Case Study: All Elite Wrestling Scales a Global Wrestling Empire with Signiant

Founded in 2019, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) emerged as a disruptive force in professional wrestling. With weekly shows like Dynamite and Collision, major pay-per-view events, and the acquisition of Ring of Honor, AEW has quickly grown from a single show to a global entertainment brand. Its content now airs in 140 countries and eight languages, requiring a reliable, modern media infrastructure.

The Challenge

From the beginning, AEW understood that to rival the distribution of established global sports leagues, a strong file transfer solution was essential. Delivering weekly content, managing version control, maintaining tight deadlines, and meeting varying codec requirements for each broadcast partner is a complex process that can only flow properly with mission-critical tools.

AEW needed a way to streamline global content distribution while maintaining control, visibility, and reliability across all transfers.

The Solution

After evaluating many tools, they adopted Signiant Media Shuttle for their production needs and to centralize and simplify their global distribution. With branded portals organized by show, partners access only the content they’ve licensed. Media Shuttle enables fast, secure delivery of broadcast masters and supporting files, while AEW retains full administrative control.

The Value

For AEW, the value of Signiant Media Shuttle goes far beyond simple file transfer. It’s a foundational tool that supports the speed, scale, and complexity of a fast-moving media brand. AEW relies on Signiant to ensure consistent, error-free delivery to some of the biggest broadcasters in the world with total confidence that the files will be delivered on time, in the right format, and to the right hands. “One of the nice things about Signiant is that it just works, every time”

A Wrestling Revolution, Delivered to the World

All Elite Wrestling (AEW) launched in 2019, building around a new wave of talent, a commitment to compelling storytelling, and a fresh approach to production. The movement gained immediate traction, culminating in television deals for its weekly shows AEW Dynamite on TBS and AEW Collision on TNT, with both streaming on HBO Max — a turning point that signaled a true alternative for wrestling fans.

AEW quickly expanded with major pay-per-view events like All In, Double or Nothing and All Out. The company has since acquired Ring of Honor (ROH), distributes content in over 140 countries and eight languages, and is currently onboarding a deep content archive to the streaming platform, Max.

From the outset, AEW understood the need for a robust file transfer solution to support its global distribution and adopted the Signiant Platform. Through every leap in scale and complexity, three things have remained constant: a fiercely loyal fanbase, a powerhouse team behind the scenes, and the Signiant Platform — quietly moving AEW’s media to the world.

AEW’s Seamless Live-to-Post Pipeline

Every week, AEW delivers a packed lineup of programming — Dynamite on Wednesdays, Collision on Saturdays, nine annual pay-per-view events, and a growing slate under the Ring of Honor brand, including weekly episodes and three additional streaming PPVs per year.

Capture the intensity of live wrestling, AEW depends on the energy and precision of an onsite production team. But remote workflows also play a critical role. Even before COVID pushed the industry toward distributed models, AEW was already investing in ways to extend production beyond the venue.

“AEW was very fortunate to benefit from the change in times when it came to technology in almost establishing a remote workflow before COVID really made it commonplace,” says Mike Mansury, EVP and Head of Global Production. “But in order for us to execute our product in the best way possible, it has to be done onsite; it’s such a combination of theater and sport that you just don’t have that connection to it if you’re doing it remotely.”

With Signiant Media Shuttle, media from each event is quickly transferred to AEW’s Nashville post facility, where it’s used to create additional content and support global distribution — ensuring fans everywhere stay connected to the action.

To meet the demands of a global audience, AEW’s post team creates two distinct mastering formats. For domestic platforms, they produce an HD ProRes 29.97 master — roughly 90GB for a two-hour show. For international partners, they generate a 25p HD MXF version, typically around 40GB. Both are uploaded to Signiant Share portals for immediate access by more than 30 licensed partners worldwide.

AEW’s hybrid approach preserves the energy of live wrestling while optimizing post-production through a distributed model — all connected by a high-performance backbone powered by Signiant.

Reevaluating the Software Playbook

AEW VP of Global Partnerships, Shane Emerson, spent most of his pre-AEW career working with IBM Aspera, but when AEW needed to expand to a more robust global distribution model, Emerson and his team took a fresh approach.

“I’ve grown up in the business with Aspera,” he says. “But when the AEW opportunity came, we looked at everything: Amazon’s delivery platform, Aspera, Signiant. We ran the gamut on tests and what would work for our team.”

 AEW needed a system that could scale quickly, integrate seamlessly with their AWS backend, and support their broader infrastructure — including their Snowflake data platform. What also tipped the scales was a combination of factors — cost, flexibility, security, and ease of use.

