WWE is more open to the idea of working with other wrestling promotions than ever before, with Nick Khan at the helm to make this a reality.
In contrast to other, smaller promotions, WWE has almost always refused to work with other companies, especially any it sees as direct competition such as All Elite Wrestling. Justin Barrasso of SI reports, “one of WWE’s potential explorations is to engineer a collaboration with other professional wrestling promotions.”
Khan is certainly more open to working with others compared to the four decades of the Vince McMahon era. CM Punk recently disclosed that it was Khan who reached out to him in late 2023 which led to his return at Survivor Series in November. Khan also reached out to TNA Wrestling in early 2024 which resulted in Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace competing in the Women’s Royal Rumble Match.
Playing Nice
While WWE almost never works with other companies, there have been some rare instances of the Sports Entertainment juggernaut aligning with other promotions. In 2022, then IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts World Champion competed as part of the Women’s Royal Rumble match. James (like Grace would two years later) would wear her Knockouts Championship to the ring.
In June 2022, John Cena reached the 20th anniversary of his debut for WWE. To celebrate, WWE shared videos of several of Cena’s former rivals praising ‘Big Match John.’ Among these were Daniel Bryan, The Big Show, and Chris Jericho, all of whom are with AEW.
In 2012, WWE reached a deal with TNA that allowed for Ric Flair to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the Four Horsemen, a move that made the Nature Boy the first two-time WWE Hall of Famer. As part of the deal, WWE granted TNA use of Christian who inducted Sting into TNA’s Hall of Fame.