>>14470001I also appreciate your levelheadedness, but this was already the stance in mid-2023 when WBD exercised the 1-year option instead of giving AEW a new deal. AEW has since added Jay White, Adam Copeland, Mercedes, Ospreay and Okada, who combine for well over $12,000,000/year. Add in some bit players like Kamille, Purrazzo, Mariah May, Aussie Open, etc, along with huge raises for Bucks, Omega and Hangman, along with raises upcoming for Darby, MJF, Swerve, Samoa Joe, Hayter, DMD, Orange Cassidy, Adam Cole, and others.....that $100M-72M spread is already long gone. The declining attendance and PPV sales cancels out expansion to 12 PPV events per year, which are mostly Streaming-bait anyway.
To be clear, I'm not saying AEW is ded or will kick the bucket soon, just pointing out, you cannot continue to replace bottom-roster talent with marquee free agents, while giving your home growns big raises, and make a profit. Doesn't work that way. If Tony is OK with continuing to lose money, that's fine. As I've said before, it's better than Tony shutting down AEW and buying yachts or opening some luxury golf course instead.
