All Elite Wrestling, LLC (AEW)[4] is an American professional wrestlingpromotion founded in 2019.[1] Its inception was announced by entrepreneurs Shahid Khan and his son Tony, with the former acting as the promotion's lead investor, and the latter being the founder, president and CEO of the company. Professional wrestlers Cody Rhodes as well as Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson, collectively known as The Elite, are the promotion's inaugural contracted talents. The three are serving as both in-ring performers and executive vice presidents alongside Kenny Omega, fellow professional wrestler and co-founder of The Elite.
Beginning on October 2, 2019,[5] AEW will have a two-hour weekly TV show airing live on TNT in the United States.[6][7]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".[8]
In May 2017, professional wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer made a comment that the American professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor (ROH) could not sell 10,000 tickets for a wrestling event.[9] 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 the group Bullet Club (and later, The Elite).[10] 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 America held and organized by promoters not affiliated with WWE or World Championship Wrestling (WCW) since 1993. The event was attended by 11,263 people.[11][12][13][14] 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. People in the television industry were also very impressed with the show.[15][16]
Formation
Nick Jackson (left) and Matt Jackson (right) teamed with Cody Rhodes to help start the promotion.Cody
On November 5, 2018, several trademarks were filed in Jacksonville, Florida that indicated the launch of All Elite Wrestling.[17] 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.[18][19][20] In December 2018, Cody, The Young Bucks, and several other wrestlers left ROH.[21][22] The official announcement of AEW's creation came at midnight Pacific Time on January 1, 2019 in an episode of Being the Elite, a YouTubeweb 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.[23][24][25] 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 was announced as the president of the company.[26][27] Tony and his father, Shahid, were reportedly backing the promotion.[28][29] The Khans are billionaires and part of the ownership group of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham F.C.[30]
On May 8, 2019, AEW reached a new 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.[37] On May 15, 2019, AEW and WarnerMedia announced a deal for a weekly prime-time show airing live on TNT beginning on October 2, 2019—the network that formerly had broadcast WCW's Monday Nitro during the Monday Night Wars (1995–2001). Additionally, AEW events will be available on pay-per-view and stream on B/R Live in the United States and Canada[38] and on FITE TV internationally.[39][40][41]CBS Sports describes 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".[8]
On May 25, 2019, AEW produced their first ever pay-per-view (PPV), Double or Nothing. It took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and saw the debut of Jon Moxley. The event earned positive reviews from critics including Canoe.com, CBS Sports, ESPN, Pro Wrestling Torch, Pro Wrestling Dot Net and WrestleView, with the last three matches earning the most praise.[42][43][44][45][46][47]Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter wrote that "after just one show", AEW is already "the hottest non-WWE force in the U.S. pro wrestling business in more than 20 years".[48]
On May 22, 2019, the AEW World Championship was first teased on AEW's YouTube channel, where actor and comedian Jack Whitehall attempted to reveal the title belt but struggled to get the championship out of its bag. The title was later unveiled on May 25 at Double or Nothing by Bret Hart. On June 18, 2019, AEW announced on their Twitter page the AEW World Tag Team Championship.[59] Also on June 18, Tony Khan announced futures plans for both a women's championship and a women's tag team championship.[60][61] On June 20, Brandi Rhodes officially announced that the AEW Women's World Championship will be unveiled at All Out on August 31.[62]
^Johnson, Mike (May 13, 2018). "ALL IN.....SOLD OUT?". PWInsider. Archived from the original on May 15, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2019. ((cite web)): Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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