WWE Asked The New Level To Take MORE THAN 50% Pay Cut (AEW News)
The New Level address their WWE exit.
Having debuted for AEW at All In last weekend, the New Level has made their first notable comments on their WWE departure.
Winning the AEW Trios Championships alongside Swerve Strickland in that AEW debut, the duo of Austin Creed and Kofi appeared on the latest edition of The Ariel Helwani Show (via Wrestle Purists), where they addressed being asked to take a pay cut to remain with WWE. While reports at the time suggested the former New Day had chosen to leave WWE after turning down a 50% pay cut, it turns out they were actually asked to take more than a 50% pay cut.
As Kofi explained:
"We just thought that the terms that they wanted us to perform under were not fair based on what we brought to the table. Based on what we’re worth. Based on the knowledge and prowess that we have as performers, as wrestlers, what we can give back to the younger people, what we do from a point of entertainment, being able to go out there and garner a reaction as good guys or bad guys. Compensation was definitely a big part, but more so, we wanted to work. We wanted to go out there and showcase our skills and showcase our talents. We wanted to do what we love. We love going out there and messing with fans and threatening to ground kids and really garner reactions to people, and send them home with incredible memories they’ll never forget. I don’t know exactly what’s out there. I will say, it was more than 50%. A lot of people don’t know. It was more.”
On getting the phone call from WWE, Austin said:
"I’m at my kid’s football game, and my phone rings. It’s a 203 number. I’m like, ‘Why would I not have this number in my phone? That’s weird. I haven’t seen a 203 number that I don’t have in a long time.’ Maybe like 15 minutes later, my brain goes, ‘Hmm, it’s very close to after 'Mania. Usually, there’s like releases, but we’re not getting released. We’ve been helping out. We’ve been pulling our weight and doing all of this stuff.’ So, that was a flicker of a thought in my mind that it would be a negative conversation. And then I end up getting a call from Kofi, and he’s like, ‘Hey, they just called me, and they said this, this, and this.’ I was, like, ‘How was that the conversation?’ It doesn’t make sense to me because of what we’ve been able to do, what we bring to the table, how much we have left to provide for what we believe the landscape of pro wrestling is. So, I called them back, and then I end up calling Kofi. That was the first time that we had the conversation. We realized, ‘Hey, we got to go, right? This doesn’t work for us. This isn’t what we want to be doing.’"
As alluded to, Austin Creed and Kofi agreed to leave WWE shortly after WrestleMania 42. With WWE doing its annual post-'Mania round of cuts, the 13-time WWE Tag Team Champions were not released, but instead were asked to take a pay cut on the multi-year deals they'd signed only last year. Declining that offer, Creed and Kofi decided to head for the WWE exit door.
The New Level became free agents in the first week of August, which allowed them to debut for AEW at All In. Similarly, Sheamus was another presented with a pay cut and chose to leave WWE, though he won't become a free agent until October. Of course, more recently, Ilja Dragunov left WWE last month after turning down a contract extension, likewise being offered lower pay.