WWE No Longer "Hoarding Talent" - Wrestlers Receiving Low Pay Renewals
So much for the mega-money deals of 2019.
While Matt Riddle is one name who has recently signed a new multi-year WWE deal, it appears numerous other WWE talents are more hesitant than the King of Bros to commit to WWE right now.
In a report from Fightful, at least half a dozen superstars from the Raw, SmackDown and NXT brands were offered new WWE contracts towards the end of 2020, but opted against accepting those new deals.
No names were given as to who these superstars were, although the offers on the table were said to be “disappointing” – particularly when compared to the huge money WWE was throwing at talent in 2019.
While 2019 saw WWE desperate to tie talent down to long-term deals as a way to keep them away from the admiring glances of AEW, the company is now not in “talent hoarding mode” since the world was turned on its head by a global pandemic.
Of course, WWE released over 100 staff – both wrestling personnel and office employees – in 2020 as a way to balance the books to counteract the financial implications of the pandemic. Still, the company managed to hit record levels of turnover when all was said and done.
From this new Fightful report, those who have turned down these latest WWE contract offers are hopeful that WWE will make a more significant, appealing offer once the landscape of the world starts to eventually return to “more normal”.