ESPN recently removed all listings for AEW from their website, although they continue to publish news about the promotion. This significant shift in ESPN's coverage follows a major deal with WWE, which will see WWE’s premium live events air on ESPN platforms.
According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, tensions between ESPN and AEW date back to a 2023 interview with CM Punk. In this interview, Punk made several "highly negative" comments about AEW World Champion "Hangman" Adam Page. It is believed that AEW leaked the interview to its talent, resulting in it being published on various wrestling websites before ESPN could report on it. Following this incident, ESPN lost interest in working with AEW. However, major events like All In at Wembley Stadium were reportedly “too big to ignore.”
Dave Meltzer noted that this decision appears to be more from ESPN than WWE, as WWE would likely avoid such actions due to their past legal issues with MLW, which led to a $20 million settlement for antitrust violations.
