Mid 20th Century
46-559: All Elite Wrestling ( AEW ) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida . It is owned by father and son duo Shahid and Tony Khan , with the latter serving as president and chief executive officer . AEW is headquartered at EverBank Stadium , the home of the National Football League 's Jacksonville Jaguars , which is also owned by Shahid Khan. Its flagship annual pay-per-view (PPV) event
92-488: A spiritual successor to All In. At the event, the AEW Women's World Championship belt was unveiled and in the main event, Chris Jericho defeated "Hangman" Adam Page to become the inaugural AEW World Champion. On September 19, TNT's website listed AEW's show as AEW Dynamite with a one-hour preview show scheduled for October 1 at 8 p.m. On October 2, Dynamite debuted on TNT which averaged 1.409 million viewers, which made it
138-602: A "Road to..." and "Countdown to..." series of videos on its official YouTube channel. 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 . In February 2021, AEW announced their newest show AEW Dark: Elevation , which began airing on March 15. The show
184-620: A $ 175 million contract extension for Dynamite on TNT through 2023 and that AEW would be launching an upcoming second television weekly show, later revealed as AEW Rampage . AEW has a training facility known as the Nightmare Factory, which is co-owned by Cody Rhodes (the facility's name being an ode to his nickname) and AEW wrestler/coach Q. T. Marshall , who also serves as head trainer. As other sports cancellations and postponements were being announced in March 2020, AEW began to be impacted by
230-495: A deal for a weekly primetime show airing live on TNT , the network that formerly had broadcast WCW's Monday Nitro during the Monday Night War (1995–2001). 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". On May 25, 2019, AEW produced their first-ever pay-per-view (PPV), Double or Nothing. It took place at
276-519: A full capacity crowd since March 2020. 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
322-404: A new television program beginning on March 29 called AEW: All Access . "All Access" was a mini-series and ran six episodes, airing from March 29 to May 10, 2023. It was a reality television show about the lives of the promotion's wrestlers and featured behind-the-scenes footage. The program aired immediately after Dynamite at 10 p.m. ET on TBS. Though Khan stated that the show performed well and
368-487: A pay-per-view that received critical acclaim; with a live paid attendance number of 72,265, it became one of the highest attended events in professional wrestling history . The event is also notable for being CM Punk's final AEW event, as he was fired with cause by Khan and the AEW Discipline Committee, following a legitimate backstage altercation with Jack Perry ; Perry was also later suspended indefinitely. At
414-689: 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 episode of Dynamite , Tony Khan announced that he had purchased Ring of Honor from Sinclair Broadcast Group , including its brand assets, intellectual property, and video library. It
460-634: A third weekly television show titled AEW Collision , with its first episode featuring Punk's return to the company and Luchasaurus capturing the AEW TNT Championship from Wardlow . The show airs live, with some exceptions, and premiered on TNT on Saturday, June 17, 2023. In June 2023 AEW released AEW Fight Forever after years of development. The game received mixed reviews, being praised for its throwback style of arcade gameplay but criticized for limited presentation, modes and customization. In August 2023, AEW held All In at Wembley Stadium ,
506-788: Is All In . AEW was founded on January 1, 2019 by Tony Khan with the help of professional wrestlers Matt and Nick Jackson , Cody Rhodes , and Kenny Omega , who all served as co- executive vice presidents . After signing with WarnerMedia that May, AEW launched its flagship weekly television series Dynamite on October 2, 2019, which aired on TNT until December 29, 2021 and now airs on TBS since January 5, 2022. AEW produces two other weekly television programs, Rampage (which premiered in August 2021) and Collision (launched in June 2023), as well as seasonal programming and regular television specials, including All Access , Overdrive , and Battle of
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#1732863218976552-442: Is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling . "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within the convention of the show , the company is a sports governing body which sanctions wrestling matches and gives authority to the championships and is responsible for maintaining the divisions and their rankings. In truth,
598-664: 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
644-601: 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—which 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
690-767: The MGM Grand Garden Arena in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada and saw the debut of Jon Moxley , formerly known as Dean Ambrose in WWE. Also during Double or Nothing, pro-wrestling veteran Bret Hart unveiled the AEW World Championship belt. During the summer, AEW produced two more events, Fyter Fest in June and Fight for the Fallen in July. On August 31, 2019, AEW produced their second pay-per-view event, All Out as
