AEW News Extravaganza: 5th Anniversary, WBD Deal, Adam Cole

Fightful Select's Sean Ross Sapp has learned the following details from AEW Dynamite's 5th Anniversary show.

• "The Final Countdown" is expected to be used for Bryan Danielson again.

• Adam Cole was backstage at the AEW Dynamite show in Pittsburgh. He's expected to return soon. Cole is from the area.

• Daniel Garcia has not been backstage at recent events. AEW has been hopeful that he'll re-sign with the company. We can confirm Ibou of WrestlePurists report that there were creative pitches in the event that he comes back.

• Switchblade Jay White is back and is cleared. They were hoping to get him cleared ahead of All In to be in the Casino Gauntlet, but weren't able to.

• Powerhouse Hobbs continues to travel with AEW ahead of his return and after being cleared.

• Britt Baker was in Pittsburgh throughout the week ahead of the show and did a ton of media.

• Sammy Guevara was knocked out and stretchered out during the ROH tapings. We're told that he was walking around backstage following the injury, which was good news.

• Kelly Madan was also stretchered out after an ROH match with Lady Frost. She was taken to the hospital next door, and we're told is recovering. She didn't appear to sustain an injury outside of a possible concussion.

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful has learned the following about the AEW-WBD deal.

•  The deal is closer to $185M annual average (per @WrestleVotes and Sean Ross Sapp on our WBD-AEW Breaking news stream). Both sides said they didn't provide the $150m number to Variety. Variety reported "upwards of" $150M, but that means more than.

•  Both WBD and AEW sources had no knowledge of any equity situation, and reps said they've never been briefed on that. If it's the case, longtime employees of AEW have also never been told something of that sort.

•  Dynamite and Collision will air in their normal time slot and days, and also be streamed on Max. This was an important factor for both sides.

•  Dynamite, Collision and Rampage replays will be the library of footage available on Max. We've heard nothing of PPVs from 2019-2014 being included as of yet.

•  PPVs will be added to Max for a discounted price to subscribers in 2025. We've not learned if WBD "bought" the PPVs or will continue to split revenue.

•  Rampage will not be featured on WBD in 2025. AEW gets more money for less programming. AEW had already discussed to possibility of shopping Rampage elsewhere early in the Summer, but we've not heard of plans to continue the show. The program was one that WBD wanted in 2021.

•  ROH and TruTV were not mentioned in the press materials. For the time being, ROH will operate the same as they have prior.

•  WBD had exclusivity over AEW broadcast content on TV, but now do not. AEW could theoretically bring back the likes of AEW Dark if they chose.

• WBD sources confirmed Andrew Zarian's report from last year that they'd approached AEW about the possibility of integrating PPVs on Max in 2023. They also noted there was a dialogue regarding the future of AEW-WBD as far back as early last year, and WBD actually thought some of the overtures for plans in the Spring of last year would go through.

• AEW and WBD always expected to continue to work together.