WWE Loses International TV Deal To AEW

One more for the other guys. The wrestling world has been shaken up in a big way thanks to the rise of AEW. What originally looked like little more than an idea has become one of the biggest wrestling companies in the world, with hundreds of thousands of fans tuning in every week to watch Dynamite on TNT. Now, another group of fans are going to have that same chance.

One of the biggest advantages that WWE has is that they basically are professional wrestling in a lot of fans’ minds. WWE and pro wrestling are interchangeable to them and that makes for a huge advantage. It isn’t an insurmountable advantage though as AEW has not only been able to carve its own niche, but they have been able to take away some of WWE’s niche at the same time.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Sky Sports Italy has decided to switch from WWE programming to AEW, with Dynamite beginning weekly on Friday July 31. The switch comes after a twenty year relationship with WWE. Sky Sports is changing over to AEW due to a combination of WWE’s low television ratings as well as the high costs of airing the programming. There is no word on where WWE programming will air in Italy.

WWE has been in Italy for a long time. Check out some of their moments in the country:

Opinion: I know it might not seem like much, but this is the kind of thing that can add up in a hurry. Italy is far from some tiny, insignificant country and if AEW can win many more things like this, things could get a little more interesting. Right now WWE needs to find a way to get people watching again though, because with American sports coming back, WWE is going to be in even more trouble in a hurry. The rest will fall into place, but their TV just is not good right now, and it is starting to affect business.

What does this mean for both companies? How close can AEW get to WWE? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for “GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES” to sign up. Thank you for reading!