WWE Option To Buy TNA Built Into Current Working Relationship

WWE’s working relationship with TNA could change significantly, with the sports entertainment powerhouse allegedly having an option to buy TNA written into their working agreement.

Recent reports suggested that former UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta was interested in purchasing TNA Wrestling amidst the brand’s renewed popularity as part of their relationship with WWE. Other reports from early 2025 suggested that WWE could be interested in buying TNA outright, with recent chatter indicating that WWE would want to position TNA as the number two promotion in the USA and effectively cripple All Elite Wrestling’s operations.

Writing in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer states that TNA’s working relationship with WWE is similar to deals that several European indies had with WWE several years back. The likes of wXw, ICW and PROGRESS inked deals with WWE allowing their programming on the WWE Network, with the deals having an optional clause that allowed WWE to purchase their companies outright within a permitted timeframe.

Meltzer states that this has been confirmed by a source within WWE, with it further detailed that WWE does have an option ‘for a certain length of time’ to buy TNA, and that WWE also have the right of first refusal to match any outside offers for TNA.

It is implied that any interested buyers of TNA would have to be friendly with WWE, with WWE potentially having some say in who would get the keys to the promotion. In the case of the rumoured Fertitta buyout, Fertitta has worked closely with TKO head Ari Emanuel and UFC head Dana White, with Fertitta’s Zuffa having owned UFC from 2001 until 2016, at which point the MMA powerhouse was sold to Emanuel’s WME-IMG, alongside other interested parties.

Cultaholic is now on WhatsApp! Follow us here. Sign up to the Cultaholic Wrestling Newsletter now.