While the world is still months away from Paramount Skydance officially being cleared to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, an intriguing part of that potential future was revealed on Monday.
Paramount Skydance head David Ellison revealed during a conference call that both the Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming services would combine post-sale. No details about a potential name, cost or timeframe were revealed other than noting the HBO brand would remain intact and will likely remain as a sub-brand according to reporting from CNBC’s Alex Sherman.
The combined power of TNT Sports and CBS Sports was also mentioned on the call.
HBO Max has 131 million subscribers while Paramount+ has 79 million with a very light overlap according to Antenna data relayed by Sherman.
For wrestling fans, all of this potentially matters because of the AEW relationship and investment that WBD has in the company (less than 10% or it would need to be reported). It’s unclear if that investment divests if the sale goes through or if Paramount Skydance would retain the investment.
AEW currently simulcasts on both TBS/TNT and HBO Max with the streaming service also acting as a gateway for U.S. fans to buy AEW pay-per-views (along with Prime Video, YouTube and PPV.com). The current TV rights contract runs through 2027 with WBD holding an option to extend through 2028.
Paramount Skydance doesn’t have any other wrestling properties, but has a relationship to TKO through both their UFC and Zuffa Boxing deals.
TKO head Mark Shapiro had previously speculated about UFC events airing on TNT if a deal was to go through, mentioning both TNT and HBO’s association with sports at an event Monday. AEW Collision currently airs on Saturdays on TNT which would make things interesting if such a move was of interest to Paramount leadership.
*Winners, top place winners, comments and every winner of every award dating back to 1980, from Wrestler of the Year, MMA MVP, Most Outstanding, Most Outstanding MMA Fighter, Tag Team of the Year, Best on Interviews, Promotion of the Year, Best Weekly TV show, Match of the Year, MMA Fight of the year, U.S./Canada MPV, Japanese MVP, Mexico MVP, Europe MVP, Best non-heavyweight, Women’s MVP, Women’s MMA MVP, Feud of the Year, Best Box Office Draw, Most Improved, Most Charismatic, Best Technical, Best Brawler, Best Flying Wrestler, Most Overrated, Most Underrated, Rookie of the Year, Best Non-WRestler, Best Television Announcer, Worst Television Announcer, Most major show, Worst major show, Best maneuver, Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic, Worst TV show, Worst match, Worst feud, Worst promotion, Best Booker of the Year, Promoter of the Year, Best Gimmick, Worst Gimmick, Best Book and Best Documentary.
*Tons of news related to the build to WrestleMania, why the card may be changing, a major concern regarding ticket sales, predictabiity vs. surprises, How Bron Brakker’s injury changes things, Brock Lesnar situation, Becky Lynch situation, situation in Las Vegas, concerns in Las Vegas, why ticket sales are down, plus build to Elimination Chamber
*Tadao Yasuda, a unique life of a former sumo star, IWGP champion, one of the biggest upsets in MMA history, the birth of the New Year’s Eve fighting tradition, gambling issues and more
*Coverage of the New Beginning in Osaka, talent leaving, talent staying, what is the difrection for New Japan the next few months and a worst and best match of the year candidate one right after the other
*Betting odds for this week’s wrestling
*Most detailed look at the TV ratings, a look at the red flags, streaming numbers and more.
*Notes on the honoring and retirement of El Satanico and career highlights
*Mistico sellout updates
*The last Friday for a month at Arena Mexico with the biggest names
*AAA TV tapings with WWE talent
*Starddom PPV notes
*Epstein files wrestling references
*Biggest UK women’s show coming
*Show coming up attempting to be the largest attendance for an all-women’s show in three decades
*Pareamount again trying to get WBD
*How politics affects pro wrestling
*Grand Slam Australia notes
*MJF talks Punk
*TV reviews
*YouTube notes
*CBS airing UFC on 3/7
*Zuffa boxing defies Ali Act with world title announcement
*WWE injury updates
*Bad Bunny Super Bowl controversy
*WWE Hall of Famer threatens to quit if another person isn’t removed
— Garrett and I did our weekly show covering AEW in Australia, the awards and WrestleMania build and news. Our weekend show will be Sunday night.
