WWE’s Partnership with Indie Wrestling Company Ends

WWE has made quite a few major deals with various companies over the years. However, Martyn Best, owner of PROGRESS Wrestling, recently announced that the company’s streaming deal with WWE has concluded.

Established in 2011, Progress Wrestling has been a platform for showcasing top wrestling talents worldwide, featuring stars like Gunther, Swerve Strickland, Pete Dunne, and Toni Storm. In 2021, the UK-based promotion struck a deal with World Wrestling Entertainment, enabling its events to be streamed on the WWE Network platform.

During a recent interview with Tom Campbell of Cultaholic Wrestling, Martyn Best disclosed that Progress Wrestling’s partnership with WWE ended in 2023. Best explained that some Progress content wasn’t streamed on the WWE Network over concerns of talent competition. Consequently, Progress launched its own streaming service, Demand Progress Plus.

“There were a couple of times where we were bringing in wrestlers and talents from other promotions which maybe they would have viewed as competitive to the WWE landscape. So I know on a couple of occasions, they omitted one or two particular contests. But after a while, we said, ‘Look, you either take it all or what’s the point of us creating this show with different strands in it?”

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Best further explained that PROGRESS’ contract with WWE was nearing its expiration at the end of January anyway, so they were already preparing for it. Consequently, they were making plans to establish their own network, Demand Progress Plus.

“The contract that PROGRESS had with them was due to expire at the end of January anyways so we were mindful that-that was gonna happen. As a consequence of that, we were already making our plans to create our own, essentially, network, on DEMAND PROGRESS PLUS.”

It’s unsurprising that PROGRESS Wrestling’s contract with WWE ended, given their evident plans to expand and develop the company independently.

What do you think of PROGRESS and WWE’s streaming deal ending? Do you feel WWE should do another deal with other promotions? Let us know in the comments section below!