The WWE is famous for having wrestlers perform exclusively for their promotion. This stance really makes sense when you think about it - they do not want some of their biggest stars to make money for some other promotion when he or she could be making money for them.
It even makes sense when you take money out of the equation - a star that they have big plans for could get injured while working for another company, like what happened with Travis Banks. Occasionally, though, for one reason or another, WWE will work with other companies, lending out their performers or borrowing performers from other promotions. Here are 10 times the WWE worked with other wrestling companies.
10 SWS
Super World of Sports, or SWS, was founded in 1990 when top All Japan Pro Wrestling star Genichiro Tenryu left All Japan to become the spokesman for the eyeglass manufacturer Megane Super. Megane Super used Tenryu to launch SWS by attracting many stars from all around Japan.
In 1991, SWS would form a working relationship with WWE, co-promoting a number of events in the world-famous Tokyo Dome. WWE was not afraid to loan out some of the biggest names, too, like Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior, The Rockers, and even Hulk Hogan.
9 PCW
Preston City Wrestling, founded in 2011, is one of the smaller British independent wrestling companies, and one of the youngest. Some former PCW Heavyweight Champions the late Lionheart, Chris Master, and Apollo Crews - which brings us to the partnership.
In 2017, Apollo Crews was loaned out to PCW to enter their Road to Glory tournament in 2018. According to Dave Meltzer, Crews was used as a bargaining chip, as the owner of PCW, Steve Fludder, has an exclusive agreement to an arena in Blackpool, and WWE loaned Crews in order to get to use the venue.
8 AAA
Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, or just AAA for short, is one of the biggest wrestling companies not only in Mexico but in the world. Over the years, AAA has had working professional relationships with a number of companies, like MLW.
Most recently, AAA seems to have a relationship with AEW, letting the AAA Tag Team Titles be defended at AEW's All Out. AAA has even had a relationship with WWE, as, in 1997, AAA had four entrants in the Royal Rumble. Those entrants were Latin Lover, Cibernetico, Pierroth, and Mil Mascaras.
7 Fight Club Pro
Fight Club Pro might be the youngest promotion on this list, as their on-demand video catalog only goes as far back as 2016. On their Vimeo page, they say, "The legacy that is British Strong Style is all right here," and they seem to be correct.
Not only does Fight Club Pro feature some AEW stars like Jimmy Havoc and Orange Cassidy, but they also had WWE NXT UK stars Moustache Mountain appear in a tag team match at their most recent event, Project Mayhem VIII, which took place in late September of 2019.
6 ICW
Insane Championship Wrestling, or ICW, is a Scottish wrestling promotion with seemingly countless ties to WWE. Their weekly show, ICW Fight Club, used to appear on Fite, but it has been rumored for years that the WWE Network will move to a tiered system and a higher tier will include other promotions content, and ICW is one of these promotions.
WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne is an ICW regular and was allowed to compete in ICW while still holding his championship. Also, ICW content has already been found on the WWE Network.
5 wXw
Westside Xtreme Wrestling, or wXw, is one of the most interesting promotions and relationships with WWE on this list. It was rumored for years that WWE was heavily interested in wXw big man WALTER.
As many fans know, WALTER now currently is signed with WWE, and not only holds the WWE UK Championship but also competes in the NXT division in the United States. WWE wanted WALTER so badly, but WALTER was hesitant to sign because he did not want to leave his wXw home, so WWE have allowed WALTER to continue to be the head trainer at wXw while still competing for them.
4 Evolve
Evolve's working relationships with WWE is perhaps the most well-known relationship that casual fans would have heard about. Evolve 131, or the Evolve 10th Anniversary Celebration, was hosted on the WWE Network and used to counter-program AEW's charity show Fight for the Fallen.
Not only was the Evolve show hosted on the WWE Network, but Adam Cole even defended his NXT Championship in a match against former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Akira Tozawa, another current WWE competitor. Paul Heyman, as a WWE official, even once offered an Evolve contract to Will Ospreay.
3 PROGRESS
Like ICW, PROGRESS have a pretty open relationship with WWE, though not nearly as open as the relationship between WWE and Evolve. PROGRESS Wrestling, a British wrestling promotion founded in 2011, has hosted many WWE performers in the past and continues to host current some current WWE NXT UK talent.
The current PROGRESS roster hosts many names that are familiar to WWE NXT UK fans, like El Ligero (just Ligero in WWE), Jack Gallagher, Mark Anders, Dave Mastiff, Flash Morgan Webster, and one half of the current PROGRESS tag team champions, Jordan Devlin.
2 ECW
ECW and WWE's working relationship is one of the most well-known working relationships in the history of professional wrestling. During the famous Monday Night Wars, WWE had a working relationship with ECW, with ECW providing young talent and marketable gimmicks to WWE in exchange for Vince McMahon's financial backing of ECW.
For years, the idea that Vince McMahon financially supported ECW was just a rumor, but many WWE officials from the past have spoken to the truth of the matter, with commentator Jim Ross even discussing it as recently as 2019.
1 NJPW
Yes, WWE even worked with their biggest competitor in the east, New Japan Pro Wrestling. While NJPW has refused to work with All Elite Wrestling, despite both sides wanting to work together, NJPW has worked with WWE on multiple occasions.
One of the most well-known outcomes of the partnership between these two major promotions took place in 2015. At the first NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn event, Jushin Thunder Liger wrestled his first match for the company since the Wrestling Summit event in 1990. At TakeOver, Liger defeated Tyler Breeze in the opening match on the card.