WWE and TNA Wrestling recently agreed to a sort of talent exchange. WWE was able to bring in TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace for the Women’s Royal Rumble match earlier this year. They also managed to bring her in for three appearances on the NXT brand. This included the appearance she made on the NXT broadcast this week along with her match on the show next week. Finally, she finishes the appearance with a match against Roxanne Perez at the NXT Battleground PLE.
WWE is paying Grace six figures for her work on these three appearances, which is some great money. It shows how much they value her, but WWE and TNA are not done here. It has been rumored that WWE might send over some WWE Superstars to work a match or two in TNA. Two of the most prominent rumored names to do this are actually former TNA World Champions, Drew McIntyre & AJ Styles.
As of now, we do not know the specifics about what WWE plans to do here. However, we do know how much Triple H and other WWE officials value Jordynne Grace. They are very happy to have her around, knowing they cannot just sign her as of now. Her deal with TNA won’t be up until around August 2025. Working with TNA is a genius way of being able to utilize Grace without having to sign her yet.
On an interesting note, WWE officials love TNA’s overall roster. This could be why future agreements are possible between the two.
WWE AND TNA COULD BE HEAVILY CONNECTED PARTNERS SOON
WWE and TNA working together was something we never thought would happen several years ago. They finally seemed open to it when Mickie James appeared in the Women’s Royal Rumble. She was the TNA Knockouts Champion at that time, and it was cool to see.
WWE and TNA both have good rosters, but WWE realizes that they cannot buy up everything and have a ton of people on the payroll. This is why working with other promotions is so helpful. It gives WWE the chance to work with wrestlers without giving up a roster spot for years. Some thought that the recent use of Jordynne Grace was a sign that WWE and TNA would be working on a long-term partnership. That seems to be true.
According to WrestleVotes, this partnership was months in the making. They went on to say that there are currently “tentative plans for additional superstars to make crossover appearances in due time. Both companies understand that a slow, thoughtful approach is the best way forward in the beginning stages.”
This tells us that TNA stars jumping over to NXT, for example, might not happen regularly right now. However, for things like NXT World Collide or other big events, TNA stars could pop over to take part. This same could be done for big TNA events like Slammiversary or Bound for Glory.
TNA obviously wants to get something out of this too, and won’t want to give up everything to WWE for crumbs. Triple H & Nick Khan are fair businessmen and would actually want to return the favor for things like this. WWE might end up covering a lot of the expenses for the use of talent…but they do have a lot more money to do so.
THIS BUSINESS STYLE IS A HUGE SHIFT FOR WWE
Triple H & WWE President Nick Khan have long been in support of working with other promotions. We’re finally starting to see Triple H use his creative control in the best possible way while Khan uses his business tactics well too. This differs so heavily from Vince McMahon’s ideology of a WWE Universe existing on its own with no real discussion of other companies. His ideology has always been seen as insane by fans.
This is especially true for the guy who won out in the wrestling war of the 1990s. He eventually purchased and owned WCW and ECW, the big rivals of the time. Yet even then, Vince worked with ECW as he saw the value their roster brought to the table.
It was odd, then, that he seemed so weird about recognizing any other companies. We suppose this was done to prevent the growth of future competition, but with how big WWE became…that seemed weird to consider.
With both Triple H and Nick Khan loving the business move to work with other companies, we’re now able to see this great WWE and TNA partnership. The removal of Vince McMahon was big for WWE in numerous territories. Triple H’s vision is no longer being challenged, nor is it being undermined or interfered with. Superstars are so much happier under his leadership than the stress and anxiety-filled problems Vince brought.
More than any of that, they no longer have to work with an egomaniac. WWE can now run smoother and that is 100% thanks to Triple H & Khan. Now, we’re even getting healthy business partnerships out of this too. Honestly, WWE is clearly so much better without Vince…just as we all knew it would be.