A Look At Promotions WWE Has Partnered With Before

A Look At Promotions WWE Has Partnered With Before
June 3, 2025

By Ryan Porzl

For decades, the WWE was known for many things and one was "an island to themselves". From the time Vince bought the WWE in 1982 till he sold it to Endeavor in 2023, the WWE usually was a promotion that many looked as one that kept to itself while being in it's own bubble. Since Endeavor took over, we've seen a more open door policy with WWE having partnerships with TNA, AAA, GCW, and NOAH. However, Endeavor/TKO's ownership is actually not the first time the WWE worked with other promotions. In fact, Vince would actually form partnerships with various promotions over the decades. In this article, we'll take a look at the promotions that WWE had partnerships with in the past.

Note: I don't own any pictures. Credit to WWE, New Japan, All Japan, Ohio Valley Wrestling, IWA Puerto Rico, and whomever owns the pictures.

Super World of Sports- We'll start with one of WWE's biggest partnerships, especially when it comes to the land of the rising sun. The SWS was a promotion first formed in 1990 by Megane Super, a eye glasses company, who decided to enter wrestling after sponsoring the Newborn UWF's successful U-COSMOS Tokyo Dome show in 1989. The promotion made waves quickly signing away legend and All Japan's #2 Genichiro Tenryu to be their top star and then from there threw money around and signed away talent from All Japan and some from New Japan. The Tenryu signing as well as All Japan talent following him resulted in the first exodus in All Japan's history. By 1990, the WWE decided to enter the Japanese market and struck a deal with SWS to work with them beginning in the fall of 1990. The WWE/SWS deal is best known in the United States for Tenryu and ex-yokozuna Koji Kitao's appearance at Wrestlemania VII in 1991 where they defeated the Smash/Crush version of Demolition. The deal was mostly known in Japan where the WWE sent just about everyone from Hulk Hogan down to the Brooklyn Brawler to do shots. A highlighted show was the Wrestle Dream in Kobe show on April 1, 1991 which saw Hulk Hogan defend the WWE Championship against Yoshiaki Yatsu while Earthquake took on Kitao in an infamous match as Kitao was uncooperative, got himself disqualified, and got on the mic to expose the business as he was angry he had to lose to Quake. Other highlights including the Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) briefly holding the SWS Tag Team Championship while Rick Martel faced Naoki Sano to crown the inaugural SWS Light Heavyweight Champion. The biggest moments for the partnership was two co-promoted shows at the Tokyo Dome. The first was Wrestlefest on March 30, 1991 which featured Hogan and Tenryu forming a dream team against the Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal). The second was Super Wrestle on December 12th which featured a Hogan vs. Tenryu dream main event. The relationship lasted until June 1992 when SWS shut down due to the downturn of the Japanese economy and Megane Super pulling out along with the SWS never catching on with fans.

Smoky Mountain Wrestling- SMW was a promotion founded in October 1991 by legendary manager Jim Cornette in an attempt to do his favorite thing of turning the clock back in wrestling. Funded by legendary music producer Rick Rubin, SMW was a promotion based in east Tennessee as one of several territorial companies that formed during this time such as the Carolina based South Atlantic Pro Wrestling, the Texas based Global Wrestling Federation, and the Pennsylvania based Eastern Championship Wrestling (later Extreme Championship Wrestling). Like those promotions, SMW incorporated a combination of vets and aging legends known in that area and new comers looking for their big break. SMW would give breaks to talent like Kane (as Unabomb), Al Snow, Chris Candido, the Thrillseekers (Chris Jericho and Lance Storm), Brian Lee, Sunny (as Tammy Fytch), the Gangstas (New Jack, Mustafa Saed, and D-Lo Brown) and Balls Mahoney (as Boo Bradley). The WWE/SMW deal began in 1993 and from the WWE side is mostly known for introducing Jim Cornette to the WWE as WWE Champion Yokozuna's American Spokesperson as well as the Heavenly Bodies challenging the Steiner Brothers for the WWE Tag Team Championship at Summerslam 1993 and the Bodies challenging the Rock n' Roll Express for the SMW Tag Team Championship at Survivor Series 1993. Meanwhile, WWE sent a variety of talent to SMW including Lex Luger, Owen Hart, IRS, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, and Randy Savage to name some. Perhaps the biggest involvement for the WWE was SMW's Super Bowl of Wrestling event in August 1995 which featured Shawn Michaels defending the Intercontinental Championship against "Nature Boy" Buddy Landell while the Undertaker faced Unabomb (the future Kane) in what is likely the first of many encounters between the two. The WWE/SMW relationship lasted until SMW closed in November 1995 due to declining business and Rubin pulling out as a financial backer.

