It is owned by father and son duo Shahid and Tony Khan, with the latter serving as president and chief executive officer.

[10][11] AEW was founded on January 1, 2019 by Tony Khan and professional wrestlers Matt and Nick Jackson, Cody Rhodes, and Kenny Omega, who all served as co-executive vice presidents.

[13] AEW's other largest PPV shows All Out, Double or Nothing, Full Gear, and Revolution, which are produced quarterly and considered (with All In) its "Big Five" events.

[14] AEW first expanded abroad in October 2022, when it held a live broadcast of Dynamite in Toronto, Canada, followed by a Rampage taping the next night at the same venue.

The promotion held its first PPV outside North America in August 2023 with All In London at Wembley Stadium, which also marked AEW's debut in the United Kingdom.

[15][16] In 2024, AEW was ranked by Forbes as the third most valuable combat sports organization in the world, after the Ultimate Fighting Championship and WWE, with an estimated value of $2 billion.

[19] The comment was responded to by professional wrestlers Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks (the tag team of Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson), who were then top stars signed to ROH and good friends both inside and outside of professional wrestling as part of the group Bullet Club (and later part of the sub-Bullet Club faction, The Elite).

The event sold out in 30 minutes and had the largest audience in attendance for a professional wrestling show in the United States held and organized by promoters not affiliated with WWE or WCW since 1993.

[39][40] The Khans are billionaires and part of the ownership group of the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team and Fulham F.C..[41] Cody's wife, Brandi Rhodes, was announced as the company's chief brand officer on January 3, 2019.

Other big announcements included Kenny Omega joining as a wrestler and the company's fourth co-Executive Vice President, as well as the signings of Sammy Guevara, The Lucha Brothers (Pentagón Jr. and Rey Fénix) and Best Friends (Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor).

It took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada and saw the debut of Jon Moxley, formerly known as Dean Ambrose in WWE.

Following the suspension of the 2019-20 NBA season after two players tested positive for the virus, the March 18 episode of Dynamite was held without spectators from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida.

[60][61] That year's Double or Nothing was supposed to take place on May 23, but on April 8, the MGM Grand Garden Arena announced that they had canceled all events up through May 31 due to the pandemic.

In response, AEW announced that Double or Nothing would still proceed as planned but from Daily's Place, as well as TIAA Bank Field for the main event match.

[67] AEW announced the return of ticketed fans to live events on August 20, following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines including wearing masks, physical distancing, and temperature checks.

[79] On August 27, 2021, it was revealed that Dark would begin being taped at its own set within Universal Studios Florida in Orlando at Soundstage 21.

[80] On the March 2 episode of Dynamite, Tony Khan announced that he had purchased Ring of Honor from Sinclair Broadcast Group, including its brand assets, intellectual property, and video library.

[85] Later in 2022, AEW promoted its first events outside of the United States, when they held a live broadcast of Dynamite on October 12 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, followed by a Rampage taping the next night at the same venue.

[101] All In subsequently took place at Wembley Stadium as scheduled, coinciding with the United Kingdom's August Bank Holiday weekend.

Discovery (WBD) announced a multi-year contract extension; the contract maintains AEW's existing programs on TBS and TNT but adds digital rights for WBD's streaming platform Max in the United States; beginning in January 2025, AEW's weekly television programs are simulcast on Max.

[103][104][105] Prior to Dynamite and pay-per-view events, AEW released a "Road to..." and "Countdown to..." series of videos on its official YouTube channel.

[106] In November 2019, AEW announced Bash at the Beach, a nine-day series of events, featuring two episodes of Dynamite, including one aboard Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea.

[108] On May 19, 2021, amid TNT's acquisition of rights to the National Hockey League, AEW announced that Dynamite would move to sister channel TBS in January 2022.

TNT would subsequently receive two new AEW programs, including a new hour-long Friday-night show known as Rampage beginning August 13, and a series of quarterly specials.

[113] In May 2023, AEW and WBD announced a third weekly television series—Collision—a two-hour program which would be broadcast on Saturday nights by TNT beginning June 17.

[114][115] Beginning with the seventh special on July 15, 2023, Battle of the Belts would be moved back to Saturday nights and would air live after Collision.

[116] On the February 22, 2023, episode of Dynamite, Tony Khan and Adam Cole announced a new television program beginning on March 29 called AEW: All Access.

[105] Broadcast (*) - Also airs via live streaming on Max Online exclusive Former AEW pay-per-view events are available on Triller TV in other international markets.

Over one year later on the April 20, 2022 edition of Dynamite, it was announced that AEW and NJPW reached an agreement to co-produce a pay-per-view event titled AEW×NJPW: Forbidden Door, which took place at the United Center in Chicago on June 26.

[144] AEW signs most of its talent to exclusive contracts, under which they can appear or perform only on AEW programming and events (which includes ROH) or AEW-approved independent events; additionally, AEW allows periodic appearances from wrestlers and personalities from partner promotions, including Japan's New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW),[145] DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT), Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling (TJPW), Pro Wrestling Noah,[146] and World Wonder Ring Stardom, and Mexico's Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL).