All Elite Wrestling (AEW), an American professional wrestling organisation, has announced a new exclusive broadcast rights deal with Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN).
The service will start airing games and other material to subscribers in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands from February 16.
The announcement represents the first broadcast relationship between ESPN and a professional wrestling business in the region and the first broadcast arrangement for AEW in these markets. The new pro wrestling league has established record-high ratings since its debut in January 2019 and has been a top competitor to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in terms of ratings.
The sporting organisation said in a statement, “Each week on ESPN, fans in the region can catch all the action on “AEW: DYNAMITE” on Thursday AEDT, and “AEW: RAMPAGE” on Saturday AEDT, with same-day replays and episodes made available on-demand. In addition, through ESPN, fans will have access to all of AEW’s quarterly pay-per-view events on delay: REVOLUTION, DOUBLE OR NOTHING, ALL OUT and FULL GEAR.”
The group’s fighter roster includes Chris Jericho, Bryan Danielson, MJF, Jon Moxley, Jamie Hayter, Saraya, Kenny Omega and many other talented superstars.
AEW has also released collections of video games, action figures, trading cards, and merchandise to stay up with fan interaction opportunities. The broadcaster recently partnered with the Association of Pickleball Professionals to broaden its sporting reach (APP).
Tom Webb, APP Chief Marketing Officer, said, “Over 36.5 million Americans played pickleball in 2022 and this media package enables those fans to tune in to our world-class tournaments, and introduces the sport and its best players to millions more.”