More Details On AEW’s TV Series: Wednesday Night Dynamite Not Official Name Yet, Venue Goals, More

Yesterday, AEW announced that their weekly TV series would officially debut on TNT on October 2 at 8 PM ET and would then air for two hours weekly on the cable channel. The latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has more details on AEW’s plans for the series.

First up, as alluded to yesterday, Wednesday Night Dynamite may not be the final name for the show. It has been rumored and AEW did file a trademark for it, but it was not used in the company’s press release. Only All Elite Wrestling was used, but Tony Khan has said that would not be the name of the show. It’s believed that announcement will happen in the next week or so. While Dynamite is still an option, other names are being test marketed.

The current plan is to run weekly on TNT with the exception of being pre-empted on Christmas Day.

AEW plans to run different-sized arenas, depending on demand, with most venues set up to hold between 6,000 and 11,000. There will also be occasional shows set from unique locations. The Observer calls this number “ambitious” when compared to WWE’s attendance for RAW and Smackdown events, the latter of which usually falls below 6,000. That number is expected to go up, however, with the move to FOX and Fridays.

AEW TV tapings will begin at 7:30 PM ET, and will include a warm-up match before the TV show actually begins.

Now that the date and time are set, the company is likely to begin to finalize negotiations for international TV deals soon. This would likely include ITV 4 in the UK, which is rumored to air AEW from 1-3 AM early Thursday morning. Canada and other markets are also options, and German TV officials were at Double or Nothing for a possible deal.

The premiere of the series will go head-to-head with MLB playoffs, which will be at least three of the four Wednesdays through October 23, including the World Series on the latter date. There is a National League playoff game on October 2, an Americna League playoff game on October 16 and the second game of the World Series on October 23. If there is a seventh game in the Series, it will be on October 30. This is nothing new for wrestling, however, which always faces competition from baseball in October.