Multiple outlets are reporting that Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, released last week by WWE, were asked to renegotiate their contracts with a substantial pay cut, declined to do so, and that’s why they were let go.
And there’s more: it’s being thrown out there that WWE asked other talents to take pay cuts as high as 50 percent to remain employed by the company.
The list of already confirmed departures includes, in addition to Kingston and Woods, Aleister Black, Jeff Cobb, Apollo Crews, Santos Escobar, Tonga Loa, Kairi Sane, Zelina Vega and The Motor City Machine Guns – Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley.
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- WWE just released several midcard talents: Any fits there for AEW?
- Saudis pulling funding support for LIV Golf: Could WWE be next?
No game-changing talents, necessarily, but all good hands – and I can see, easily, there being interest from Tony Khan over at AEW for, at the least, The Motor City Machine Guns and The New Day.
Dave Meltzer at Wrestling Observer reported today that he knows of one top-level WWE star who took the pay cut despite being in a position to jump to AEW, without naming said top talent.
“The reason you would be asked to renegotiate is because the contract you signed was when they perceived you as being far more valuable than they perceive you as being now,” Meltzer said, hinting that he thinks the person who agreed to take the pay cut just didn’t want to test the free-agent waters, for whatever reason.
WWE has been the focus of criticism dating back several years for its low pay – talents bring in around 15 percent of WWE’s annual revenue; for comparison, players in the NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL get on either side of 50 percent of their respective leagues’ annual revenues.
And now, ostensibly, that gap is going to widen.
First inclination would be to say, WWE is initiating this round of cuts because things aren’t going well financially, though it could be a little of that, and also, using a slow time to look at the books, and look at the roster, and seeing if there’s fat to be trimmed.
None of the talents on the cut list, at this writing, are going to make or break WWE in the next couple of economic quarters.
AEW could certainly benefit from getting some new faces to use to advance its cause, but there aren’t any MJFs or Swerve Stricklands in this crop.
Mostly midcard talents who will keep you entertained on the way to the match that you paid to watch.
It’s worth keeping an eye on WWE’s money situation, though.
They had to beg and plead to get Wrestlemania over 50K each night, just to save face.
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Chris Graham
