Rob Kligman provides a glimpse into one of wrestling’s hottest collaborations.
As the TNA Wrestling and WWE partnership continues, more and more talents are crossing through the forbidden door, or rather prohibited portal. As Rob Kligman points out, though, the path to achieve this came with some compromises. Speaking on The ES Think Tank, Kligman, the Chief Revenue Officer at Anthem Sports Group, opened up about some of the challenges TNA and WWE faced while forging the terms of their partnership.
“It’s just making sure it works for both organizations,” Kligman said. “I think you just want to make sure that when you do a partnership, both organizations have the chance and a fair shot at everything that’s written into the contract that allows both to grow both, to make revenue, both to prosper and for talent to both excel on both levels. We’re doing that right now. We’re seeing a lot of chatter within the social spheres and we see that being a success so far.”
“As I mentioned, you crawl, walk, run, taking baby steps to try to see what can do, and then how do we grow from what the success that we’ve seen so far with the talent exchange and grow from there.”
Prior to stepping into his latest role at Anthem, Kligman notably served as the Vice President of Global Digital & Integrated Sponsorship Sales for WWE. Looking ahead, Kligman is keen on taking the collaboration between WWE and TNA one step further, specifically in integrating TNA stars into WWE’s 2K video game series.
“That would be amazing if fans got a chance to put their favorite TNA talent into the video game and play because that’s why they’re watching it,” Kligman said. “That’s why they cheer for Joe Hendry and that’s why they’re coming in and chanting TNA as much as they’re chanting NXT or WWE. That’s what they want to hear and see.
