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WWE Partner Promotions Can Be Purchased By Company And Closed
The WWE signed key NXT UK talent to new deals last weekend, which provided pay increases, and restrictions on their bookings, but another detail to the story is WWE’s relationship with UK promotions.
According to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE’s agreements with UK promotions has a clause that would allow the company to buy the promotions over the next several years, and shut them down if they choose to do so.
Groups such as PROGRESS and ICW have contracts with the WWE that allows for talent to be used on their programming, and content to be aired on WWE platforms. If the WWE does choose to buy out these companies, a price would need to be agreed upon, which is reportedly in the high six figures in same cases. The idea of WWE shutting down promotions is that they would not want to “compete with themselves”.
The WWE is also set to open their own WWE Performance Center in the U.K in the future where they could train talent. Currently the WWE scouts independent talent, and then signs them to developmental deals. The WWE wants to overhaul their process in creating global training facilities, and mimic the current process in the United States.