More on TNA-WWE crossover, other times WWE reached out (Patreon)

Jordynne Grace made a surprise appearance at WWE Royal Rumble, helping establish a relationship with WWE and TNA. That continued in May and June, when she returned to NXT.

Fightful spoke to Grace back in January about the process, which she said took place within a week of the Rumble. Though she said that she wasn’t aware of any future plans for the two sides working together, and said she’s hopeful they will, we have some positive news in that direction.

WWE sources told Fightful that Grace made a great impression, and served TNA well as a representative which led to almost immediate interest in her coming back. We were also told that TNA made the process very easy. Based on sources within WWE we spoke to, they appeared open to this happening again in the future, which ended up being the case. In addition to Scott D’Amore at the time, we’re told TNA’s Vice President of Business Development Ariel Shnerner was also helpful.

This isn’t the first time that WWE reached out to TNA, as two years ago they brought in Mickie James. However, James wasn’t actually under TNA contract and could have regardless. That wasn’t the only talent WWE reached out about, though, as the former Peyton Royce and Billie Kay were contacted in 2022, and were under TNA contract. They passed.

It should be noted that WWE reached out to TNA, unaware that the decision had been made to remove Scott D’Amore him from his position. D’Amore actually accepted WWE’s inquiry, and tried to buy TNA that week. Those we spoke to in NXT and WWE said their move away from D’Amore had no bearing on continuing the relationship. 

Since the Royal Rumble, Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp has spoken to several women on the WWE roster who have indicated that they’d love to appear on TNA programming as well. One specifically said she believes it’d be a great opportunity for talent to cross promote and give themselves angles outside of WWE that could help create buzz. Natalya outright mentioned Jordynne Grace to us on camera as someone she’d like to work with. One NXT higher up mentioned Steve Maclin as a natural crossover fit, noting that there are few people in the wrestling industry more familiar with NXT and Performance Center process than Steve Maclin. There were well over a dozen WWE talent we spoke to that were open to appearing in TNA, and all of them said they expected something of that nature to happen sooner than later. 

Amongst the NXT talent that Corey Brennan spoke to, there is significant interest in working with the TNA roster, with Leon Slater, Josh Alexander and more names being spoken of highly amongst the NXT roster as potential opponents.