A new report has provided another significant example of the deepening relationship between WWE and TNA Wrestling. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE recently waived a key arena exclusivity clause, allowing TNA to announce and promote its upcoming Bound for Glory pay-per-view.
WWE Waives Arena Exclusivity Clause For TNA
In the latest newsletter, Dave Meltzer detailed WWE’s standard clause in its arena deals, which prevents a venue from promoting or selling tickets for any other wrestling event until after the WWE show has taken place. TNA has announced its October 12 Bound for Glory event at the Paul Tsongas Center in Lowell, Massachusetts, and will begin selling tickets next week. This is despite the fact that WWE has the same arena booked for an event on August 24, indicating that WWE made a special exception for its partner promotion.
A Relationship ‘Deeper Than It Looks’
The report noted that this same clause was the reason AEW could not announce its show at the O2 Arena in London until after WWE’s event in the same building had passed. With WWE recently promoting TNA champions Trick Williams and Jacy Jayne on Raw, shows that the relationship between the two companies is “a lot deeper than it even looks on television.”
The business partnership continues to play out on-screen in major ways. This past Tuesday on WWE NXT, TNA World Champion Trick Williams, who is under contract with WWE, was confronted by The Undertaker and laid out. TNA’s on-screen authority figure, Santino Marella, will challenge Ethan Page for the NXT North American Championship on next week’s episode of NXT.
