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WWE and TNA announced a multi-year partnership on Thursday, though it’s unclear what this entails other than a formalization of the talent exchange that has been happening for many months.
The companies announced NXT and TNA talent will continue appearing on each other’s programming. Notably, as it has been all along, the announcement focuses on TNA interacting with NXT, not WWE’s main roster.
Analysis: The partnership is another indicator of WWE’s post-Vince McMahon approach to other wrestling companies and talent development.
I believe WWE is partly motivated by mitigating antitrust risk, which is probably of serious concern to TKO, given the settlement in late 2023 of MLW’s antitrust lawsuit against WWE, and UFC’s antitrust lawsuits. By showing WWE is open to working with other players in the wrestling industry which it doesn’t control, WWE can appear less monopolistic in the eyes of regulators and reduce the viability of another antitrust lawsuit like MLW’s.
TNA is the #3 wrestling company in the U.S. and makes a useful partner — small enough to be less of a threat than AEW, but significant enough to provide WWE with plenty of value at least when it comes to talent exchanges.
TNA, as well as WWE’s for-now less formal relationship with NOAH in Japan, provide developing or barely-used talent a much-needed opportunity to get wrestling experience outside of WWE. More than 12 years into the existence of the Performance Center and WWE has struggled to produce valuable stars who had little or no prior wrestling experience before coming to WWE. Whether that’s because of a closed-minded philosophy within WWE about the craft or something more systemic to the PC, allowing developing wrestlers to work in a variety of settings and styles is a strategy with a proven track record throughout the entire history of professional wrestling.
For TNA, the partnership elevates its profile, at least in the short-term. TNA should be mindful of the lessons of the 1980s when the WWF established partnerships with various territories before expanding outside the Northeast, and, more recently, the lessons that can be taken from WWE’s relationships with UK indies like Progress and ICW, which have seen better days, not entirely but partly due to WWE draining those scenes of talent. One can easily imagine a scenario in which TNA talent, like perhaps Joe Hendry and Jordynne Grace soon, basically have a trial run in WWE. The wealthier, more prestigious company gets to see which talent fits best with their audience and staff and might gradually drain TNA of its most valuable wrestlers. To an extent, of course, WWE always had an ability to attract TNA’s best talent, but this relationship allows WWE to do so with more confidence about who they’re investing in. Whereas if there’s any flow of talent leaving WWE to join TNA, it will most likely be because WWE has less of a desire to retain them.
Whether this relationship is more than a talent exchange remains to be seen. WWE’s connections could help TNA secure better media deals. If it’s feasible for TNA to tape its programming at the Performance Center in Orlando, that could prove to be a significant cost savings for TNA. For now, though, TNA probably struggles to get a better deal than the one with AXS TV, which its parent company Anthem acquired mainly for the purpose of airing TNA. AXS is still in just around half of cable households, which means it’s in just a quarter to a third of all U.S. households. AXS is no longer covered by Nielsen, but the latest TV viewership numbers we knew for TNA were still just under 100,000 viewers, even during periods where TNA and NXT talent were crossing over.
It’s notable, too, that Endeavor, which has controlling ownership of TKO, has already been working with TNA as the vendor for the TNA+ streaming service. Perhaps the relationship could bring Endeavor closer to helping TNA shop its rights, if TNA doesn’t work with another talent agency like CAA.
TNA’s new deal in Canada with Sportsnet, WWE’s former home, is a step up from Anthem’s Fight Network. The premiere delivered 36,000 viewers in Canada on January 2, then 19,000 on January 9, according to POST Wrestling. For a comparison point, though, NXT averaged multiple times either of TNA’s figures on the same network, averaging about 77,000 viewers in December.
TNA was one of few non-WWE wrestling companies in the U.S. on the upswing in 2024. Its ability to draw crowds for peak events improved, even if its television viewership hasn’t. WrestleTix estimated TNA drew three crowds with over 1,000 tickets distributed in Las Vegas last year. Its ambitious Slammiversary show in July at the UBS Arena on Long Island is currently at an estimate of 1,662.