By Dan, Wrestling Spot Editor
Ahead of this week’s AEW Dynamite on Wednesday 20th April, the Jacksonville based promotion have been teasing a huge announcement from Tony Khan. As well as on AEW programming, this has been promoted on Twitter posts advertising the show card.
Wrestling Spot makes five possible predictions on what the big news could be.
1- Possible joint AEW and NJPW show
Links between All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Wrestling have been strong for some time now with a partnership between the two wrestling promotions in place. AEW stars such as Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston and Brodie King have been apart of NJPW events. NJPW stars such as Rocky Romero, Satoshi Kojima and Jay White also having competed in AEW matches. Since the news a major announcement was in coming, speculation has been mounting online that AEW and NJPW may come together for a combined ‘super show’ later this year. The respected David Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer that AEW would not confirm or deny reports when asked.
2- Ring of Honor update
There has been much speculation on what the future of Ring of Honor may look like under Tony Khan’s ownership. ROH recently returned with its Supercard of Honor PPV event after its hiatus. The event seen Jonathan Gresham, Wheeler Yuta, FTR and Mercedes Martinez all win championship matches and appearances from the Young Bucks and Samoa Joe. ROH championships have since been contested on AEW programming. Tony Khan has spoken about how discussions are ongoing with Warner Media over ROH with him hoping to get a weekly distribution deal. Could a new ROH television deal be the big announcement?
3- AEW streaming deal
One possible announcement could be that AEW is to either join a major streaming provider or develop its own streaming service in a similar vein to WWE’s presence on Peacock and its own WWE network. This could feature AEW’s weekly programmes, as well as its historic content library and additional content. It could also potentially feature Ring of Honor’s historic content library with Tony Khan speaking of his wish to make this available, particularly as many AEW stars started out in ROH.
4. AEW Games announcement
Could the big announcement be related to the development of AEW’s console game? This has been in development for sometime and while there has been some updates, a lot remains to be announced, including the release date. Last week it was reported that the release could come as early as September.
5. A major signing?
AEW has sprung a surprise before with ‘big announcements.’ We all remember the announcement of the First Dance special episode in which rumours that CM Punk could be about to join AEW became all the more real. In recent months, stars such as Andrade El Idlo, Malaki Black, William Regal, Keith Lee, Swerve Strickland, Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson have all made their entrances. Could Tony Khan be about to spring another surprise?
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