As the partnership between WWE and TNA Wrestling continues to flourish, it highlights missed opportunities for AEW to collaborate more extensively with TNA in the past.
Last week, WWE and TNA announced a groundbreaking multi-year partnership designed to create crossover opportunities across both promotions. The official press release stated, “The agreement will enable talent to garner additional exposure across key WWE and TNA programming, including weekly flagship shows such as NXT – which airs live on The CW – and TNA iMPACT!, select WWE Premium Live Events, and TNA pay-per-views, in turn bolstering their in-ring development with exposure to world-class talent and coaching.”
AEW and TNA had a brief working relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Kenny Omega and other AEW stars appeared on TNA programming. TNA talent also appeared on AEW shows, and AEW CEO Tony Khan made pre-taped appearances on Impact. However, the partnership did not evolve further after the initial collaborations.
According to the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer revealed, “TNA did attempt to sell to Tony Khan in 2018 and had talks about a year ago with Scott D’Amore about selling but turned D’Amore’s offer price down.” D’Amore reportedly tried to purchase TNA after learning of his impending departure when the promotion decided to take a different direction.
The WWE-TNA partnership now serves as a compelling case study of what AEW could have potentially achieved had a more robust deal been pursued during those discussions.
