; this record is currently tied between Rhodes,
Sammy Guevara, and
Wardlow In September 2019, a month before
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) launched their first weekly television program,
Dynamite, then-AEW Executive Vice President and wrestler
Cody teased that the promotion would eventually debut a
television championship, but their focus at that time was on their other recently established titles. In February 2020, wrestling journalist
Dave Meltzer asked Cody about the possibility of the promotion adding a secondary championship. Although he did not confirm or deny it, Cody did not rule out the possibility of a secondary or "mid-card" title debuting that year. The following month, on March 30, on AEW's
YouTube series
Road to Dynamite, a secondary championship was officially announced. AEW play-by-play commentator and senior producer
Tony Schiavone revealed that there would be an eight-man,
single-elimination tournament to crown the first-ever AEW TNT Champion. The tournament began on the April 8 episode of
Dynamite, and the final was scheduled for
Double or Nothing on May 23. During the
Brodie Lee Celebration of Life, which aired as the December 30, 2020 episode of
Dynamite, AEW announced that they had retired the red strap version of the title belt that had been used up to that point to honor Huber, whose ring name was
Mr. Brodie Lee, the second TNT Champion. Lee unexpectedly died on December 26. His final match was on the October 7 episode of
Dynamite where he unsuccessfully defended the TNT Championship against Cody Rhodes in a
Dog Collar match. The retired TNT Championship belt was given to Huber's son, Brodie Lee Jr. (real name Brodie Huber), who was honored as "TNT Champion for life" by AEW President and Chief Executive Officer
Tony Khan. AEW commentator Tony Schiavone clarified that only the belt design was retired, not the championship itself; a new black strap version of the belt was debuted by champion
Darby Allin during Night 1 of the special
New Year's Smash episode of
Dynamite on January 6, 2021. During the special
Holiday Bash episode of
Rampage on December 25, 2021, Cody Rhodes defeated
Sammy Guevara to become a record three-time TNT Champion. The two were scheduled to have a rematch for the championship at
Battle of the Belts I on January 8, 2022; however, Cody was pulled from the event as he had been in contact with family who had tested positive for
COVID-19, thus requiring him to quarantine. Guevara instead faced Cody's brother,
Dustin Rhodes, to determine an
interim champion. Guevara defeated Dustin and served as the interim champion until the January 26 episode of
Dynamite. In that episode, which was a special episode titled
Beach Break, Guevara faced and defeated Cody in a
ladder match to determine the undisputed TNT Champion. On March 5, 2023, at
Revolution,
Wardlow defeated
Samoa Joe to win the championship for a second time. Three days later, and initially not as part of a storyline, Wardlow's rental car was broken into; his gear and the championship belt were stolen as a result. This was turned into a storyline for his title defense against
Powerhouse Hobbs on the March 8 episode of
Dynamite, as the week prior, Hobbs had won the Face of the Revolution ladder match to earn a title shot against Wardlow.
Q.T. Marshall and his QTV crew took credit for the crime with Wardlow requesting his title defense against Hobbs to be a
Falls Count Anywhere match, which Hobbs won by
technical knockout thanks to an assist by Marshall. Although viewed as a secondary title to the
AEW World Championship by fans and media of the professional wrestling industry, Tony Khan stated he takes exception to calling it a secondary or mid-card title. He said he does not book the championship as a mid-card title, saying, "I'm looking at it as a top championship that stars hold". Despite this, Samoa Joe called himself the "King of Television" for his TNT Championship reigns when he simultaneously held it with the
ROH World Television Championship. Between 2022 and 2023, the championship had several title changes with short reigns, with journalists subsequently calling it a "hot potato" championship.
Name The championship is named after the
TNT television network, which originally aired AEW's then-two weekly programs,
Dynamite and
Rampage, the latter of which premiered in August 2021. TNT's parent company at the time,
WarnerMedia, requested AEW to create the title and have it named the TNT Championship. In January 2022,
Dynamite moved to TNT's sister channel,
TBS, which was also owned by WarnerMedia (later becoming
Warner Bros. Discovery), while
Rampage remained on TNT. In addition to
Rampage remaining on the channel, AEW agreed to produce quarterly television specials on TNT (
Battle of the Belts), with the championship defended on these specials. Another weekly program on TNT called
Collision also premiered in June 2023. While it had been speculated that the title would be renamed to the TBS Championship, Cody Rhodes confirmed that it would not be renamed, and instead, a separate
AEW TBS Championship was established for the women's division.
Inaugural tournament The first half of the TNT Championship Tournament bracket was announced on the March 31, 2020, episode of
Dark, with the second half revealed on the following night's
Dynamite. The tournament began on the April 8 episode of
Dynamite and concluded at Double or Nothing on May 23. ==Belt designs==