All Elite Wrestling

**All Elite Wrestling** (**AEW**) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. It is one of the two largest wrestling promotions in the United States, the other being WWE. AEW is owned by Shahid Khan and his son Tony, who founded the company in 2019; in-ring performers Matt and Nick Jackson and Kenny Omega also serve as company executives. Its headquarters is at TIAA Bank Field, the home of the National Football League's Jacksonville Jaguars, a team also owned by Shahid Khan. CBS Sports described 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", while SB Nation claimed that "the world of professional wrestling is being disrupted by the first challenger that has WWE legitimately scared for the first time in 20 years".

Since October 2, 2019, AEW has produced a two-hour weekly television show, *Dynamite*, which is considered their flagship program and it airs live, with some exceptions. The show aired on TNT until December 2021, moving to TNT's sister channel, TBS, on January 5, 2022. The company also has two other weekly television shows, both on TNT: *Rampage*, a one-hour program airing since August 13, 2021, and *Collision*, a two-hour program that premiered on June 17, 2023. The company also has a quarterly special on TNT titled *Battle of the Belts*. AEW previously had two weekly YouTube-exclusive shows, *Dark* and *Dark: Elevation* these were canceled with the addition of *Collision*. The company also produces a number of pay-per-view (PPV) and television specials throughout the year, with Double or Nothing considered their flagship PPV.

## Section Header

### Headquarters

1 TIAA Bank Field Drive, Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.

### Key people

Tony Khan(Co-founder, President, CEO, General Manager, and Head of creative)Megha Parekh(Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer)Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson (Executive Vice President)Michael Mansury(Senior Vice President and Co-Executive Producer)Jeff Jarrett(Director of Business Development)

### Products

Home videoLive eventsMerchandiseMusicPay-per-viewPublishingTelevision

## History

### Background and formation

Main article: All In (2018)

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

**See also**: Wednesday Night Wars

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.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

As other sports cancellations and postponements were being announced in March 2020, AEW began to be impacted by the American onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the suspension of the 2019-20 NBA season after two players tested positive for the virus, the March 18 episode of *Dynamite* was held without spectators from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida. That year's Double or Nothing was supposed to take place on May 23, but on April 8, the MGM Grand Garden Arena announced that they had canceled all events up through May 31 due to the pandemic. At that point, Nevada had been in a state of emergency since March 12, banning all public gatherings indefinitely. In response, AEW announced that Double or Nothing would still proceed as planned but from Daily's Place, as well as TIAA Bank Field stadium for the main event match.

On April 13, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had deemed AEW, like WWE, an essential business critical to the state's economy, and had added an exception under the state's stay-at-home order for employees of a "professional sports and media production" that is closed to the public and has a national audience. In an interview on the *AEW Unrestricted* podcast, Tony Khan stated the pandemic has deprived AEW millions of dollars in revenue from live events

AEW announced the return of ticketed fans to live events on August 20, following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines including wearing masks, physical distancing, and temperature checks. Beginning with their August 27 episode of *Dynamite*, they allowed up to 10 percent capacity at Daily's Place and up to 15 percent capacity starting with that year's All Out.

On November 10, 2020, the promotion announced AEW Games, the company's video game brand. AEW revealed that three games were in development; *AEW Casino: Double or Nothing* and *AEW Elite GM* for mobile devices, and *AEW Fight Forever* developed by former *WWE 2K* developer Yuke's.

For the Double or Nothing pay-per-view in May 2021, the venue was raised to full capacity, making it the first time AEW held an event with a full capacity crowd since March 2020.

### Return to live touring[edit]

In May 2021, AEW announced that they would be returning to live touring, beginning with a special episode of *Dynamite* titled Road Rager on July 7 in Miami, Florida, in turn becoming the first major professional wrestling promotion to resume live touring during the COVID-19 pandemic. Road Rager was also the first in a four-week span of special *Dynamite* episodes called the "Welcome Back" tour, which continued with the two-part Fyter Fest on July 14 and 21 in Cedar Park and Garland, Texas, respectively, and then concluded with Fight for the Fallen on July 28 in Charlotte, North Carolina. In June, AEW announced that the September 22 episode of *Dynamite* would be another special episode titled Grand Slam and would be AEW's New York City debut, a city primarily known as home territory for WWE, as well as their first full event held in a stadium. The event would also become AEW's most attended event, with over 20,000 spectators.

On August 20, 2021, CM Punk joined AEW. It was Punk's comeback to professional wrestling after leaving WWE in 2014.

On August 27, 2021, it was revealed that *Dark* would begin being taped at its own set within Universal Studios Florida in Orlando at Soundstage 21.

On the March 2, 2022, episode of *Dynamite*, Tony Khan announced that he had acquired ROH from Sinclair Broadcast Group. Later in 2022, AEW promoted its first events outside of the United States, when they held a live broadcast of *Dynamite* on October 12 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, followed by a *Rampage* taping the next night at the same venue. The company has since gone on to hold numerous other events in Canada.

In January 2023, AEW sold its broadcasting rights to streaming service DAZN in 42 territories in Europe and Central Asia.

On February 1, 2023, AEW announced that they would be expanding its live events schedule and would begin doing house shows, with its house show series titled *AEW: House Rules*. AEW's first *House Rules* event took place on March 18 at the Hobart Arena in Troy, Ohio. Prior to *House Rules*, AEW had only held one house show, titled *The House Always Wins*, which occurred at Daily's Place in Jacksonville on April 9, 2021. On April 5, 2023, AEW announced that they would revive the All In name (a name Tony Khan acquired the rights to after purchasing ROH) for AEW's United Kingdom debut to be held at London's Wembley Stadium on August 27, 2023.

On May 17, 2023, AEW announced a third weekly television show titled *AEW Collision*. The show airs live, with some exceptions, and premiered on TNT on Saturday, June 17, 2023.

## Video games

List of video games based on the company
 2020
 2020
 2023
 2024
WBD Sports

### Current champions

Main article: List of current champions in All Elite Wrestling

### Men's division

**Singles**

**Tag Team**

### Women's division

**Singles**

held

**Tag Team**

held