Between a flurry of title changes, “Grand Slam: Australia,” and the continued story surrounding Brody King and anti-ICE chants being heard at shows, AEW has taken up loads of oxygen within the wrestling news cycle over the previous couple of weeks. That continued almost by happenstance over the weekend, when a CNN article about King, AEW, and the anti-ICE chants spilled the beans regarding the true nature of AEW and Warner Brother Discover’s relationship, revealing that WBD is indeed a minority owner of the wrestling promotion.
The media company’s minority stake in AEW has been rumored on and off since AEW first formed in 2019, which is why Dave Meltzer revealed on “Wrestling Observer Radio” that he wasn’t all that shocked to listen to the news. He further stressed that WBD’s ownership was so minimal that it likely had no impact on the AEW onscreen product, though Meltzer did suggest that it motivated WBD to be more invested in AEW’s success than it could in the event that they were only a television partner.
“The stuff concerning the ownership, I mean, I just about knew this in 2019, but not obviously,” Meltzer said. “And Tony would never admit to it, but he would never deny it. Nevertheless it’s, I mean, we all know from filing papers that over 90% of the corporate is owned by Tony, Shad Khan, and Shanna Khan, who’s Tony’s sister.
“But Tony has 100% of the voting power, decision making power. But they’re a minority owner, which might be a wise thing. I believe it’s helped them in…there may be a reason the corporate has, besides just television rankings, they’ve a reason to want them to achieve success of their company.”
For those who use any of the quotes in this text, please credit “Wrestling Observer Radio” and supply a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription