AEW Dynamite might be airing live tonight in North America, but its TV deal in the UK has left a sour taste in the mouths of many British fans.
Tonight's the night! The night when the wrestling landscape is likely changed forever. NXT will go live for two hours on USA for the first time. Meanwhile, over on TNT, the first episode of AEW's weekly show, Dynamite will air. Neither side might want to label it a Wednesday Night War but let's be honest, they're both competing for viewership.
Annoyingly for fans outside of the US, the rush to get on TV means neither show will be airing live in some pretty major markets. British fans were led to believe Dynamite would be airing live each week on ITV 4. Both AEW and ITV certainly led fans to believe that. However, with just a week left until go-time, it was revealed that Dynamite wouldn't be airing in the UK until four days after it happened.
RELATED: AEW Lands Canadian TV Deal On TSN
Since AEW PPVs will air on Saturdays, showing Dynamite on Sunday mornings isn't exactly ideal. The solution was something called AEW+, a subscription service on which fans will be able to watch Dynamite live. However, paying money for a show that should be on free TV hasn't exactly been a hit with the fans.
Tony Khan promised to work on the situation, and today, ITV revealed a compromise. While Dynamite still won't air live in the UK, outside of AEW+, fans will not have to wait until the following Sunday to watch it. Instead, the full two-hour show will be available on ITV's free streaming service, ITV Hub the following day from 7 pm. That will begin tomorrow with the very first episode of the show.
Hub is widely available on a number of platforms including laptops, mobiles, games consoles, and set-top boxes. As for when the show will air on TV, that situation has also been improved upon. Instead of Sunday mornings, Dynamite will now be shown unedited on ITV 4 at 11:20 pm on Friday nights. The show will still keep its Sunday morning timeslot, and a shorter, one-hour version of the show will air on Monday nights. It's still not perfect, but it's definitely an improvement.