Report: AEW Were Restricted From Promoting Wrestle Dynasty By New Max Deal

Last weekend saw Wrestle Dynasty take place in Tokyo, Japan, a cross-promotional pay-per-view most prominently featuring New Japan Pro-Wrestling and AEW.

However, many fans were aware of a curious lack of promotion for the show on AEW's side of things, despite the card including several of the company's big names - most notably Kenny Omega's return to the ring for the first time since December 2023.

A reason for this has now been suggested by Bryan Alvarez, speaking on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio. Alvarez explained:

"So then we had the [AEW] Collision show, which was completely bizarre, because this aired immediately prior to Wrestle Dynasty, and literally the words 'Wrestle Dynasty' were mentioned one time on this show in an inset promo by Don Callis. They didn't plug this show. They didn’t tell you when it was on, what was happening, nothing. It was like it didn’t exist.

"[The reason for this] is because of the Max deal which is on a different streaming service. But, man, it was weird to watch. [...] On Wednesday, they literally were saying, ‘We don’t know when [Kenny Omega] is going to be back.’ It was like Japan didn't even happen."

All Elite Wrestling's new TV deal with Warner Bros. Discovery began in January 2025 and sees AEW TV be simulcast on Max along with Dynamite on TBS and Collision on TNT.

Several AEW names scored big victories at Wrestle Dynamite. Omega triumphed in his return bout against Gabe Kidd, the Young Bucks won the IWGP Tag Team Titles in a three-way match, and Konosuke Takeshita successfully defended both the AEW International Championship and New Japan's NEVER Openweight belt against Tomohiro Ishii.

H/T to WrestlingNews.co.

Sign up to the Cultaholic Wrestling Newsletter now.