736-837: The National Wrestling Alliance , act as an umbrella organization which governs titles that are shared among multiple promotions. During the 1950s, the National Wrestling Alliance oversaw many wrestling territories such as Mid-Atlantic Wrestling and NWA San Francisco , in a business model known as the "territory system". This is a list of the most notable past and present professional wrestling promotions. Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct (Modern-era) Defunct (Territory-era) Active Defunct Television industries Too Many Requests If you report this error to
782-640: 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
828-604: The American professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor (ROH) could not sell 10,000 tickets for a wrestling event, a feat that no U.S.-based wrestling promotion besides the dominant WWE had accomplished since WWE's defunct major competitor, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), in 1999. The comment was responded to by professional wrestlers Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks (the tag team of Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson), who were then top stars signed to ROH and good friends both inside and outside of professional wrestling as part of
874-451: The Belts . It previously produced the streaming series Dark and Dark: Elevation , which aired on YouTube until April 2023; it additionally airs multiple other YouTube-exclusive programs. In addition to All In, AEW's largest PPV shows are All Out , Double or Nothing , Full Gear , and Revolution , which are produced quarterly. It is considered one of the largest wrestling promotions in
920-458: The Belts was moved to Friday nights, airing immediately after Rampage at 11 p.m. ET to avoid potential counterprogramming, particularly against WWE's pay-per-views. Beginning with seventh special on July 15, 2023, Battle of the Belts would be moved back to Saturday nights and would air live after Collision . On the February 22, 2023, episode of Dynamite , Tony Khan and Adam Cole announced
966-457: The Elite , a YouTube web series created by and featuring The Elite. Also announced in the episode was Double or Nothing , AEW's inaugural event and sequel to All In. 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
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#17328632189761012-451: The U.S. and Canada, and carried by all major satellite providers. On May 8, 2019, AEW reached a 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. However, after ITV Box Office ceased operations in January 2020, ITV no longer broadcasts AEW pay-per-views in
1058-640: The UK. On February 19, 2020, AEW reached a new media rights deal with German media company Sky Deutschland (which previously broadcast WWE and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling shows) to broadcast AEW pay-per-views on Sky Select Event . On summer 2020, all AEW programs (with the exception of AEW Collision) have been broadcast in Italy by Sky Italia through its sports' channels. Professional wrestling promotion 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s A professional wrestling promotion
1104-604: 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. Following the 2022 All Out pay-per-view, then-reigning AEW World Champion CM Punk used the post-PPV media scrum to air out-of-character grievances against multiple members of the roster, including Colt Cabana , Adam Page and AEW Executive Vice Presidents Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. After Punk's portion of
1150-442: The United States. Beginning in January, AEW's weekly television programs will be simulcast on Max. Later in 2025, AEW pay-per-views will also become available for purchase and streaming on Max. Although they will remain available via television providers and other platforms, they will have a discounted price on Max, and Max will be promoted as the main home of AEW pay-per-views. Prior to Dynamite and pay-per-view events, AEW released
1196-437: The appearance of former AEW wrestler Sting , and the in-ring return of English wrestler and London native Nigel McGuinness following his retirement in 2011 and subsequent transition into color commentary. On October 2, 2024, AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announced a multi-year contract extension; the contract maintains AEW's existing programs on TBS and TNT, but adds digital rights for WBD's streaming platform Max in
1242-465: The beginning of the " Wednesday Night Wars ". Prior to and after the episodes, untelevised matches were filmed to air on AEW Dark on the following Tuesdays (except before PPV events, where the episodes aired Fridays) on AEW's YouTube channel. On November 9, AEW produced their third pay-per-view event, Full Gear . In the main event, Jon Moxley defeated Kenny Omega in an unsanctioned Lights Out match. On January 15, 2020, WarnerMedia and AEW announced
1288-571: The company serves as a touring theatre troupe , as well as event promotion body for its own events. Most promotions are self-contained, organized around one or more championships and do not acknowledge or recognize the legitimacy of other promotions' titles unless they share a working agreement. Governing bodies, such as the CyberFight , United Wrestling Network , WWNLive , Allied Independent Wrestling Federations , Union of European Wrestling Alliances, Pro Wrestling International and, previously,
1334-639: The conclusion of the All In event in London, AEW announced that it would return to Wembley Stadium on August 25, 2024, with tickets going on sale on December 1, 2023. All In subsequently took place at Wembley Stadium as scheduled, coinciding with the United Kingdom's August Bank Holiday weekend. The event was notable for featuring the AEW debut of former WWE wrestler Ricochet , the return of British wrestler Jamie Hayter , who had been out with an injury since May 2023,
