EXCLUSIVE: PROGRESS Wrestling Details WWE Opposition To Booking Of AEW Talents

PROGRESS Wrestling and WWE had a close working relationship for several years as shows from the indy promotion aired on the WWE Network from August 2020 until January 2023, when their content deal expired.

There was some conflict between WWE and PROGRESS, though, after the UK promotion began to book AEW's Anthony Ogogo in 2022 as WWE didn't add his matches to the WWE Network. Jonathan Gresham, who at that point was a free agent, also had his PROGRESS World Title win removed from the WWE Network although his first title defence was available on the streaming platform.

Speaking with Cultaholic Wrestling's Tom Campbell about the promotion's merger with DEFY, PROGRESS Co-Owner Martyn Best noted the situation of WWE editing out PROGRESS matches came to a head when the UK promotion asked WWE to feature all of their matches on the Network.

"They didn't have any editorial or content control over the shows in what we did. There were a couple of times where we were bringing in wrestlers and talent from other promotions which maybe they would have viewed as competitive to the WWE landscape. So on a couple of occasions, they omitted one or two contests but after a while we said, 'Look, you either take it all or what's the point of us creating a show with different strands in it?' And they accepted that and then they just left us unfettered to deliver our own personal brand of wrestling to them. That went well," Best said.

"Yeah, we were indeed [prepared for opposition from WWE to booking talent from rival promotions]. We were very open with them about it, people like Anthony [Ogogo], Jonathan [Gresham], Swerve Strickland, we were aware that might have prevented some of our content going on the Network but we were absolutely not willing to compromise the quality of our shows because ultimately we've got to deliver a wrestling match and a wrestling show that satisfies our fans. With the greatest of respect to WWE, the fans had to take priority there. We did keep a good relationship with the Network... We haven't ended the relationship. It just changed. Never close doors, even the so-called forbidden doors."

PROGRESS Wrestling shows can now be found on DEMAND PROGRESS Plus. Top talents in the promotion include Spike Trivet, Ricky Knight Jr, Kid Lykos, and Rhio.