Only days after Dixie Carter reportedly told the TNA roster that the company was not selling its tape library, multiple reports, including one from former WWE announcer Jim Ross, have stated that WWE is still in talks to purchase the historical footage of the promotion, and a deal might, in fact, be “imminent”. Details are scarce and absolutely nothing has been confirmed right now, but apparently the proposed deal would see WWE secure the footage from TNA’s run up to a certain point, which would include the histories of some wrestlers who are currently featured on WWE programming, and Billy Corgan would acquire the rest of the company’s assets, including wrestler contracts, at which point he would completely re-brand the promotion under a new name, while retaining their valuable TV deals.
Here’s Jim Ross on the subject in his latest Ross Report:
““Right now we hear that WWE and TNA have had talks regarding WWE buying the library, and that that deal is imminent.””
And here is the original source for the rumors on Twitter:
Just got a text saying #WWE to buy TNA video library & Billy Corgan is going to be new majority owner of TNA that he'll likely rebrand. Wow!
— Justin LaBar (@JustinLaBar) October 5, 2016
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer has refused to confirm any of the rumors, but did say that both WWE and Corgan are “heavily in play”.
Have talked about both for a week plus, can't confirm either as finalized but both have been heavily in play. https://t.co/c0Ab3wxOhz
— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) October 5, 2016
A reminder, this is all rumors and hearsay at this point, and nothing has been officially confirmed. We’ll have more on this story as it develops, so stay tuned!
Stephen Randle
Stephen Randle is an avid wrestling and film fan. He's been writing about WWE, movies, and video games for Goliath since 2015.