The WWE-TNA partnership announced in January 2025 is a long way from where it started, according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
The deal was billed as a multi-year agreement allowing NXT and TNA talent to appear on each other’s weekly shows, as well as WWE Premium Live Events and TNA pay-per-views.
Meltzer wrote about the partnership in the Observer.
“It’s a bad situation. This always happens when you work with WWE historically. The fanbase sees the WWE guys as superior because they are booked superior, and then when it ends, you have to draw with your inferior guys. TNA’s ticket sales are way down now. It looks like most saw this going in, that WWE worked with TNA as a way to hurt AEW, the key being send talent so TNA has better leverage for a TV deal. In that sense, the deal did short-term work out great for TNA, but now they have to struggle with the post-deal period. The TNA hurting AEW thing didn’t happen and you can see the end result.”
WON: It does appear that the WWE/TNA relationship is nothing close to what it was.
— Drainmaker (@TheDrainmaker) September 18, 2026
“It’s a bad situation. This always happens when you work with WWE historically. The fanbase sees the WWE guys as superior because they are booked superior, and then when it ends, you have to draw… pic.twitter.com/6wO11BWXvA
In December 2025, TNA president Carlos Silva said the partnership with WWE played a key role in helping TNA land its new TV deal with AMC. Silva also made clear, though, that WWE wasn’t directly involved in the negotiations, and that TNA handled them alongside CAA.
The ticket-sale decline Meltzer pointed to is showing up in this year’s numbers. Slammiversary had 2,976 tickets distributed on the day of the show, while Bound for Glory sat at just 675 as of September 11, still a month out from the pay-per-view.
Bound for Glory takes place October 11 at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, with Nic Nemeth defending the TNA World Championship against Leon Slater.