AEW's Colt Cabana Reveals How He Avoided WWE's 'Non-Compete' Clause
Colt Cabana managed to sidestep WWE's 90-day 'non-compete' terms years ago.
AEW's Colt Cabana revealed how he managed to sidestep WWE's well-known 90-day 'non-compete' clause following his departure from the company in 2009.
Cabana, who worked a short stint in WWE as the awful 'Scotty Goldman', told Fightful Select that he had to disclose any upcoming independent dates to then-Senior Director of Talent Relations Ty Bailey. That all changed shortly afterwards, because Colt flooded WWE's email inbox with too many bookings.
Instead of granting permission for every single one, Vince McMahon decided to buy Cabana out of the remaining 90 days so they didn't need to keep dealing with him. They probably weren't expecting Colt to be so popular on the indy scene after leaving.
Then, Boom (Boom).
WWE paid Cabana a "lump sum' rather than "a lesser amount" to stop the steady stream of approval requests for dates outside the company. It turns out that almost every independent group running fancied putting Colt on cards.
It's unclear whether this was a one-off or not - WWE may have done something similar with other workers in the past, but Cabana is one of the first to openly discuss it.