John Bradshaw Layfield comments on the partnership between WWE and TNA.
WWE and TNA Wrestling recently entered a multi-year partnership that will see the continued talent exchange between WWE NXT and TNA Wrestling.
On the latest episode of the Something to Wrestle podcast, JBL explained why he believes the partnership will be fantastic on both sides, especially for TNA Wrestling, because they get a boost by being associated with WWE. On the other side, JBL is glad that the NXT upstarts have somewhere to continue to learn new styles of wrestling and different audiences.
"I think so collaboration will be better going back the other way you saw some TNA guys and girls show up on the NXT shows, it was a huge boost for TNA, but also big boost for NXT. It gives you something extra. It gives you something different. I don't know if an invasion angle is ever going to be out there. I doubt it. I don't know that. I have no idea what creative is, but I think it's fantastic for both, and I think you're gonna start seeing some NXT guys on TNA. I think that's wonderful, because when you're learning the business as people are learning down in NXT, no matter how great your coaches are, and they have great coaches down there. I mean, Finlay, Robbie Brookside, and those guys are world-class. Finlay is one of the best teachers of all time, but no matter how much you have from a coach, you still have one territory," said JBL. "Back in the day, one of the things that happened when guys got to WWE was they had wrestled in several different territories. It was kind of like college football. You knew that a guy was a stud in high school, you knew that everybody on that college football team had been a star somewhere. That was the same, pretty much, back in the day with WWE. Well, now you bring them up through one territory. I think it's a hard learning process. I think it's harder on these kids that come in.
"Now you have somewhere else for them to go with TNA," he continued. "[They can] work with a different group of people. Learn a different sense and system. Learn different camera people, different producers, everything that you do that changes and adds to that background of education that these young people have before they go to WWE. To me, it's going to be very helpful and I think it does wonders for TNA. It does wonders for NXT. I mean, these are the two companies that [fans] chant their initials. It's hard to it's hard to over-emphasize that that didn't happen with WWE, back in the day, didn't happen with WCW. We were hot as fire. It happens when you've got groups like ECW, when fans take an ownership of it. So you have two groups, NXT and TNA, where fans have taken an ownership of it, and these two groups are working together. I think it's fantastic."
JBL has been working with TNA for several months, appearing during Nic Nemeth's TNA World Title defenses. Fans can learn more about what Nemeth has to say about that here.
Fans can read what Nic Nemeth has to say about the partnership between WWE and TNA Wrestling here.
JBL will also be appearing on the January 20 episode of WWE Raw. Fightful covers WWE Raw live every Monday night as it airs on Netflix. We also have a podcast that breaks down all the action after the show airs on our YouTube channel.
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