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SOURCES: CORGAN NWA PURCHASE 'IN JEOPARDY', COMPLETE DETAILS

By Mike Johnson on 2017-05-30 19:02:00

Last week, Billy Corgan described his purchase of The National Wrestling Alliance as "97%" done during an interview with yours truly, but that last three percent is turning out to be quite the hurdle to clear, PWInsider.com has learned. 

Corgan has been in the process of purchasing the NWA from Bruce Tharpe with the deal including the name, rights and trademarks to the NWA as well as the rights and possession of the NWA championship belt and Tharpe's position in the NWA on Demand VOD service as well as the Paul Boesch wrestling library.   The actual ownership of the library remains with the Boesch family, as it had while Tharpe was utilizing it, but once the deal was to have been completed, Corgan would then have the same rights and responsibilities that had formerly applied to Tharpe.  

Multiple sources have told PWInsider.com that the deal is described as "in jeopardy" due to issues regarding the transfer of the existing copyrights and trademarks for the National Wrestling Alliance. 

PWInsider.com research indicates that the copyright and trademark on the brand name lapsed last year with his International Wrestling Corp, LLC applying for it again on March 30th of this year.  The trademark has not been officially assigned, theoretically making it impossible for them to be transferred to Corgan.

Should the deal not go through, it remains to be seen what happens short and long term with the Alliance, although one would assume that Tharpe would continue on with the On Demand service and with licensing the name brand out annually to independent promoters interested in utilizing the NWA name.

In recent weeks, Dave Lagana, who has partnered with Corgan on their NWA plans, had been in regular contact with independent promotions that have licensed the NWA name from Tharpe, seeking to build relationships with the different licensees.  Lagana posted a vlog today that he had been visiting with several of the licensees:

PWInsider.com has reached out to both Corgan and Tharpe for comment, but as of this writing, has not heard back.

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