10 Rare Wrestling Contract Clauses You Never Knew
The weird and noteworthy stipulations in contracts for Triple H, Randy Savage and others.
There’s a memorable story out there of ‘80s rock-and-roll heroes Van Halen stipulating in their contracts for music venues that there needed to be a bowl of M&Ms at every arena they were playing on tour but with all the brown ones removed.
Major, major d*ck move, but their justification was to check whether the promoters were paying attention and read their lengthy contracts. In the elaborate land of pro wrestling grapplers too have strange specifics in their contracts that WWE and other promotions need to abide by.
WWE contracts in particular are like no other, with the talent being listed as ‘independent contractors’ without having any of the benefits that come along with being independent. They’re full of intricate complications and recently there’s been a lot of talk regarding the specifics of WWE contracts after talent were stripped of making profit outside of the company with third parties activities like Twitch, OnlyFans and Cameo - much to the annoyance of Superstars like AJ Styles and Xavier Woods who used Twitch to supplement their income and converse with their fans.
With all this happening it’s no wonder Superstars put specific special stipulations in their contracts when they can get away with it...
10. Triple H Can’t Be Made To Look Weak
For years in his long storied career, Triple H faced heavy criticism from fans and wrestlers that WWE gave him preferential treatment, with them rarely booking him to look weak unlike others on the roster.
After he returned from his first quadriceps muscle injury and the brand extension was implemented, he ran Raw for years and never dropped below main event status to win a lesser title to help with its prestige the same way John Cena and Roman Reigns did with the US Championship or Seth Rollins and AJ Styles did with the Intercontinental Championship.
The criticism seemed justified when Triple H’s name made the rounds in wrestling news outlets in 2008 after a private memo was leaked from WWE/THQ sent out to video games press for the upcoming SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 video game. The memo was sent mainly to stop video game companies from showing any screenshots involving blood or weapons which would have gone against WWE’s new PG policy mandate. But the memo also specifically stated Triple H in particular couldn’t be shown ‘in a defenceless or vulnerable position’ whatsoever.
No other wrestler got the same kind of protection HHH did, not even its franchise player John Cena who became World Heavyweight Champion soon after the game was released.