Reason Behind Impact & WWE Meeting Has Been Revealed

Back in September, news broke that officials from Impact Wrestling and WWE had met at the WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. During an interview on the Wrestling Perspective Podcast, Impact EVP Scott D’Amore confirmed the reason behind the meeting.
D’Amore first reminded the audience that Impact and WWE have had three agreements this year. These were footage provided by them for the documentary on Jeff and Matt Hardy and footage for Bruce Prichard and on the Table for 3 featuring AJ Styles and Kurt Angle.

“Since the beginning of the year, we have done three content deals with WWE. We did the Hardys documentary deal, to supply footage for the documentary about The Hardys. We did a deal to provide footage for AJ Styles and Kurt Angle for Table for 3, and we provided footage for Bruce Prichard on the WWE Network. We have done a few deals together, which I think that WWE is seeing that this is a different day with Impact Wrestling, and I think in the most minor levels maybe they are seeing that it is a different day and age in pro wrestling.”

From here, D’Amore confirmed that the meeting everyone has been talking about was more generic than people realize. Officials from both companies met face-to-face to greet one another and chat. He thinks both Impact and WWE realize that now, in 2018, they can work together.

“It is one of those things, it’s like: there was a meeting, we got together, we talked and thought, you know it was nice to see each other face-to-face and say hello and just say that it is 2018. It is a whole different world and there is no reason that we cannot communicate. There really was no agenda to it and you know, we move on, but it is how the business is now, which I think is tremendous where we can do a deal with WWE where it helps them tell a great story on the WWE Network.
“Whether it is one of their shows or The Hardy Boyz documentary, it is certainly good for us. Not only to make a little scratch off of the footage but also the promotion they give us for Global Wrestling Network and having it on their platform where they advertise us and say that if you want more of this then download and watch the GWN Network, which is great for us. This wouldn’t have happened a few years ago. Whether it is WWE, whether it is Ring of Honor, no matter who it is, I think it is in this day and age to stop with the ‘old school wrestling BS’ of if you are with him then you can’t do nothing with us, so to get past that I think that is how business works.”

The future of both promotions will be interesting, as Impact’s financial troubles have been documented in recent years. With WWE heading to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel in November, there appear to be a lot of negative opinions floating about.
Could 2019 see the merge of both companies? What are your thoughts, reactions, and opinions to the idea that Impact and WWE could wind up working together? Let us know below!
With H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.