All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite (TV Series 2019– )
TVSeries
8.7 /10| Creators |
|---|
| Information | |
|---|---|
| Release Date | 2019-10-02 |
| Runtime | 2h 0mins |
| Genre | Sport |
| Content Rating | TV-14 (TV-14) |
| Awards | |
| Company | All Elite Wrestling (AEW), Pro Wrestling Elite |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
AEW Dynamite
AEW Dynamite, also known as Wednesday Night Dynamite or simply Dynamite, is a professional wrestling television program produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) that airs every Wednesday at 8pm ET on TNT in the United States. The show debuted on October 2, 2019, and serves as the flagship program of AEW. AEW Dynamite is the first professional wrestling program to air on TNT since the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro on March 26, 2001.
TV Guide listed AEW Dynamite at 57 of the top 100 shows on TV, saying "AEW Dynamite’s arrival was an electric jolt to mainstream wrestling, which had gotten creatively stagnant over the last few years."
History
AEW, which launched in January 2019, filed for several trademarks, including Tuesday Night Dynamite, presumably a name for a television show. In June 2019, AEW filed an additional trademark for Wednesday Night Dynamite, leading to many sources believing the show would air on Wednesday nights under this name.
On May 15, 2019, AEW and WarnerMedia announced a deal for a weekly prime-time show airing live on TNT and would also stream live events and pay-per-views on B/R Live in the United States and Canada.
In April, Jim Ross confirmed the show would be a weekly two-hour live show. During Fight for the Fallen, Chris Jericho confirmed the show would be starting in October. On July 24, AEW announced the show would premiere on Wednesday, October 2, and would broadcast live from the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. On August 2, it was announced that the show had sold out within 3 hours of tickets going on sale. AEW President Tony Khan said that they chose to air the show on Wednesday nights instead of Tuesday nights because TNT airs the National Basketball Association (NBA) on Tuesday and Thursday nights, and it also prevented competition against the National Football League (NFL) on Thursday nights, as it might compete with Khan's NFL franchise.
In August 2019, WWE announced that it was moving their WWE Network show NXT to the USA Network and expanding the program to a live, two-hour broadcast in the same timeslot as AEW's upcoming show. NXT premiered on USA on September 18, two weeks before AEW's broadcast debut on TNT. On August 30, the day before All Out, TNT aired a one-hour special called Countdown to All Out at 10pm ET, which averaged 390,000 viewers.
Like they had done for each of their pay-per-view events, AEW began a "Road to" YouTube series on September 4 entitled The Road to AEW on TNT to build anticipation for the debut broadcast of the show. On September 19, 2019, the show's name was revealed as All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite. A two-hour preview show called Countdown to All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite aired on October 1 at 8pm ET and averaged 631,000 viewers.
On October 2, 2019, Dynamite debuted on TNT which averaged 1.409 million viewers, which made it the largest television debut on TNT in five years. Also on October 2, NXT would make their two-hour debut on USA Network (the previous two episodes featured the first hour on USA with the second hour on the WWE Network), and they averaged 891,000 viewers. Dynamite beat out NXT in viewership and more than doubled its competition in the key adults 18-49 demographic, scoring 878,000 viewers compared to NXT's 414,000. This would also mark the beginning of the "Wednesday Night Wars". Prior to and after the episode, untelevised matches were filmed to air on AEW Dark on the following Tuesdays (except before pay-per-view events, where the episodes air Fridays) on AEW's YouTube channel.
AEW ran empty arena shows March 18–25, 2020 and again from May 6-August 19, 2020, from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida, and taped six weeks of shows March 31-April 2 from One Fall Power Factory in Norcross, Georgia, because of the COVID-19 pandemic causing restrictions for live events around the world. AEW began allowing more family and friends of essential personnel, and on August 27, 2020 (moved to Thursday because of NBA playoff games), AEW resumed live audiences, again from Daily's Place. During the pandemic, in order to allow more time off, AEW will often tape two weeks of shows in two days (live Wednesday, then a taping Thursday) and allow wrestlers a week off. This procedure has also allowed AEW to pre-tape Thanksgiving and Christmas shows in advance using the format.
Roster
The wrestlers featured on All Elite Wrestling take part in scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers are portrayed as heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match.
Commentators
| Commentators | Dates |
|---|---|
| Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, and Excalibur | October 2, 2019 – present |
| Jim Ross and Excalibur | November 27, 2019 |
| Jim Ross, Excalibur, and Taz | January 1, 2020 February 26, 2020 (2nd hour) March 18, 2020 July 15, 2020 (1st hour) September 30, 2020 |
| Tony Schiavone, Cody, and Kenny Omega | March 25, 2020 |
| Tony Schiavone and Cody | April 1, 2020 (1st hour) |
| Tony Schiavone and Colt Cabana | April 1, 2020 (2nd hour) |
| Tony Schiavone and Chris Jericho | April 8, 2020 – April 29, 2020 |
| Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur, and Chris Jericho | June 10, 2020 (1st hour) July 1, 2020 September 22, 2020 November 4, 2020 December 30, 2020 – January 6, 2021 |
| Jim Ross, Excalibur, and Chris Jericho | July 15, 2020 (2nd hour) |
| Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, and Taz | July 29, 2020 – August 22, 2020 |
| Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, and Chris Jericho | August 27, 2020 |
Ring announcers
| Ring announcers | Dates |
|---|---|
| Justin Roberts | October 2, 2019 – present |
| Dasha Gonzalez | November 27, 2019 April 1, 2020 – June 3, 2020 |
| Brandi Rhodes | March 18, 2020 – March 25, 2020 |
Broadcast
In the United States, Dynamite airs live Wednesdays on TNT at 8pm ET. On January 15, 2020, it was announced that TNT had extended the contract for the series through 2023.
Online streaming
On September 25, 2019, AEW announced an international streaming deal with FITE TV primarily for regions outside of the United States and Canada via the "AEW Plus" package, which includes live streaming and replay access of Dynamite in simulcast with its U.S. airing.
On October 22, 2020, AEW reached an agreement with the digital platform with Pluto TV broadcasting its repeat events (including past pay-per-view) with commentators in spanish from Latin America.
Canada
In Canada, Bell Media's TSN acquired broadcast rights to Dynamite, marking the return of professional wrestling to the network after WWE Raw moved to rival network The Score (now Sportsnet 360) in 2006. The show is broadcast in simulcast with TNT in the U.S (but is subject to scheduling) and is streamed on TSN Direct as well as TSN's website.
United Kingdom
On May 8, 2019, AEW reached a new media rights deal with British media company ITV plc to broadcast AEW shows on ITV4. In the United Kingdom, Dynamite will be added to ITV Hub on Thursday evenings, and air on ITV4 on Friday nights.
Europe
On October 22, 2019, TNT Serie announced a deal to air Dynamite on Friday nights in Germany. On October 24, 2019, Toonami announced a deal to air Dynamite on Tuesday nights in France. On July 21, 2020, Sky Sport and AEW announced a deal to air Dynamite on Friday nights in Italy, replacing WWE programming.
Latin America
On November 22, 2020, Dynamite began airing on Space, a WarnerMedia International channel in Brazil and on Space's Spanish feed, available throughout Latin America on Sundays.
Africa
Dynamite is scheduled to premiere on TNT Africa on February 5th, 2021.