–The biggest issue of the year of the Observer, our awards issue, is out today.
–Hopefully if you DVR SmackDown you scheduled it because a lot of systems including my own did not record it if you didn’t due to it being on Syfy tonight. It’s also on Syfy next week before going back to USA on 2/27.
— Grand Slam Australia with the time difference actually takes place tomorrow morning U.S. time from Sydney. It will air on tape delay on both TNT and HBO MAX at 8 p.m. It’s a pretty loaded up show. About 7,000 tickets were out at last word.
— AEW is doing lots of media this week. MJF was on their version of The Today Show this morning, Kyle Fletcher arrived and went to an indie show where he cut a promo and announced.
— There is a 25 percent off ticket sale for both nights of WrestleMania offered through Allegiant Stadium for both nights through midnight on Monday night.
— Chris Jericho’s Talk is Jericho podcast that came out this week was with Thekla, which was the first show he’s done with an AEW wrestler since Darby Allin in September.
— Since I’ve been asked this a few times this week, when HBO MAX debuts later this year in the U.K., AEW will not be part of it at this time. In the U.K., AEW will remain exclusive for TV shows on AEW+ for the TV shows live and ITV for television exclusivity on a few days delay.
— AEW Dynamite did 604,000 viewers and an 0.12 in 18-49, down from last week but second best demo number in a while. We’re still trying to figure out what is good and what is normal with the latest refiguring. The number doesn’t include HBO MAX viewership.
— Dana White is on the NASCAR truck series race broadcast between the first and second stage. He is associated with the return of Dodge to the series and is talking about them and Tony Stewart, as well as the “driver search” which was a contest to find a full time Dodge Ram driver in the Truck series on FS1 (thanks to Tom Mehs)
— No UFC tomorrow. UFC returns on 2/21.
— Arena Mexico sold out by the time I woke up today. It’s the Fantastica Mania farewell tour as the top guys won’t be back wrestling on a Friday Arena Mexico show after tonight until 3/13. The only people booked are those who are going to Japan with the tour starting Wednesday in Tokyo. Tonight’s card looks great, all matches out of nowhere but unique lineups:
Stigma vs. Okumura
Futuro & Valiente Jr. vs. El Hijo de Stuka Jr. & Magnus
Utimo Guerrero vs. Hechicero vs. Atlantis
Mascara Dorada vs. Titan
Atlantis Jr. vs. Soberano Jr. vs. Averno for the Historic light heavyweight title
Mistico vs. Templario
This means Hechicero and Dorada won’t be at AEW tapings until March.
— El Clon debuts tomorrow night at Arena Coliseo teaming with Volador Jr. vs. Angel de Oro & Daniel Garcia, also debuting tomorrow. This was tracking toward a sellout.
— The Sunday Arena Mexico main event has Neon vs. Clon vs. Garcia vs. Esfinge.
— AAA TV tomorrow night on YouTube at 9 p.m. Eastern has La Parka vs. Jack Cartwheel, Money Machine vs. War Raiders vs. Rayo & Bravo with the winners getting a shot at Pagano & Psycho Clown for the title and Las Toxicas vs. Adelicious & Faby Apache & Jesse Jackson.
— Maple Leaf Wrestling has announced floor seats are sold out for their 3/27 and 3/28 shows in Windsor, ONT. Both shows will be live on Triller. Among those appearing are Don Callis, Josh Alexander, Cavernario, Mascara Dorada, Bishop Dyer, Ricochet, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Kaito Kiyomiya, Gisele Shaw and Daisuke Sasaki.
— AEW stars Mistico, Tommaso Ciampa, Roderick Strong, Orange Cassidy, Hechicero and Marina Shafir are going to the C2E2 pop culture convention in Chicago at the PWW Tees booth.
