised matches from Dynamite tapings which involve members of AEW's roster and independent wrestlers.
AEW Rampage 	August 13, 2021–present 	TNT 	Television program which is usually taped.
AEW Collision 	June 17, 2023–present 	TNT 	Secondary television program.
==Gallery of Logos==
AllEliteWrestlingLogo.jpg|(2019-2023)
==External links==
* Profile
* Official website
* Twitter Page
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Category:American wrestling promotions
Category:All Elite Wrestling
Category:Promotions