The rumor mill never stops churning.
Today’s big rumor: More on WWE pay cuts
The story of WWE talent dealing with TKO’s ruthless financial strategizing is ongoing, and more and more is coming out all the time.
Fightful Select brings word now that when talent were asked to take pay cuts, which was the same day as the releases, they were given very little time to decide on as much. “Several of them” were given “just two days.” They also said several talent were approached during overseas tours for contract extensions, leading to questions
from those involved regarding why it was done that way.
There is a growing lack of trust here, clearly. What’s more, there is a frustration with deals losing value after the roster cuts with wrestlers who recently signed for stability losing out on leverage from outside competition. The pay cuts are having a far reaching effect, including possibly leading to changes in how talent will approach negotiations moving forward.
Meanwhile, the Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer have a few more notes on the situation. Alvarez claims TKO sees the pay cuts as simply adjusting to the changing schedule, which is to say the wrestlers are being asked to do much less — such as a severely reduced house show schedule — and therefore it makes sense to reduce their pay. Meltzer brought word that several talent asked to take pay cuts did in fact take them and many more are likely to do the same. It is not known how many or who took them, however.
Capping all this off is Self Made Pro, who claim there were no less than three wrestlers in WWE who have contemplated asking for their release after all this.
Other rumors floating around
- According to Bodyslam.net, LA Knight was going to have a short feud with Gunther before WWE decided to have Gunther target Cody Rhodes and the Undisputed WWE Championship, instead. No word on what, if anything, WWE Creative has for Knight now.
- Self Made Pro claims WWE is still “trying to figure out how to format shows on ESPN Unlimited” and there is expected to continue to be presence on regular ESPN TV because subscriptions aren’t where they need to be right now.
- They also say CM Punk is not expected at Backlash.
- Lucha Underground’s recent teasers are for syndication of old episodes, says Justin Harvey to Lucha Central’s MMMshow.
Get in on this, Cagesiders.