— PWInsider has reported that the NXT show scheduled for 2/24 at Center Stage in Atlanta is in jeopardy. It was reported that the production trucks are usually parked in the parking lot next to the building, but the parking lot has been sold and they’ll need additional permits to do production.
— Baby Doll Nickla Roberts turns 64 today. Tommy Dreamer turns 55. Mark Coffey turns 36 and Chris Bey turns 30. Bill Mercer was born 100 years ago today. Angelo Mosca was burn on this day in 1937. Buddy Lee, who promoted women’s wrestling when he was married to Fabulous Moolah and later became a major name in country music as a promoter, passed away 33 years ago today at the age of 60. (thanks to Tony Richards)
— Defy and Dragon Gate have a joint show on 4/10 at the Hawthorne Theater in Portland, OR. A full crew of Dragon Gate wrestlers will be on the show along with Bryan Keith and Marina Shafir, who are both Defy champions.
The January schedule for HBO Max has been released and with it has come dates for archive AEW content in addition to The Rock’s “The Smashing Machine”.
AEW’s biggest pay-per-view of 2025 — July’s All In: Texas — will hit the streaming service on Friday, January 16 — six months after it was held at Arlington’s Globe Life Field.
On Friday January 30, Dynamite and Rampage episodes from the summer of 2022 will hit the service as “an undisputed AEW World Champion is crowned, and a future World Champion makes his return.”
At this point, there appears to be no preemptions for live Dynamites and Collisions in January.
On Friday, January 23, Dwayne Johnson’s biopic on the life of former MMA star Mark Kerr will debut on the service after initially hitting theaters this past October. The A24 film struggled at the box office with just $20 million worldwide, but the film garnered Johnson and co-star Emily Blunt with Golden Globe nominations.
Notes from the new issue which apparently has been the talk of the social media wrestling world: *Seth Rollins injury and how this will lead to numerous changes in booking plans, including what was scheduled short and long-term for Rollins through Mania and after. *Full coverage of Crown Jewel, business notes and match coverage *The Media Ratings Council has questions about the new numbers *Just how far Smackdown has dropped with younger viewers based on the new sampling and NXT isn’t much different, nor is AEW *Konosuke Takeshita beats Zack Sabre Jr. to win the IWGP title, a look at King of Prm Wrestling, WrestleKingdom, first thoughts on Aaron Wolf, and the angles on the show *WrestleDream preview, business notes, as well as Saturday Night’s Main Event in Salt Lake City needs the entire show revamped *Odds for upcoming big matches *TNA Bound for Glory notes *A detailed story on WWE cuts focusing on Ridge Holland and WEs Lee *Pro Wrestling NOAH at Sumo Hall *A huge story on the 2025 Hall of Fame U.S. & Canada candidates *What the awards voting over the last 45 years says about those who fare better not in than those who are in. *The most detailed look at the ratings for all the wrestling shows of the past week *It women’s month at Arena Mexico but one person is still the star, a look at the recent main events *A look at two PPV shows from Arena Mexico coming *Who is the obvious choice for tag team of the year that nobody is talking about *Best of the Super Juniors tournament *Japanese referee dies in bear attack *Update on Smashing Machine business *They named a bridge after Stu Hart and more notes *NFL star copying Ric Flair *Fantastica Mania UK *The Andrade situation *Lots of background details on similar stories *Kota Ibushi update *Notes on Chris Jericho and Britt Baker *Darby Allin talks about the cancers that used to be in AEW *Update on a training camp for AEW in Asheville, NC *Rematch of a match of the year candidate coming to AEW show in Edinburg, TX *Updates on YouTube numbers for September *Debate over the new and old Ali Act *Details on Zuffa Boxing deals *How much UFC makes in profit per Saturday show *New UFC fights *Sad BJ Penn story *Stories on fighters getting screwed by promoters *Ticket demand for John Cena’s ast show *New WWE hire, usage of AI for wrestling storylines and some are worried about their jobs *AJ Styles talks retiring *WWE injury updates
HBO Max plans have increased in price effective immediately. Basic with Ads is now $10.99 a month, Standard is $18.49 a month, and Premium is $22.99 a month.