Wrestle Association R- WAR was Genichiro Tenryu's second attempt at running a promotion. Formed in late 1992 after SWS closed, WAR would somewhat continue the working relationship SWS had with the WWE though not on as big a scale. WAR was more an independent promotion but made it's mark in the 1990s as it launched the careers of future FMW star Hiromichi "Kodo" Fuyuki and future New Japan bookers and legendary team Gedo and Jado. WAR was also the first to bring Chris Jericho and Lance Storm to Japan while being the first to introduce a junior tag team division which is something New Japan, NOAH, ZERO1, and WCW would later do. On the WWE side, the WAR relationship mostly became known for Tenryu's appearances at the 1993 and 1994 Royal Rumbles. In Japan, the two did a co-promoted show on September 15, 1992 where Tenryu would challenge Ric Flair for the WWE Championship but the match went to a draw while Road Warrior Animal suffered a serious back injury during a handicap match against the Beverly Brothers which would put him out of action till 1996. WAR would also help back the WWE's first Japanese tour in 1994 while Bob Backlund would also enjoy a brief run with the Six Man Tag Titles that same year. The last major collaboration was WAR's March 26, 1995 show which featured Yokozuna losing to Tenryu while the 1-2-3 Kid took part in a tournament to crown the first WAR International Junior Heavyweight Champion which was won by Gedo. The relationship ended in 1995 with WWE working with other promotions. WAR continued until Tenryu shut it down in 2000 after returning to All Japan. Despite it's closure, Tenryu has since formed a spiritual successor in Tenryu Project.

Deep South Wrestling- DSW was a Georgia based promotion that had three incarnations and ran by "The Assassin" Jody Hamilton. The first incarnation ran from 1986-1988 that served as a wrestling promotion and school. The promotion shut down in 1988 after Hamilton suffered a back injury while continuing his school which eventually became WCW's Power Plant school. The promotion was revived in 2005 after WWE wanted to run a territory there and hired Hamilton to revive the promotion. The second incarnation ran from 2005-2007 during which time the talent that worked there included The Miz, Mike Knox, Matt "Zack Ryder" Cardona, Brian "Curt Hawkins" Myers, and The Great Khali while future TNA Knockouts Champions Angelina Love and Brooke Tessmacher did time there. The relationship ended in April 2007 less than two years in. Afterwards, DSW briefly continued, even crowning Austin Creed (the future Xavier Woods) as the DSW Heavyweight Champion, before shutting down in October 2007. Since then, the promotion has reopened in 2021 and still going with the promotion now being run by Hamilton's son and legendary former WWE and WCW referee Nick Patrick.

United States Wrestling Association- USWA was a Memphis promotion run by legendary promoter Jerry Jarrett having spun off from the old Continental Wrestling Association and basically were the same promotion with Jerry "The King" Lawler as the promotion's top star, having a live Saturday Morning TV show, and running their biggest shows at the Mid-South Coliseum every Monday night. The WWE began a relationship in 1992 which mostly featured WWE sending talent over to boost shows while WWE eventually brought in Lawler and Jeff Jarrett while Jerry Jarrett was briefly an advisor. Perhaps the most memorable moment of the relationship was the summer and fall of 1993 when the WWE did an invasion angle with Lawler feuding with guys like Bret Hart, Giant Gonzalez, Tatanka, and "Macho Man" Randy Savage while even trading the USWA Unified World Title with Tatanka and Savage. The angle is also best known for Vince McMahon's participation basically playing his Mr. McMahon persona years before he did it in the WWE against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. While the angle ended abruptly due to Lawler going through legal issues, the relationship continued with WWE talent like Razor Ramon and Sycho Sid getting runs with the USWA Unified World Title later on. In the later years, USWA was used as an unofficial minor league with talent getting seasoning before going to WWE or in between WWE runs. Among the up and comers included Kane (as Fake Diesel and later Doomsday), The Rock (as Flex Kavana), Ahmed Johnson, and the Truth Commission stable with each getting championships runs. The relationship lasted until USWA went under in November 1997 due to a nasty legal dispute involving Lawler (who bought Jarrett out) and business partners Mark Selker and Larry Burton.

