Real Reason WWE Doesn’t Use Injured Talents On TV (WWE News)
For those wondering why WWE tends not to use injured talents in non-wrestling roles these days...
For those wondering why certain injured WWE talents are no longer used in non-wrestling capacities these days, there's a little bit of clarification on that.
Previously, if a wrestler was dealing with an injury, there was a chance that the talent in question would still remain on WWE programming in some form or fashion. That may have been on commentary, hosting their own talk show segments, accompanying someone to the ring, as an authority figure, or in various other roles. And in the days before guaranteed contracts, it may well have been that the injured wrestler themselves was pushing to remain an on-screen figure, with another appearance meaning another paycheck.
However, more recent years have often seen injured wrestlers kept completely off TV until they're medically cleared to return to the ring. On that topic, Fightful Select's Sean Ross Sapp was asked about this during a recent Q&A session, with somebody specifically asking about the chances of former Women's World Champion Liv Morgan being brought back to TV in some capacity before she's cleared.
While noting that WWE could always bring Morgan back to screens before she's cleared, SRS explained why WWE tends not to do that these days. Specifically, one reason for this is down to contracts. Unless negotiated differently, WWE contracts usually freeze when someone is out injured, meaning that WWE can then extend those contracts for whatever period of time the grappler has spent on the shelf. Should WWE opt to bring them back to TV in a non-wrestling role while they recover from injury, that means that the wrestler's existing contract does not freeze, and time can't be tacked onto it.
Of course, keeping a talent off TV during their road to recovery also has the bonus of those big surprises and strong crowd reactions as and when somebody makes their shock return. While there's still likely to be a pop for an injured star finally getting physical, that reaction tends not to be as loud if that particular talent has remained a TV presence in the weeks or months prior to that physicality.