Andrade is being advertised for a Big Time Wrestling event in Augusta, Maine for November 1.
In an interview with Daily Star, Indi Hartwell said that she is joining Bayley’s upcoming seminar and encourages others to do the same: “I would say take advantage of these opportunities that come up, because you don’t know when they’re going to come around again. To work with someone like Bayley, I’m going to sign up for the seminar. Hopefully she accepts me. Do whatever you can, get in front of different eyes, get as much exposure as you can. You never know when you’re going to be in a position or at a show when the right person is there to get you the next opportunity or get you your big break. Just say yes to all the opportunities that come your way.”
A GoFundMe has been launched to keep open the WWA4 training school in Atlanta that is run by AR Fox. Notable names that have come from the school include Austin Theory, Apollo Crews, Myron Reed, and Lee Johnson.
AEW World Champion Hangman Page is calling for fans to contact Warner Bros. Discovery regarding ICE ads airing on both TBS and HBO Max during AEW Dynamite.
Page took to BlueSky with his call to action following Wednesday’s show, posting “f*ck ice airing commercials during dynamite, let em know” with links to contact HBO Max via their help page and TBS’ contact page.
ICE is a reference to the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement division, an agency that enforces immigrations and customs laws. ICE has come under heavy public scrutiny in recent months for its increased presence and tactics nationwide during the second Trump administration.
Fellow AEW wrestler Brody King wore an “Abolish Ice” t-shirt during AEW’s trip to Mexico this year and is selling a t-shirt version of the moment with proceeds going toward families impacted by ICE raids.
AEW head Tony Khan was asked on the pre-All Out media call about moments like that and he said his wrestlers are presented as their “authentic selves” and that in the case of both Page and King, “that’s them being themselves.”
“I want wrestling fans from all over the world and all different perspectives. That’s one of the things that makes wrestling really great. It brings people from all walks of life together,” he said.
fuck ice airing commercials during dynamite, let em know:
help.hbomax.com/us/Feedback/
tbsnetwork.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/req…
The Demand, Kris Statlander, Brodido, Hangman Page, and Tony Khan all took questions from the media following Saturday’s All Out in Toronto, Canada. Here are the highlights:
Ricochet and The Gates of Agony
The Demand noted they were going after the Trios titles next.
Ricochet said his laugh was not inspired by Jadakiss, instead saying it was from a family member who does that laugh when he’s embarrassed.
Kris Statlander
Winning the title was an up and down journey for her. So many opportunities to prove that early on but was derailed by knee injuries. Disheartning that something out of her control stopped her. The first to win both the TBS and Women’s titles feels rewarding. She’s worked unbelievably hard to get where she’s at.
Statlander pointed out that others have used the seatbelt in the past, including Orange Cassidy, and wasn’t nessecarily inspired by Wheeler Yuta’s recent advice.
She wants to face Toni Storm next as they’ve never had a singles match yet she has had two victories over her.
When asked if she wants to face the Conglomeration, she says she wants to give people their space, noting her only ally is Harley Cameron.
Bandido and Brody King
When asked about AEW stars being allowed to wear messages on t-shirts, Brody King said he would not wear anything that would damage the reputation of the company or Tony. Khan said he supported wrestlers being themselves, and the messages they wear don’t nessecarily represent AEW.
Hangman Page
He was asked if Fletcher was ready. Page thought that Fletcher was more ready than he expected.
John Pollock asked about We’re focused on what we’re doing here, over 13,000 people today. That’s what we’re focused on. That’s the honest truth, we’re so committed to putting on the best effort that we can.
Khan noted the energy backstage was all focused on having a great show and the vibe after was so positive.
