As most of you are aware, WWE is a public company. This means that they must operate under the guidelines of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). There are many, many different laws and other assorted regulations that govern public companies that WWE would not be bound to if they had stayed private. One big one is that the contracts of all executive officers' contracts must be filed with the SEC and released publicly. WWE is unique in that three of its executive officers are also performers: Vince McMahon (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer), Stephanie McMahon-Levesque (Chief Brand Office), and Paul "Triple H" Levesque (Executive Vice President, Talent & Live Events). This list also included John Laurinaitis back when he was an on-screen character while also serving as Executive Vice President, Talent Relations. This means that their performer contracts are publicly accessible for free on the SEC website. While obviously, much WWE talent contract is fairly standardized aside from pay and other perks, there are exceptions, like The Ultimate Warrior during his last run as an active wrestler in 1996. But since most of this IS the same in every contract, not only will we learn about Triple H, but we'll learn a lot about what every wrestler on the roster is bound to. Since Triple H is the most active performer of the executives, let's take a look at what's in his contract, what's normal, what isn't, and how it compares to other talent contracts, including WCW contracts, that have gone public through lawsuits.
Formerly the site manager of Cageside Seats and the WWE Team Leader at Bleacher Report, David Bixenspan has been writing professionally about WWE, UFC, and other pop culture since 2009. He's currently WhatCulture's U.S. Editor and also serves as the lead writer of Figure Four Weekly and a monthly contributor to Fighting Spirit Magazine.
