The last few weeks have been eventful when it comes to movement in the professional wrestling world as over two dozen wrestlers were released from WWE, and it was recently reported that multiple names have been asked to take pay cuts.
Fightful Select is reporting that WWE was tasked with shedding millions in payroll over the last month, which resulted in cuts being made in order to make that a reality. Most people who spoke on the subject know that releases are a part of WWE’s reality moving forward, but the idea of asking talent to take a pay cut in the seven figures per year range in many cases was said to have been heavily criticized and scoffed at.
Some within the talent and agent worlds have said that this round of cuts and pay cuts will likely result in heavy changes regarding how talent negotiate contracts with TKO and WWE moving forward. There is also said to be little confidence that the big money deals talent sign will see through the life of the deals.
Sean Ross Sapp was told that in recent years a number of talents were approached during overseas dates about signing new deals, some much earlier than anticipated. Some saw it as a tactic to get talent to sign new deals without their reps looking at things, but that was said to have been more of an opinion.
The day of the mass releases WWE approached numerous talent and asked them to take pay cuts in order to remain with the company, and several were given two days to make the decision.
Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods quickly made the decision to leave the company. It’s being said that even despite the pay cut that was offered The New Day still left millions of dollars on the table over the next four years.
A ton of names in AEW have reportedly pushed for New Day to be hired. It was noted that a number of names such as New Day, Santos Escobar and others signed new deals with WWE over the last year without even talking to AEW. It’s being said that with WWE cutting them and their pay their leverage has effectively been reduced. A number of reps also noted that it wasn’t smart from a competitive standpoint as you would think that WWE would want AEW to spend more money when signing talent.
No specific names have been revealed regarding which talent accepted the pay cuts, but the percentages reportedly shifted across a variety of what’s been reported over the last few days. A number of longtime veterans were reportedly asked to take pay cuts, including some who are recovering from injury.
One WWE source who was referenced by another outlet was said to have been disgusted that WWE didn’t acknowledge The New Day’s contributions publicly. However, it was communicated glowingly privately according to a source, and a joint statement was expected to be issued announcing The New Day’s departure, and there’s no word on why that wasn’t the case.