Page pointed out Fletcher is only 26 and will hold the title one day.
Tony Khan
Khan first talked about the success of Forbidden Door and noted the ratings increases for Dynamite and Collision in the UK. He said that Dynamite was up 40 percent year over year, while Collision was 100 percent up over Ramapge in the same time slot from last year.
When asked if early start times a permanent move, Khan said it was definitely something to consider, nothing they’ve had great buyrate results from previous shows with early start times and it’s something to think about.
Khan was asked about the status of Chris Jericho and Britt Baker, but focused on surprises we’ve seen like Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus, or are about to see, like the upcoming return of Orange Cassidy without saying his name. He did say he’s keeping a door open for their return.
He reaffirmed he does not have Max numbers.
Khan was asked if they’ll have a Blood and Guts match this year. Khan said there’s a good chance, it’s a matter of which building they run it in.
Khan mentioned that the president of TBS and TNT was watching in the crowd and noted the pressure that comes with that, but felt everyone knocked it out of the park.
Someone asked if its possible AEW shows could be all under one streaming or cable outlet, like UFC with its new Paramount Plus deal. Khan pointed out everything AEW is now under one package between TNT, TBS, and HBO Max.
When asked about officially naming the AEW World title the Men’s World title, Khan said it’s gotten great traction and it’s something to consider. It’s something that’s important to Hangman and something that he believes in, so that is something he supports. It works great both ways.
Tony Khan said he was turned down on using Blake Christian’s theme on the independents, ‘Loving on Me’ by Jack Harlow. He credits Mikey Rucuks for the work he’s done over the years with AEW’s music.
On a potential AEW Dark return, Khan said potentially but also pointed to why those shows ended, as the company has extended to new content like AEW Collision. While he does have an interest in bringing Dark back, he’s enjoying what he’s doing now.
He talked about Ring of Honor for a while, saying he will get his money back from Brightcove for the technical errors from Death Before Dishonor.
Khan also mentioned that Athena was banged up but will be back soon.
Dave Meltzer and I are back with the Friday edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about all the big news from today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
John LaRocca and Garrett Gonzales return with a brand-new Fight Game to discuss the latest happenings in the world of pro wrestling.
We kicked off the show with our Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down winners and losers of the week before getting to our headline topic about whether or not Tony Khan moving AEW All Out to an earlier start time was the right move.
We also talked about the following:
The possible return of AJ Lee
AEW PPVs being available on HBO Max
A low TV rating for AEW Dynamite
Whether Darby Allin has the characteristics of a top babyface
Looking at the current All Out & Wrestlepalooza lineups
In Netflix’s weekly top 10 rankings, the May 5 episode of Raw drew 2.8 million views globally and 5.7 million hours viewed in total. It ranked fourth in the English-language TV category for the week. Those numbers are down from the prior episode, which had 3.0 million viewers and 5.8 million hours viewed.
The Undertaker and Bubba Ray Dudley appeared in a backstage segment on NXT to promote the season finale of WWE LFG that airs on A&E this Sunday. Tyra Mae Steele and Zena Sterling are the final two competitors remaining.
WWE has filed a trademark for “The High Ryze,” the faction name Wes Lee, Tyson Dupont & Tyriek Igwe are using in NXT.
Former WWE Women’s Champion Jazz is guest coaching at the WWE Performance Center this week. NXT’s Karmen Petrovic shared a photo with her on social media: “post training with this absolute trailblazer. the phenom still & always will have it @Phenom_Jazz”
Pretty Deadly, Axiom, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, and Mike Rome appeared at Orlando City’s MLS game against the New England Revolution last weekend.
WWE uploaded a vlog from Rhea Ripley and Grayson Waller’s trip to Australia to promote October’s Crown Jewel: Perth PLE.
Other Wrestling
Max, the streaming service that AEW is simulcast on, announced that it will be changing its name back to HBO Max starting this summer.
