The Homogenization of Professional Wrestling
After decades as the market leader, TKO and WWE brass are now casting their gaze outward in their aim for global domination of pro wrestling.
Saturday’s announcement that WWE had purchased the number two promotion in Mexico, Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, was certainly a surprise. It had been a while since the company focused on acquisitions, and it was unclear whether or not parent company TKO would have interest in outward expansion through purchases. But while it’s a surprise, it’s not altogether shocking. WWE built itself on using its massive coffers to buy up other companies, hoovering up the competition at every opportunity to gain dominance over the US wrestling scene. Now, however, the company is looking to extend its reach further. And while this extended reach might benefit some wrestlers, especially those who want to make it to WWE, it has the side effect of homogenizing professional wrestling and pulling stylistically unique companies closer and closer to the WWE creative and in-ring style.
While the purchase of AAA is WWE’s biggest move since the TKO merger, it wasn’t the first step into strengthening their position. The company began a partnership with TNA last year. Now that WWE has moved its international rights to Netflix, the strategic goal - at least on WWE’s end - appears to be propping up TNA and helping them take international TV rights money away from WWE’s closest competitor in AEW. After some speculation that AEW might sign a rights deal with Canadian channel Sportsnet, TNA was able to swoop in and sign a deal of their own.
TNA’s improved television presence is not a bad thing. The United States wrestling scene could use a strong third major company. The problem here is that TNA Wrestling seems heavily reliant on their partnership to the point that it is now affecting their creative operations. After Joe Hendry had a memorable WWE appearance at WrestleMania a few days ago, Sean Ross Sapp reported on Fightful Select that WWE creative plans for Hendry in which the wrestler would lose to The Miz had been shot down by former TNA exec Ariel Shnerer. According to Sapp’s sources within TNA, this could have been a factor in Shnerer’s termination. It sets a worrying precedent for TNA’s business and creative strategy. Even if they don’t have direct input and influence on TNA decisions, the presence of this partnership has already changed how TNA operates.
In October of last year, WWE announced their WWEID program. This program is meant to provide independent wrestlers with a pathway to NXT, if it all works out for them. It’s an effort to get talent under the WWE umbrella early, even before they make it to their developmental system.
This move is good for talent for the most part. It offers them some degree of guaranteed money in addition to their independent pay, and puts them on the WWE radar (I think it’s important to note before we go any further that this article isn’t focused on blaming talent at all. They’re just trying to provide for themselves and their family and be involved in the art form they love regardless of who they work for).
Where the independent wrestling companies are concerned however, the presence of WWEID is more questionable. GCW, a company that literally has “Game Changer” in their name and has prided themselves on a punk rock counter-culture ethos, has cozied up to WWE. During last week’s Mania week, they ran a WWEID Tournament.
Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport, a shoot-style wrestling show presented as part of GCW’s Collective that has brought wrestlers together from a variety of promotions across the globe, had seven matches featuring WWE wrestlers; 35% of the wrestlers involved in the show were from WWE. WWE wrestlers won six out of the seven matches they participated in. While it was awesome to see WWE wrestlers in a unique environment, it raises some concerns. At what point does a company like GCW become too beholden to WWE, making them lose what made them such a unique wrestling promotion?
Underlining this is another report from Sean Ross Sapp from Mania Week on Fightful Select. Sapp states that WWE is “looking to capitalize more off of Mania week” and that they have “looked at creating or participating in some already proven concepts.” Sapp goes on to mention that WWE has seen the success of Mania week events like Bloodsport.
The slate of promotions, many of them independent, coming in for WrestleMania week and putting on their own shows has been a highlight for fans. It’s a delight, especially for those who aren’t interested in or simply want a quick break from the WWE style of wrestling that dominates the wrestling news that weekend. GCW has been at the forefront of this with The Collective, bringing together a number of companies from across the world. After reading the report from Fightful, it’s clear that WWE sees the success of WrestleMania week events like The Collective and is wondering how they can profit from it.
Whether that leads to WWE doing their own official “Collective” type selection of smaller shows remains to be seen. But there’s no doubt the company would love to dominate every aspect of the conversation, and make every last dollar they can, from a weekend that revolves around their biggest event. Some companies might get frozen out as fans choose to go to WWE-hosted or co-partnered events over their shows.
While their US-centered moves have been slower paced and more methodical, the purchase of AAA this week is a stratospheric leap into an established market where WWE does not have as much presence. AAA has become a bit of a punchline in the wrestling world, but they are still the number two company in lucha libre. This acquisition sees WWE acquire a large chunk of the market share in Mexico.
This might help out talent in the region who wants to make it to WWE. It could also raise salaries, as the company will surely want to steal some of the top talent from CMLL. Despite Paul Levesque saying that the company wants to uphold the “traditional” lucha libre of AAA and help it grow, it’s become clearer and clearer by the day, even in the early going, that what the company wants is its own Mexican developmental brand.
As expert in the field Luchablog stated on Twitter after AAA employee Konnan talked about the acquisition on his podcast, “Odd bit of messaging with AAA's press release saying they're going to keep AAA as people have known it, and AAA people in charge going on podcasts saying everyone on the roster needs to start learning English and learning to work more of an American style.”
Luchablog has also written an extensive blog post about the transaction, outlining what this could mean for the future of professional wrestling in the country which is well worth a read. None of it sounds particularly good for those who want to see a varied and thriving scene in the country.
Seeing a company which appeared to be content to rest on its laurels re-enter acquisition mode is somewhat concerning. It’s easy to imagine what could come next. Japanese companies, for example, are dealing with a difficult economic outlook and roster turnover. While an American company acquiring a Japanese company may be more difficult, could WWE pull off another acquisition in such a historic market?
It’s worth noting AEW’s presence in this conversation. AEW has spent a lot of time strengthening partnerships with CMLL in Mexico and NJPW in Japan. WWE moving into those markets could lead to a situation in which AEW feels that they have to either acquire companies or provide them with financial benefit. In such a scenario, wrestling might not become a monopoly but it could become a duopoly in which most of the wrestling worldwide is dictated by two power players.
What happens if and when WWE is able to freeze out other companies to get the market share they want? The fans and wrestlers will have a lack of choice. And if competition between companies decreases, pay for the wrestlers will as well. Without companies bidding against each other, there would be no obligation to pay wrestlers what they deserve.
In 2025, there is so much good wrestling. Fans can easily watch the independents and international companies online. WWE is in what many see as a creative boom period and while AEW isn’t close in terms of market share, they are still competition and are telling some of their best stories. The concern is that a company with power in the industry like WWE could take away what makes wrestling great - the stylistic differences between professional wrestling promotions.
I’ve always seen pro wrestling as genre based, like other forms of art. While there aren’t as many different “genres” of wrestling as there are genres of music, the expression of each promotion’s creative team and the wrestlers working within those companies are distinct. Imagine if a huge record label purchased another and tried to get the artists to conform to their style. It sounds silly, but the concept is the same. While it’s not my favorite company, I enjoy WWE stories, matches, and wrestlers (Bianca, Iyo and Rhea put on one of my matches of the year on Sunday!). But I don’t want every company to do stories and matches in that style. Wrestlers, and the fans, deserve to have a choice.