According to the Wrestling Observer, AEW’s contract with WarnerMedia will see the debut of AEW Rampage on TNT on Friday nights starting in August, with Rampage and Dynamite making the move to TBS starting in January 2022 due to a deal between WarnerMedia and the NHL.
AEW was able to get better lead-ins and more money from new programming based on a contractual clause already written in the existing contract with WarnerMedia. This means that AEW was asked to move from TNT because of the company being pre-empted more often than they anticipated between the NBA and NHL, respectively. For those unaware, TBS is available in more homes than TNT is.
The new deal in place calls for AEW to continue with the traditional four pay-per-view events, but Tony Khan is planning to have “special events” that will air on TNT throughout 2021. These special events will be more akin to WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event or WCW’s Clash of the Champions events from years past.
Regarding AEW’s new television show, Rampage, the idea is for the show to air at 10PM EST on Friday night following SmackDown. Rampage will debut on August 13th on TNT. When the move was made for Rampage to debut at this time slot, the general feeling was that WWE (Vince McMahon in general) would make the call to add a third hour for SmackDown on FOX to combat AEW’s Rampage, but that is likely not going to happen as FOX isn’t interested in doing that right now.