1380-478: The forecourt of the TIAA Bank Field , where they announced talents that were going to perform as part of the promotion, including former ROH wrestlers the team of SoCal Uncensored ( Christopher Daniels , Scorpio Sky , and Frankie Kazarian ), "Hangman" Adam Page , independent wrestlers Britt Baker , Joey Janela , MJF , Penelope Ford , and former WWE wrestlers Pac and Chris Jericho . On February 7, 2019,
1426-461: The group Bullet Club (and later part of the sub-Bullet Club faction, 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 the United States held and organized by promoters not affiliated with WWE or WCW since 1993. The event
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1472-413: The group held a press conference where tickets were released for Double or Nothing. Other big announcements included Kenny Omega joining as a wrestler and the company's fourth co-Executive Vice President, as well as the signings of Sammy Guevara , The Lucha Brothers ( Pentagón Jr. and Rey Fénix ) and Best Friends ( Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor ). On May 15, 2019, AEW and WarnerMedia announced
1518-515: The largest television debut on TNT in five years. Also on October 2, WWE's NXT would make its two-hour debut on USA Network (the previous two episodes featured the first hour on USA with the second hour on the WWE Network ), and they averaged 891,000 viewers. Dynamite beat out NXT in viewership and more than doubled its competition in the key adults 18–49 demographic, scoring 878,000 viewers compared to NXT ' s 414,000. This would also mark
1564-403: 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 Eastern Time on January 1, 2019, in an episode of Being
1610-449: 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 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
1656-506: 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
1702-452: 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,
1748-513: The scrum concluded, it later emerged that Punk and his friend Ace Steel had a legitimate brawl with Omega, the Young Bucks and Christopher Daniels following the Bucks and Omega storming into the former's locker room. The incident was dubbed by fans and reporters as "Brawl Out". In the aftermath, all involved were suspended, Omega and the Bucks were stripped of their AEW World Trios Championship and Punk
1794-461: 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. On August 3, 2020, Jazwares released the first line of AEW action figures and toys. AEW announced
1840-591: The world, ahead of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and second only to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in terms of annual revenue. In 2024, AEW was ranked by Forbes as the third most valuable combat sports organization in the world, with an estimated value of $ 2 billion , behind the Ultimate Fighting Championship and WWE. Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s In May 2017, professional wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer commented that
1886-493: Was announced as the president of the company. Tony and his father, Shahid , were reportedly backing the promotion as lead investors. The Khans are billionaires and part of the ownership group of the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team and Fulham F.C. . Cody's wife, 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
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1932-419: 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. Reportedly, people in the television industry were also very impressed with the show. On November 5, 2018, several trademarks were filed in Jacksonville, Florida , that indicated
1978-479: Was clarified through a press release issued that night that the acquisition was made through an entity separate from AEW and wholly-owned by Khan. In a media scrum following AEW's Revolution PPV on March 6, Khan revealed that he eventually planned to run ROH separately from AEW, and also indicated that ROH could be used as a developmental brand for AEW. On May 4, the sale of ROH to Tony Khan was officially completed. Later in 2022, AEW promoted its first events outside of
2024-423: Was positively received, there is no confirmation of a second season. With the addition of Collision to AEW's weekly lineup, which began broadcasting on TNT on June 17, 2023, AEW ended their weekly online shows Dark and Dark: Elevation . Broadcast Online Former AEW pay-per-view events are available on Triller TV in other international markets. They are also available via traditional PPV outlets in
2070-550: Was stripped of the AEW World Championship. Steel's contract was terminated by AEW a month later, The Bucks and Omega returned at Full Gear and Punk returned the following June after undergoing surgery for an injury from his match with Moxley. 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
2116-410: Was uploaded to their YouTube channel on Mondays at 7 p.m. ET as a complement to AEW Dark . As part of the deal to move Dynamite to TBS, AEW agreed to produce quarterly television specials on TNT that would air on Saturdays at 8 p.m. ET. The series was titled AEW Battle of the Belts , with the first special airing on January 8, 2022. Beginning with the fourth special on October 7, 2022, Battle of
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