WWE News: WWE Reportedly Put In A Bid To Buy TNA Wrestling Recently
TNA Wrestling has been around for over a decade now and they have done well off and on for a smaller promotion. It is quite apparent that they have helped to change the game a bit over the years. On top of this, they have managed to give us some incredible wrestlers who would go on to become major names in the business. AJ Styles may be the most notable of the names that went through TNA, and he is now the current WWE World Champion for the WWE SmackDown Live brand.
Other names like Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, James Storm, and even Austin Aries all made their mark in TNA before they went on to other notable places. Of course the one promotion that always seems to be connected to TNA is Ring of Honor, who helped to supply the promotion with talent for years before some sort of issue came about causing the wrestlers to pick where they wanted to be. That led to some of the ROH stars leaving TNA to stay with ROH while others would choose TNA.
WWE has also seen some interesting things happen that connect them to TNA as well. In fact, most of the major names that were with TNA actually came from the WWE first. Top guys like Kurt Angle, Christian, EC3, Drew Galloway, even Gail Kim all started their careers with the WWE first, well before they went to TNA. While they got a lot more chances to succeed with TNA, and even helped to reinvent themselves, they may have never even gotten this chance if it was not for the fact that they were former WWE Superstars.
That said, it should go without saying that WWE may have an interest in TNA. According to the New York Post, which is normally a very notable source for pretty much anything, Smashing Pumpkins’ front man Billy Corgan is attempting to become the majority owner of TNA. He mentioned that he wanted to take his commitment to a much higher stage come TNA Bound for Glory next month.
“I would love nothing better than to stand up in front of everyone and give a clear picture of where this company is and where it’s going,”
The biggest part of this story from the Post is not so much that Billy is interested in buying up the rest of TNA, as that seems kind of obvious by now due to what we know so far about his role with the company. Plus we know he already has a stake in the business right now and was just named TNA President, a role Dixie Carter had for years.
The real thing that caught everyone’s eye was that the NY Post mentioned both WWE and Sinclair Broadcasting put in bids to buy up the promotion recently, which is pretty huge to hear about at the end of the day considering what this could accomplish. Of course Sinclair Broadcasting owns Ring of Honor currently, but there have been rumors for some time that claim Sinclair has considered selling ROH, which have been killed off by the company whenever they came about.
While Sinclair obviously would have interest, WWE on the other hand has always been rumored to have interest but never actually did. Of course TNA was not in the position in those times that it is in currently, and it does look as if Panda Energy is trying to find someone to take TNA off of their backs. The company has carried TNA for years now and if someone else gave a good bid, they most likely would take it.
TNA has been taking on investors and other ownership, as mentioned Corgan is one of the people currently with ownership but another company, Aroluxe, also has a stake. That said, it is tough to know if TNA would even be able to be sold to the WWE if the WWE did not get the entire company. They wouldn’t want to have investors connected to the company if they bought it, as they would want most everything.
If TNA did end up selling off random things like contracts, WWE would avoid this altogether. The only thing WWE would have interest in is the library and name itself, as they could end up putting out DVDs and putting up a lot of content on the WWE Network. Plus they would be able to have a ton of Christian, Kurt Angle, Sting, and AJ Styles matches up for grabs too. On top of this, WWE would not have to avoid talking about TNA on television any longer. Right now, they only reference is on the WWE Network and even that is in a rarity.
As of now, this is just a rumor regarding WWE’s interest. However, if they did end up putting up a bid they would put up no more than they did with WCW, which was a little over $2 million. This was seen as a steal considering the fact that WCW was worth well more than this. WWE Chairman Vince McMahon knew he basically just stole the company even. TNA has had nowhere near the success of WCW. That said, it will be interesting to see the bid WWE put in if they actually did. If they do buy TNA, it is likely the company is shut down but WWE won’t want to let that TV deal they have go to waste. Unlike with WCW when they had no choice but to shut them down, TNA has a TV deal that has no ties to the actual company like WCW did with Turner. So things could get interesting there.
[Featured image by WWE]
