After years of speculation about WWE Network airing content from several independent wrestling promotions, it’s actually happening.
Sports Illustrated reported on Thursday that WWE officials have confirmed that shows from EVOLVE, wXw, PROGRESS and Insane Championship Wrestling will begin airing on the WWE Network this Saturday.
Some of the new content includes two “Best Of” compilation specials, which will feature work from WWE Champion Drew McIntyre and NXT Champion Keith Lee’s time in EVOLVE.
Also set to be released on Saturday include Insane Championship Wrestling’s Shug’s Hoose Party 5: Night 2 from 2018, wXw Femme Fatales 2019, wXw AMBITION 11 from 2019, and PROGRESS Wrestling’s Chapter 92 from 2019.
Some of the wrestlers featured on those shows include Timothy Thatcher and WALTER from NXT, Eddie Kingston who works for AEW, Ring of Honor’s Jonathan Gresham, and Jeff Cobb who is currently wrestling for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Per the report, WWE has confirmed that more content from the promotions mentioned above will also be released on the streaming service in the future.
This is interesting timing as just last month Dave Meltzer reported on an episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that Vince McMahon had scrapped the idea of going for a multi-tier system that would include the higher-priced version.
Originally, the top-tiered plan for the WWE Network would have included content from independent promotions that they have a working relationship.