Wrestling promotions working together isn’t anything new, but Tony Khan has accommodated making it much more common by opening what he calls “The Forbidden Door.” AEW currently works with Impact Wrestling, New Japan, Billy Corgan’s NWA, and AAA by sharing talent and promoting their shows. This has even led to other promotions being more willing to cooperate, and the employment description of an independent contractor is finally becoming accurate. Former WWE wrestler Chelsea Green is a perfect example of this as since she departed the currently she has signed to work for ROH, NWA, and Impact simultaneously.
Conspicuous by their absence, though, is WWE, who rarely work promotions they deem competition. And now, in an interview, current NXT Champion Samoa Joe, who has competed for multiple promotions worldwide, would give his opinion of the practice. Specifically, he was questioned about returning to wrestle for Impact Wrestling while employed by WWE and was against the idea.
I work for a company. If I played for a major football club anywhere in the world, you wouldn’t lend me out on the weekend to go play for the rival team. You know Messi’s ain’t doing day shifts over at Manchester United. I understand some fans want for that and want to see that, but at the same time, just with the whole politics of that type of situation, it wouldn’t be a good outcome anyways. Nobody wants to look bad in that situation. Everyone’s getting pushed and pulled this way, and it becomes a convoluted mess.
Samoa JoeJoe raises a good point regarding the politics of the situation, and there is the chance for this to get messy if one promotion’s talent is constantly going over another. If promotions working together isn’t mutually beneficial, it is a pointless exercise. However so with AEW, things appear to be running relatively smoothly. All their partners get additional exposure, and in exchange, AEW has access to talents like The Good Brothers, Thunder Rosa, and Yuji Nagata.
