Rumor: Meltzer Says AEW's Future Under Skydance Is Not Safe
Summary: Unconfirmed: Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio on Nov. 9 that nobody knows if AEW is safe under Skydance, which is cutting costs. No cut has been announced. This is his read, not a report of a plan.
Single source, not confirmed. Heat 2/5 · Chatter
This is a rumor and it is not confirmed. On the Nov. 9 Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said nobody knows what Skydance will do with AEW over the long term, and that claims AEW is already safe are premature. No decision about AEW has been reported, and AEW has not commented.
The quick version
- Not confirmed by Skydance, AEW or Tony Khan. Nothing in the reports we read says Skydance has made a decision about AEW.
- Reliability: Single source, not confirmed. It is Meltzer's analysis, as transcribed by Ringside News and summarized by eWrestlingNews. We did not hear the show.
- Heat 2 of 5. It is a warning about risk, not a report that a cut is planned.
What is being reported
Ringside News (Steve Carrier) printed Meltzer's comments from the Nov. 9 episode. The point he made is about who decides. He said AEW sits under the entertainment side of the company, not the sports side: "whatever decisions are made are being made by the entertainment people, not the sports people."
He said those who call AEW safe may not know that. In his words: "the people who were claiming it didn't even know who was even going to be in charge because they all thought it was going to be under sports and it's not. So nobody knows anything. Whatever happens, happens. There are no guarantees."
On cost cuts, Meltzer said: "If a show is not carrying its weight or even if it is, but it's not necessary, they could get rid of it." He added that AEW is "not the NFL" or "the NBA," and "it's absolutely possible." He also said "there's positives of AEW too, that they may want to be in business with. So time will tell." That is a view of what could happen. It is not a leak.
Ringside says Tony Khan has praised the new owner in public. It quotes Khan as saying: "I love working for Skydance, and we're going to have a great future here." Ringside's page gives no date or place for that quote, and we did not find it elsewhere. Meltzer's reply, per Ringside: "Tony thinks it's great ... and hopefully for him, he's correct."
What we know for certain
Skydance said on Nov. 9 that HBO Max and Paramount+ will be sold as one bundle in early 2027, and Dynamite and Collision stream on HBO Max. See our bundle story. CNN, as we cited there, says Skydance has promised at least $6 billion in savings from the merger. Ringside puts Meltzer's cost-cutting comments against a target of about $6 billion, and says the AEW media agreement runs through at least 2027 with options into 2028. We found that term reported two ways. F4W Online said the deal ends at the end of 2027 with an option year, as noted in our bundle story. We could not reconcile them.
No outlet we read reports an AEW cut, talks about one or a change to AEW's shows.
What would confirm or kill it
A Skydance or AEW statement on AEW's place in the company would settle it. So would news on AEW's next TV deal. Neither has come.
Reported by: Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Nov. 9, 2026, as transcribed by Ringside News (Steve Carrier), Nov. 10, and summarized by eWrestlingNews (Sap Sinha), Nov. 10. We read both in full. We did not hear the show, and eWrestlingNews has no source of its own for the comments. We did not contact Skydance or AEW. Reliability: Single source, not confirmed.
Sources
- Ringside News (Steve Carrier), "AEW's Future Not Guaranteed Under Paramount-Skydance Merger", Nov. 10, 2026 (all Meltzer and Khan quotes, the media-deal term). https://www.ringsidenews.com/aews-future-not-guaranteed-under-paramount-skydance/
- eWrestlingNews (Sap Sinha), "Report - Skydance May Drop AEW", Nov. 10, 2026 (a summary of the same comments). The headline is stronger than the report, which only says AEW is not guaranteed safe. https://www.ewrestlingnews.com/news/aew/report-skydance-may-drop-aew
- Wrestling Observer Radio (Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez), Nov. 9, 2026 episode. No link: we did not hear the show and read it only as transcribed by Ringside News.
- WrestlingNews.com, "HBO Max-Paramount+ Bundle Set for 2027; AEW Streams on HBO Max", Nov. 10, 2026 (the bundle, the $6 billion savings figure as reported by CNN, the two reports on the deal length). https://wrestlingnews.com/story/hbo-max-paramount-bundle-early-2027-aew-streaming/
- Reliability: Single source, not confirmed.
- WrestlingNews.com staff reporting: read the Ringside News transcript and the eWrestlingNews summary in full and checked them against our earlier bundle story. We did not hear the podcast or contact Skydance, AEW or Tony Khan.
How we credit sources: Editorial standards.