International Wrestling Association: Puerto Rico- IWA: PR is a Puerto Rican promotion founded like legendary promoter Victor Quinones in 1999. The promotion had a working agreement with the WWE from 1999-2002 where it was one of several developmental promotions the WWE had at the time though no one notable came from there while WWE regulars like Val Venis and D-Lo Brown enjoyed runs as tag team champions with different partners. The promotion also co-promoted shows with the WWE from 1999-2000 which featured names like The Rock, The Undertaker, and Kane. The relationship lasted until 2002 when they parted ways. After the relationship, the promotion would enter working deals with TNA and Ring of Honor with TNA gaining talents like Abyss and Apolo while tag teams like 3 Live Kru (Konnan and Ron Killings) and the Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens) held the tag titles. Meanwhile, Ring of Honor's debut show the Era of Honor Begins featured Super Crazy defeating Eddie Guerrero to become the inaugural IWA Intercontinental Champion. Quinones continued running the promotion till his death in 2006 at which point it was taken over by Savio Vega. Vega would run the promotion until it shut down in 2012 though it has since reopened in 2018 and still runs to this day.

Memphis Championship Wrestling- MCW was a Memphis based promotion originally founded by Terry Golden as "Kick Ass Wrestling" before becoming MCW. The promotion was another to serve as a developmental for the WWE from February 2000-June 2001. MCW featured a variety of WWE talent including vets like Jim Neidhart, the Blue Meanie, and the APA (Faarooq and Bradshaw) and developmental talent like Bryan Danielson (as American Dragon), Brian Kendrick (as Spanky), the Mean Street Posse (Rodney, Pete Gas, and Joey Abs), Charlie Haas (along with late brother Russ as the Haas Brothers), R-Truth (as K-Krush), and 3 Minute Warning (Rosey and Umaga). Meanwhile, William Regal (as Lord Steven Regal) also did time there before returning to the WWE for his second run. The relationship lasted until the summer of 2001 after WWE discontinued it following the purchase of WCW and beginning a relationship with Heartland Wrestling Association. The promotion shut down at the end of 2001.

Power Pro Wrestling- PPW was a Memphis based promotion that ran from 1998-2001 and owned by former USWA general manager Randy Hales. In a lot of ways, PPW was a spiritual successor to USWA in that Hales was involved in both, both promotions had a live Saturday morning show, and both had Dave Brown and Corey Maclin as announcers. Like USWA, PPW also incorporated many Memphis legends like Jerry Lawler, Bill Dundee, Wolfie D, and Brian Christopher. PPW was another promotion that worked as a developmental territory where young talent was sent for seasoning. Though the USWA was used to season talent, PPW is regarded as WWE's first official developmental territory. Among the developmental talent that worked there include Kurt Angle, Matt Bloom (as Baldo), Crash Holly (as Erin O'Grady), Rikishi (as JR Smooth), and Batista (as Khan). Like some of these promotions, the WWE would occasionally send talent or co-promote shows most notably names like Kane and The Rock made appearances at Mid-South Coliseum shows. The relationship ran until March 2001 when WWE ended their agreement and PPW shut down by April.

New Japan Pro Wrestling- New Japan is perhaps Japan's most famous promotion. Founded in 1972 by Antonio Inoki, the promotion is known for it's Strong Style approach, tournaments like the G1 Climax, and their yearly Wrestle Kingdom shows every January 4th at the Tokyo Dome. To most Americans, the promotion has become known for it's various working agreements with promotions like WCW, TNA, ROH, and AEW. However, before all those, they had a working agreement with the WWE from 1975-1985. The WWE/New Japan deal is perhaps best known for a variety of reasons namely WWE champions like "Superstar" Billy Graham, Bob Backlund, and Hulk Hogan defending the WWE Championship at New Japan events while New Japan legends like Inoki appeared for WWE and up and comers like Tatsumi Fujinami and the Original Tiger Mask saw their stocks rise with WWE runs. Perhaps some of the biggest moments of the deal was Inoki getting an unrecognized run as WWE Champion from November 30, 1979 to December 6, 1979 while New Japan executive Hisashi Shinma served as on-screen WWE President from 1978-1984. The relationship ended by 1985, reportedly due to WWE cancelling Hulk Hogan New Japan bookings due to needing him. In the decades since then, there have been teases of the two sides working together again but not much has come of it. In 1990, the two reunited (along with All Japan) to run the Wrestling Summit show at the Tokyo Dome and the WWE did reopen the door when they allowed the Steiner Brothers to do shots in late 1993/early 1994 but that led to New Japan eventually snatching the Steiners away. In 2005/2006, there again were rumors of the two talking to each other but nothing came of it. In 2024/2025, rumors and rumblings again surfaced of the two working together but so far, nothing has come yet.