The Signiant Platform enables fast, reliable transfers without hidden costs or constraints. With simple no-surprise pricing, Signiant delivers the speed AEW demands without the operational overhead or high total cost of ownership.

Now, AEW doesn’t have to worry about file sizes, transfer limits, or charges based on bandwidth consumption.Signiant simply “checked all the boxes.”

“It is a true one-stop shop for all our partners, and it has scaled beautifully as we have grown our partnerships.”

Easy Global Distribution with Signiant

Back in 2019, All Elite Wrestling had just one international partner — ITV in the UK. When Shane Emerson joined AEW, there was no formal distribution process in place; the team would simply upload a single file for a single partner.

“We knew we needed a robust system that could grow with us to distribute to multiple clients and just be industry standard,” explains Emerson.

Since then, AEW has scaled dramatically. Today, the company delivers content to over 140 countries in eight languages. With Signiant serving as a single source of truth, all partners access content through a unified platform — giving AEW full visibility and control over who’s accessing what, and when.

The AEW team designed the distribution system using Signiant Media Shuttle portals as a single access point for partners. Each event — whether All In, Ring of Honor, or a major pay-per-view — has its own uniquely branded Share portal, organized by season, so partners can quickly locate the content they’ve licensed.

“We work with the top broadcasters in the world who only have access to the content they have licensed. That’s a great feature for us to have that kind of protection within the system,” Emerson states.

Since adopting Signiant, AEW has built a reputation for reliability, making content available within two hours after each show — totaling over 260 hours a year.

“If we’re delayed by even 10 minutes, people jump the gun and want to start downloading,” Emerson laughs. “They’re just in a hurry because our team has been rock-solid about getting the shows up.”

Securing Trust in Every File Transfer

As AEW’s global presence has grown, so too has the importance of secure content delivery. In an era of heightened concern around data privacy and content protection, contractual requirements regarding file transfers have become more stringent. Like many leading media companies, AEW has responded by making secure file transfer a fundamental part of its global media operations.

The Signiant Platform is built for this new reality. With SOC 2 Type 2 certification and Trusted Partner Network (TPN) assessments, it provides the security assurances required by top-tier partners and studios. For AEW, it also delivers peace of mind that valuable content is protected at every stage of the workflow.

At the user level, AEW benefits from granular access controls that ensure internal teams and global partners can only access the content they’re authorized to use.

“[With] new staff it is very easy. We set them up with access to upload, download — whatever we need internally,” says Emerson. “I love the simplicity of adding the email access to just download.” This blend of enterprise-grade security and ease of use is essential to AEW’s fast-paced media environment.

The Road Ahead: Scaling with Confidence

AEW’s journey from independent disruptor to international wrestling powerhouse has been anything but ordinary. With every pay-per-view, weekly show, and new global partner, the company continues to prove that innovation, consistency, and fan connection can power real industry change. But behind the bright lights and roaring crowds is a complex media operation that depends on speed, reliability, and trust.

Signiant Media Shuttle has been more than just a file transfer solution for AEW — it’s been a strategic enabler. It empowers a lean, agile team to deliver massive volumes of content on tight deadlines, ensures security and compliance across borders, and gives broadcasters the confidence they need to air AEW’s programming without disruption.

As AEW steps into an even larger spotlight — with more content, more platforms, and more fans — Signiant will continue to play a key role in making the show go on. From backstage to broadcast, AEW knows their media will move with the same precision and passion that defines everything they do in the ring.

“Signiant worked for us then, it works for us now, and we see it working for us in the long term.”

The Results

• Global reach: AEW now delivers weekly shows to partners in 140 countries, in eight languages, with minimal delay. Signiant enables AEW to grow its global reach without borders all while branding each portal by show (Dynamite, Collision, Ring of Honor, etc.).
• Fast, reliable delivery: Signiant enables fast and reliable delivery of AEW’s large media files (90GB+ per show), with partners now accustomed to AEW’s ‘rock-solid delivery schedule.’
• Easy onboarding of new users with simple permission controls — no need for complex IT setups or training. AEW staff and partners get access to only the content they need, reducing risk.
• Scalable infrastructure: From one pay-per-view to nine annual events and beyond, AEW’s Signiant setup continues to scale with the business.

Cost-effective, predictable pricing: Compared to alternatives like Aspera, Signiant offers simpler pricing with no surprise costs, which is crucial for growing teams and AEW’s extensive partner network