WWE & Lucha Underground Discussed Potential Partnership

WWE are not averse to partnering with other wrestling promotions if it makes business sense, with WWE recently being linked with GCW, whilst working a deal with Japan’s Pro Wrestling NOAH.

However, it seems WWE were once close to working with Lucha Underground, with Court Bauer revealing the following on AdFreeShows:

"That was towards the end," Bauer began. "I set up a meeting with Paul Levesque to go up there and explore what a future could look like in some capacity with Lucha Underground and WWE's participation. For example, was there a world where Lucha Underground could be on WWE Network as original programming or is there a scenario where they were interested n possibly acquiring it or licensing seasons to air for archival reasons?

“We went to Stamford, I picked up Dorian Roldan and one of the principal investors, Alex Garcia. It was an interesting time. We went in and Paul Levesque and his team were incredibly gracious and very flattering toward all three of us in the meeting. It was a very 'getting to know you' meeting. We met in the Money in the Bank boardroom. In the end, it was really up to the ownership of Lucha Underground and WWE to decide if there was a future there and it kind of petered out after the meeting and didn't go where it needed to go. With Lucha Underground, you didn't just have Dorian and Alex Garcia, you had several people with a position in the company, Mark Burnett, MGM TV, other investors. To get everyone on the same page when you have multiple ownership groups, it's a lot harder than when you have one guy running it or a managing director of the company or a sports team. That's why it's harder to be flexible and do deals. Lucha Underground was the bridge to what we have today in so many companies.”

H/T: Fightful