Andrew Ravens
WWE was tasked with cutting millions from its payroll over the past month, and the way those cuts were handled has generated significant frustration across the wrestling industry.
Fightful Select has published an extensive report detailing the scope of the financial reductions, the pressure placed on talent to make quick decisions, and the broader implications for how wrestlers will approach contract negotiations with TKO going forward.
The cuts drew immediate criticism from within the industry, in large part because of the timing. TKO executive pay packages were made public around the same time as the releases and pay cut requests, with the stock also hitting record highs. As Fightful Select noted, most people in the talent and agent worlds accept that releases are a reality of WWE’s direction under TKO, but asking talent to take pay cuts of seven figures per year while executives received substantial compensation packages was widely criticized and scoffed at.
Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods — known together as The New Day — were among the talent approached about pay cuts on the day of the mass releases. Both were given two days to make a decision and fairly quickly determined they would rather leave the company than accept the reduced offer. Despite the decline, the duo still walked away with millions of dollars remaining on their deals over the next four years.
Fightful Select also noted that several talents were approached during overseas dates in recent years with new contract offers, sometimes well before they expected to be in negotiations. Some within the industry viewed this as an attempt to get talent to sign before their representatives could properly review the terms, though that was characterized as an opinion rather than a confirmed strategy.
The report also referenced Killer Kross as a separate example of compressed decision timelines, with Kross claiming he was given just one day to decide on his contract offer last year.
Industry Backlash and Concerns About Future Negotiations
The broader fallout from this round of cuts is already shaping how talent and their representatives view future deals with TKO. Fightful Select reports that there is now very little confidence within the talent and agent communities that the large, life-changing contracts wrestlers sign will actually run their full course. The concern is that WWE may continue to approach talent mid-contract with reduced offers, undermining the security those deals were supposed to provide.
A related frustration cited in the report centers on timing and competitive strategy. Santos Escobar and others had signed new deals with WWE in the past year without engaging AEW or other companies, and now find themselves cut or facing pay reductions with reduced leverage as a result. Multiple representatives pointed out that cutting those talents also diminishes WWE’s competitive advantage, since forcing AEW to spend more money on those same performers would have been a stronger strategic play.
Regarding The New Day, Fightful Select reported that numerous names within AEW have pushed internally for the tag team to be signed. The report also dismissed rumors that Woods could return to WWE on a digital-only deal, noting that such an arrangement would prevent him from working for AEW and effectively cost him millions over the coming years.
One WWE source was also quoted by another outlet, expressing disgust that the company did not publicly acknowledge The New Day’s contributions upon their departure. A separate WWE source told Fightful Select that the company did privately express its appreciation and that a joint statement announcing the departure had been expected, with no explanation given for why it never materialized.
