Tons of new stuff from Meltzer in the Observer this week:
- They are negotiating with two major cable networks for a live weekly two-hour show
AEW opened picking up sizable talent and there are very serious negotiations with two major cable stations for a weekly two-hour live prime time television show
- The Jacksonville show is expected to take place in July, and the third show is expected to take place in Chicago in September
The second AEW show will be during the summer in Jacksonville, with a large percentage of proceeds going to benefit victims of gun violence. There is still a lot to work out for the show, but it will most likely be in July or closely related to that.
The third show, as yet unannounced, is likely to be in Chicago, possibly back at the Sears Center, over Labor Day weekend with the idea of being the anniversary of the first All In, and would also be a PPV show.
- They are unlikely to land Mayu Iwatani, but are looking at other Japanese women including bringing in Aja Kong
Women wrestlers from Stardom and other promotions have been contacted. One of the key ones was Mayu Iwatani, who is unlikely to come. ROH, which also has an affiliation with Stardom, paid for Iwatani's three-year U.S. visa so unless ROH and AWE make a deal, which will be difficult because they are competitors, Stardom feels it would be wrong to have her work against ROH, which also has booked Iwatani for its Madison Square Garden show.
Several Japanese women have been talked about for at least certain dates, including Hall of Famer Aja Kong, but that deal is not believed to be completed. But the Japanese women are being heavily scouted.
- Tuesday Night Dynamite probably won't be a thing
While Tuesday Night Dynamite was trademarked and that obviously meant Tuesday was the plan at that time, it is up to the station they sign with and right now Tuesday looks highly unlikely, but two hours of live prime time is still the plan with either deal.
- The Young Bucks turned down a very unique deal from WWE
Paul Levesque worked hard at getting all four into WWE. Page was offered main roster money to work NXT, where he'd have been pushed as one of its top stars. The Bucks & Cody were offered strong deals. The Bucks deal was for money roughly the same as WWE champion A.J. Styles, which would have also included BTE being made a regular weekly show on the WWE Network, as well as something I've never heard WWE concede on, which was a six-month window where they could have left their three-year contract if they wanted and weren't happy with their push.
Of course, WWE was fully aware of the Khan deal as this was going down, which was one of the reasons they went so hard in locking up talent of late. The great offer with the six-month window was with knowledge that Khan was not doing the promotion without The Bucks & Cody and signing them would keep them from being opposition. Without them, Khan wouldn't have the star power and stars of All In, meaning he'd likely not have the openings to everything from television to top talent that was necessary.
Those who work in WWE with knowledge of the deal were certain they wouldn't turn it down, and outright told me that they would be debuting at the Rumble, and had a Rumble-to-Mania significant storyline. When they made the decision to go to AEW, they remarked that it was mind-boggling that they would ever get an offer at that level, and even more that they were turning it down. But they did roughly 12 hours of talks with Levesque, who they heavily praised in how he handled everything, in particular seeing the comedy aspect in the skit they did where they superkicked Kazarian dressed up as him over-and-over in what was the public turning down of the offer on BTE.