Heartland Wrestling Association- HWA was founded by Les Thatcher in 1996. It originally served as an indie promotion and school before becoming a developmental for WCW and later WWE. In it's early years, future WWE stars like D-Lo Brown and the Headbangers (Thrasher and Mosh) had runs as champions while others who came through include Nigel McGuinness and Pepper Parks (AEW's Blade and TNA's Braxton Sutter). HWA served as a WWE developmental territory from 2001-2002, during which time vets like Val Venis and Raven to developmental talent like Charlie Haas and 3 Minute Warning to WCW alumni like EZ Money, Shannon Moore, Evan Karagias, and Hugh Morris had runs and championship reigns. The relationship lasted a year before WWE parted ways due to budget cuts. Afterwards, HWA ran another 13 years during which time, future stars like Jon Moxley, BJ Whitmer, OI4K (Jake Crist and Dave Crist), and LA Knight (then Deuce) had runs and became champions. The promotion quietly folded in 2015.

All Japan Pro Wrestling- All Japan is another legendary Japanese promotion. Founded by Giant Baba in 1972, the promotion became known for it's use of the King's Road style, tournaments like the Champion Carnival, and the golden period of the 90s with the Four Pillars of Heaven (Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, and Akira Taue). WWE and All Japan had the on again/off again relationship mostly in the 1990s. The first notable relationship was in 1990 when the two promotions (along with New Japan) co-promoted the Wrestling Summit show at the Tokyo Dome on April 13, 1990 which featured Hulk Hogan taking on Stan Hansen in the main event while Baba and Andre the Giant formed a dream team against Demolition. After the show, the two sides broke off until 1997-1998 first with the WWE sending the New Blackjacks (Barry Windham and JBL) to work the 1997 World's Strongest Tag League. The second was Vader working All Japan's Showdown at the Egg Show at the Tokyo Dome on May 1, 1998 teaming with Stan Hansen against Kenta Kobashi and Johnny Ace (future WWE executive John Laurinaitis). The third would see former three time WWE Tag Team Champion Bart Gunn transition to All Japan following his shocking win of the WWE's Brawl For All tournament. Reportedly, more was to happen but talks fell apart largely due to both sides not being familiar with the other's product. Since that time, there have been rumblings of the two sides working together but not much since then. In the early 2010s, there were rumors of a working deal due to John Laurinaitis being a WWE exec but nothing happened. In 2019/2020, the WWE spoke to various promotions like All Japan when they planned to expand NXT to Japan but nothing came of it. In late 2023, the two sides tried to put something together when NXT's Charlie Dempsey did some shots and challenged for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship but it didn't last with WWE moving to a relationship with NOAH.

Ohio Valley Wrestling- Definitely one of WWE's most successful partnerships. OVW formed in 1993 by wrestler and trainer "Nightmare" Danny Davis (not to be confused with "Dangerous" Danny Davis who wrestled and refed for the WWE during the 1980s and 1990s) as an independent promotion and school. The promotion had a working deal with the WWE from 1999-2009 as a developmental promotion that trained or seasoned talent before they moved up to the main roster. During it's ten year relationship, many future stars came through OVW including Rico, Shelton Benjamin, the Big Show, Mark Henry, John Morrison, Eugene, Rob Conway, the Basham Brothers (Doug Basham and Danny Basham), Cody Rhodes, and CM Punk. However, the biggest names were perhaps the big four of the Ruthless Aggression/PG Era in John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, and Batista. Along with OVW being a developmental, WWE would also lend talent to big OVW shows over the years be it their Louisville Gardens shows or their Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom shows such as Kane, The Undertaker, Cena, and Orton. The relationship lasted a decade before parting ways in 2009 with WWE focusing on Florida Championship Wrestling and later NXT. Since the break up, OVW still continues to this day and has formed brief partnerships with TNA and ROH over the years.

Extreme Championship Wrestling- We get another one of WWE's most famous relationship. ECW was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon. Originally Eastern Championship Wrestling, the promotion became more known for it's rebranded into Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1994 and run and booked by Paul Heyman. The promotion would become legendary for it's innovative style and use of blood and violence with a more gritty atmosphere that the WWE and WCW didn't have originally. The WWE/ECW relationship is pretty well known with WWE helping the promotion out here and there, including funding them. The relationship is mostly known for ECW wrestlers occasional appearances from late 1996 to mid 1997 including ECW invading the February 24, 1997 Monday Night RAW. Outside of this, the relationship saw ECW get promotional and technical help for their ECW PPVs while the WWE occasionally used ECW to send talent they either had nothing for (Doug Furnas, Phil LaFon, and Scorpio) to talent that needed repackaging (Al Snow) to talent who needed reps (Darren Drozdov, Brakus, and Vic Grimes). The relationship also became famous when WWE lent ECW Taz (now in the WWE as Tazz) to beat the soon to be departing ECW World Champion Mike Awesome for the ECW World Championship thus allowing ECW to make history of a WWE wrestler beating a WCW wrestler for the ECW Championship in an ECW ring. This also saw Tazz appear for the WWE for a week as ECW World Champion. The relationship lasted until 2001 when ECW shut down due to declining business.