10 Major Unanswered Questions About AEW

8. When Will TNT Start To Pay Them?

Cm Punk Aew
AEW

Considered a great spot for a start-up, there's no shame in All Elite Wrestling's Dynamite not yet being a paid-for product, especially if the show can either tie or trounce NXT on USA.

A relatively risk-free proposition for TNT, picking up AEW allowed the network to knock out a canny tweet throwing back to wrestling's mythically massive past and yet again lit a competitive fire underneath Vince McMahon and Triple H. Rushing NXT to television two weeks before the slot was even available, a sense of dormant panic existed under the first two editions of the black-and-gold brand as the industry leader felt no choice but to tighten its grip on an audience that now have an alternative offer.

For Tony Khan, Cody et al, it's the sort of deal that's relatively low risk for potentially huge reward - two years on TNT every Wednesday offers them ample chance to plant their flag as the country's number one wrestling show. Conversely, if they've not convinced the channel to part with seven/eight figures after 104 weeks, then perhaps the leap from YouTube to the boob tube was just too big after all.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett