Since the weekend, the wrestling rumour mill has gone into overdrive with private chatter about Triple H at first considering the idea of WWE teaming up in some fashion with WWNLive, the live streaming service for the independent wrestling promotions EVOLVE, FIP and Shine, and then quickly embarking on negotiations with the group for such a deal.
It was such an open secret that many on Twitter had been eagerly anticipating that the story would publicly break earlier today, which it did when Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com acknowledged the rumours and confirmed that talks were ongoing between the two sides for some type of loose affiliation:
"For those who have asked about rumors regarding WWE and their developmental system working with WWN, the parent company of EVOLVE, Full Impact Pro and the now-defunct Dragon Gate USA, PWInsider.com has learned from WWE sources that there has been communication between the two sides about working together and that communication was initiated by WWE about a week ago or so ago.
That's about when Ring of Honor landed on national cable TV with their Destination America time slot, so whether that was a factor I can't say 100%, but it looks like it could be. EVOLVE released a video thanking TNA for working with them around the same time.
In regard to stories making the rounds (some attributed to me) that WWE is buying WWN or that it will be a new "OVW" style promotion assisting developmental, there's nothing to those stories at this time - we are told that whatever this deal is, and it's not a done deal by any means, it's all still being worked out and that no "official deal" has been set in stone."
As well as being blindsided by Ring of Honor's deal with national cable company Destination America, WWE were also surprised when the promotion announced that they were releasing a Kevin Steen (aka Kevin Owens) action figure as part of a new merchandising deal with Figures Toy Company. According to Dave Meltzer in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE management was extremely upset when they found out that Ring of Honor would have the first doll on the market of their newest top heel act, which has led them to view ROH as competition and to act accordingly:
"There were some people internally at the top very unhappy when the word came out about ROH and Figures Toy Company releasing the Kevin Steen action figure, with the idea a non-WWE company is going to be first to the marketplace in releasing an action figure of WWE's hottest new star, or for that matter, anyone that is on Raw in a featured role.... The doctrine is to keep this from happening again. So now the pressure is on Paul Levesque and that department to get guys who have potential to some day be big players into NXT and signed to merchandising deals before they go to a company (ROH or TNA) that has merchandising deals and national cable deals in North America, and create a pipeline to find the ones with potential before ROH & TNA.... For this reason, the doctrine is not to sign talent from ROH or TNA now for the main roster, and get the word out to young talent that if they have WWE aspirations, not to sign with either TNA (which most of the top young guys had heard) or ROH (which is new)."
Although fans will genuinely be disappointed that WWE is closing the door almost shut on signing any more ROH talent in the future, it's an understandable decision by the company, as part of the reason WWE can command such a lucrative licensing agreement with toy giant Mattel is by virtue of having exclusive merchandising rights to the likenesses of their top performers. Anything that jeopardises that exclusivity needs to be clamped down on to keep their partners happy.
One possible solution to these problems for WWE is to come to a mutually beneficial arrangement with the largest indy wrestling promotions outside of TNA, ROH and Lucha Underground (i.e., those under the WWNLive umbrella) to prevent them from signing similar long term merchandising deals with their performers and have a regular pipeline of new talent for their NXT tryout camps. In return, WWE could potentially offer exposure on the WWE Network and access to NXT talent for major shows, whilst an official affiliation would also make these promotions more attractive places to work for, for anyone with aspirations to become a WWE wrestler. On paper, it sounds like a win-win scenario.
The risk for WWNLive is that they would have to give up too much autonomy for such a working arrangement with WWE, which could stifle their creativity and hurt their popularity with hardcore wrestling fans.
It should be noted that both WWE and WWNLive have yet to officially comment on the matter, although EVOLVE booker Gabe Sapolsky has nicely played along with the rumours today to his own benefit:
Very pleased to make an announcement in a few minutes....
— Gabe Sapolsky (@BookItGabe) June 10, 2015
Pleased to announce Zack Sabre Jr returns to EVOLVE on 7/10 & 11 in Florida. Info & tix at http://t.co/OvzQlRwnhA
— Gabe Sapolsky (@BookItGabe) June 10, 2015
All EVOLVE DVDs are just $10 at http://t.co/OvzQlRwnhA for a limited time! Our 1st sale this big since last year!
— Gabe Sapolsky (@BookItGabe) June 10, 2015
Gabe EVOLVE SHINE
— Gabe Sapolsky (@BookItGabe) June 10, 2015
He clearly knows what's going on, now at least, but it's still too early for him to do anything more than cryptically fan the flames of interest in this story, whilst attempting to turn that interest into dollars for his promotion.
We'll update you with more information as this news develops, Cagesiders.