The pro wrestling world has seen a significant shift in WWE’s attitude towards collaborating with independent wrestling groups, a markedly different approach from those taken during Vince McMahon’s era. These observations are made by AEW commentator, Jim Ross.
WWE’s newest initiative, the “WWE ID” program, is designed to provide an easier pathway for independent wrestlers to kickstart their career in Sports Entertainment.
In a recent episode of his podcast, “Grilling JR,” Ross reflected on WWE’s historical approach to dealing with independents under McMahon’s leadership. He recounted,
“I think it [WWE ID] is about time. Vince was never very motivated to invest time and money in supporting the indies. It was just — I remember the conversation we had. It was simply, ‘Well Vince, where do you think we got all these other guys?’ We had some college guys as you know, but we had a lot of diversity. You get diversity via selection. It’s just a crazy deal, you want different personalities, you want different body types, you want different ethnicities.”
Ross expressed praise for WWE’s initiative to align with independent promotions while cautioning talent to be mindful of contract terms. He said,
“Well, you’re not really eliminating it because if you don’t sign a contract and you got maybe a letter of agreement or something casual, I can see that being a good recruiting tool because then guys build their confidence, they build their self-esteem, they got a WWE deal in the works. They’d be stupid to sign a contract that prohibits them from wrestling for another company. Don’t do that, that don’t make any sense. But having that WWE offer or agreement, that’s good for those guys. It’s good for the talent.”
To date, WWE has signed three wrestlers through the WWE ID program. Additionally, a fourth participant will be announced at the upcoming “Reality of Wrestling” event this weekend. You can watch Ross’ commentary on the new approach on his podcast, which is linked below.