WWE has mined the likes of Impact Wrestling, Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and various small independent wrestling promotions to bolster its weekly television and WWE NXT programming in a major way over the last several years. We live in an era where you can expect an established talent debut at nearly every big WWE NXT show. (We’re certainly not complaining.)
No other form of entertainment churns the rumor mill faster than the wrestling business, so you have to take any report like this with several grains of salt, but another well know independent wrestling act could be on their way to WWE.
Former two-time NJPW Tag Team Champions and one-time Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions, War Machine, teased their Ring of Honor exit at ROH TV tapings this weekend. According to 411 Mania, War Machine lost to LSG and Shaheem Ali at the latest ROH tapings, and before they made their way to the back, bowed to the crowd in a fashion that had fans reading the tea leaves.
Dave Meltzer reported WWE’s interest in War Machine in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter this summer, so it’s not as if their bow to the crowd at the TV tapings is the only evidence here. Last January, Meltzer also reported WWE’s interest one half War Machine, Ray Rowe, so, this War Machine-to-WWE thing has been going on for a while.
Meltzer’s January report makes an important note that WWE only wanted Rowe, and that the interest in his partner Hanson wasn’t necessarily there. Despite WWE’s lack of interest in Hanson, Rowe was reportedly trying to negotiate a deal that would bring both members of War Machine into the fold.
In that same report, Meltzer mentioned that Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole were off to WWE, and of course, that’s exactly what happened. Rowe is still wrestling for indie promotions, so one could speculate that he couldn’t come to terms with WWE over the inclusion of his tag partner Hanson, until, presumably, now. In somewhat-related-but-might-mean-nothing news, 411 Mania notes that Rowe is engaged to recent WWE Smackdown callup Sarah Logan.
