10 Times WWE Actually Worked With Other Companies
1. OVW/HWA/UPW/IWA Puerto Rico/Memphis/Deep South Wrestling (1999-2008)
By the time WWE had overtaken WCW in the late-1990s, it looked as if the trick to winning wrestling wars was to make your product so hot that every wrestler simply had to work there.
Growth happened more gradually than neatly-packaged DVD documentaries would care to reminisce on, of course. Jim Ross was expert in his role as scout, mentor and talent relations tsar, boasting a host of names - including both Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock - that became household names or significant stars under his careful watch.
But as the need for content and growth increased, so too did the company's thirst for hungry young talent. Back when the Performance Center was just a ring in a warehouse and Tom Prichard, WWE set up a number of working relationships with pre-existing and specially selected independent companies that could act as farms for new talents or two-way feeders for various talent that may not have been TV regulars.
Ultimately, the process crumbled under the weight of Vince McMahon's impatience - ties were severed with virtually every group by the mid-2000s, and the ones that remained were either managed horribly (Deep South Wrestling) or meddled-with to the point of failure (Ohio Valley Wrestling).