Tony Khan Hypes AEW's 'Great Future' With Skydance Following Paramount-WBD Merger

Ahead of Grand Slam France on Tuesday, AEW CEO Tony Khan was bullish about the pro wrestling's promotion future following the completion of Paramount Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery earlier that day for $110 billion.

"It's great to be here in Paris. My first time here in Paris was with Warner Bros. as we were preparing to renew AEW's TV deal. And it's great being here in Paris today. My first day working for Skydance, and it's great. I love working for Skydance and we're going to have a great future here. It's our first day hand-in-hand with our Paramount brothers and sisters here at Warner Bros. and it's going to be a great, great future for AEW, and it begins on Tuesday Night Dynamite Grand Slam tonight," Khan said on X/Twitter.

Tony Khan has consistently been publicly and privately positive about AEW's future since Paramount Skydance announced their plans to acquire WBD in February 2026, with the new combined company now simply known as Skydance. As part of the acquisition, Skydance took over WBD's minority stake in All Elite Wrestling, and AEW will continue to air on TBS, TNT, and HBO Max in the United States until at least the end of 2027 as part of a $555 million TV deal that took effect at the beginning of 2025, with AEW having aired on WBD networks since 2019.

Not everyone has been quite so bullish about AEW's long-term future, though, with reports having noted that an undisclosed pro wrestling company believes AEW could be in trouble due to Skydance co-CEO David Ellison's friendship with TKO CEO Ari Emanuel.