AEW, Reebok, and Champs Sports are collaborating together for a Swerve Strickland sneaker that will be released on May 28. Reebok’s Allen Iverson’s Answer 3 sneaker is the base of the shoe with customization based on Strickland’s Killmonger gear from when he won the AEW World Championship at Dynasty 2024.
Will Ospreay would like to see more tournaments in AEW: “Tournaments are the heart of pro wrestling. It gives people opportunities to tell their own stories and potentially have someone to climb up the card with shocking wins. Love to see in AEW do a king of trios, Tag League, Women’s Continental Classic or cruiserweight/Jr cup”
Ninja Mack reacted to The Pat McAfee Show playing his viral back handspring spot from BOSJ: “Yo, @PatMcAfeeShow Thank you. I’m just casually watching the Pat McAfee show like I do every day. The next thing I see is a [ninja] flipping down your screen and you talking about New Japan Pro Wrestling. Yall are amazing, @PatMcAfeeShow every day for life. Let’s go”
As part of a new “experiences” feature being offered by Airbnb, fans can pay to meet CMLL wrestler Retro and get tips from him in the ring at Arena Mexico.
Nikki & Brie Garcia also have an Airbnb experience where people can sample their wine and watch a live taping of their podcast.
“The Iron Claw,” A24’s critically acclaimed biopic on the Von Erich family, is coming to streaming next month.
The movie will be available to stream on Max starting on Friday, May 10. This comes five months after “The Iron Claw” was released in theaters in December 2023.
Starring Zac Efron as Kevin Von Erich, “The Iron Claw” tells the story of the Von Erich family tragedy and how Kevin survived after the deaths of his brothers. Jeremy Allen White (Kerry Von Erich), Harris Dickinson (David Von Erich), Holt McCallany (Fritz Von Erich), Maura Tierney (Doris Von Erich), Stanley Simons (Mike Von Erich), and Lily James (Kevin’s wife Pam) also had featured roles in the film.
Sean Durkin was the director of “The Iron Claw.” AEW star MJF played a small role in the film and has an executive producer credit.
John Cena’s Peacemaker series is returning to HBO Max for a second season.
Ahead of the show’s season one finale, Cena and series creator James Gunn announced that Peacemaker has officially been picked up for season two. Gunn will direct and write all of the season two episodes.
In addition to starring in the HBO Max series, Cena also played the Peacemaker character in last year’s The Suicide Squad movie. The final episode of Peacemaker season one premieres at 3 a.m. Eastern time/midnight Pacific overnight tonight.
“I am incredibly honored and humbled by the response to Peacemaker and the experience of playing this character,” Cena said in a statement. “Thank you to James Gunn, Peter Safran, HBO Max, the crew, and my castmates who worked tirelessly to make this unforgettable series.”
“Creating Peacemaker has been one of the true highlights of my life, both professionally and otherwise, with John Cena and the incredible creative team around me, as well as our partners at HBO Max,” Gunn said. “To have something we all love so much be loved by the audience in turn has been a wonderful experience. I can’t wait for folks to see where Team Peacemaker goes in Season Two!”
Cena returned to the WWE ring last summer for a run that included facing Roman Reigns at SummerSlam. While promoting season one of Peacemaker last month, Cena appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and was asked if he’ll be returning to WWE for this year’s WrestleMania. Cena said he doesn’t know if he’s going to be able to make WrestleMania, but he isn’t done with WWE by a long shot.
“WrestleMania is usually in the cusp of late March, early April. I don’t know if I’m going to make it this year. That’s a good conundrum to have because there’s a lot of good opportunities coming up, which I would love to take. And if all those things line up, I don’t know if I’ll be able to make WrestleMania,” Cena said.
“But I will tell you and everybody out there watching, I’m not done with WWE by a long shot. That’s my home, I love it. I was able to go back during the summer for a few months and entertain audiences when they welcomed audiences back to arenas. So, I’ve far from had my last performance.”
