What’s the story?
As per PWInsider, Billy Corgan, former president of TNA (now known as Impact Wrestling) has reportedly been given the all-clear to purchase the NWA after some trademark issues that were holding back the purchase were taken care of.
In case you didn’t know...
Billy Corgan is the guitarist and vocalist of the Alternative Rock band “The Smashing Pumpkins”. Outside his primary musical endeavours, Corgan is also an entrepreneur with a keen interest in professional wrestling.
Corgan was the founder of an Independent Wrestling promotion called Resistance Pro Wrestling in Chicago, Illinois. He subsequently took over as the Senior Producer of Creative and Talent Development for TNA (Now known as Impact Wrestling) in April 2015.
After becoming TNA president in 2016, Corgan got involved in financial disputes with Impact Ventures and ended up leaving the promotion. He has since been trying to take over National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
The heart of the matter
Billy Corgan was initially slated to purchase NWA in May 2017, but there were ownership issues surrounding the trademarks of NWA.
As per a previous report by PWInsider, it was said that the copyrights and trademarks on NWA’s brand name had lapsed in 2016. Bruce Tharpe’s International Wrestling Corp, the company that had purchased the NWA in 2012, had subsequently re-applied for the trademarks on March 30.
Also read: 5 eras that defined pro wrestling before its’ global popularity
A transfer of the trademarks would not have been possible until the application was approved. It is now being reported, however, that the applications were approved and all the trademarks in question have successfully been transferred from Bruce Tharpe’s company to Billy Corgan’s Lightning One, Inc.
Corgan will now become the owner of the name, rights as well as trademarks to the NWA and its’ title belts. Corgan will also assume ownership of Tharpe’s share in the NWA Video on Demand streaming service as well as the Boesch family library.
What’s next?
Corgan has not spoken yet about what he is going to do once his purchase of NWA is completely finalised. It will be interesting to see where he takes the historical promotion from here.
Author’s take
NWA is probably the most historically significant professional wrestling organisation there is. Without the organisation doing all the work it did, professional wrestling would not have been as popular as it is today.
While the brand value of NWA has faded into nothingness in recent years, motivated efforts by Billy Corgan might be able to bring it back to some sort of prominence. Corgan has a lot of contacts and money at his disposal, and he might just be able to make something out of this.
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