Nearly two months after the deal was reported, WWE and Twitch have made their new partnership official.
WWE issued a press release on Monday announcing that they and Twitch have agreed to a multi-year partnership. The deal will see the return of the official WWE Twitch channel, wrestler channels, and a new “companion sidecast” for WWE Raw.
The sidecast is set to debut on Twitch during Raw tonight (June 5). The broadcast, which begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time, will bring fans “behind the scenes and closer to the in-ring action.”
“The weekly viewing experience will be led by a rotating cast of hosts and will regularly feature appearances by WWE Superstars, unique and exclusive content such as backstage interviews, and more,” WWE wrote.
The official WWE channel will also “be home to other live productions and will serve as an alternate live streaming feed for all of WWE’s premium live event press conferences.”
WWE wrestlers using Twitch had been limited in 2020 due to an edict that WWE issued regarding third-party deals. This new partnership allows WWE wrestlers to resume streaming on the platform.
More information has come out regarding WWE’s new deal with Twitch.
The agreement will allow WWE stars to resume streaming on the platform. According to Bryan Alvarez, the portion of the revenue cut WWE will receive will come from the Twitch side.
“It is confirmed through talent that WWE’s Twitch cut is from the Twitch side, not the talent side,” he wrote on Twitter.
Andrew Zarian additionally reported that talent would get a larger cut than other streamers who use the platform.
“Spoke to a source regarding the Twitch deal with WWE,” Zarian wrote on Twitter. “According to them, WWE execs negotiated for talent to get a larger cut than other creators on the platform. This was described to me as a “very talent-friendly deal.”
WWE had previously banned talent from using third party platforms, including Twitch and Cameo, back in the fall of 2020. Zelina Vega at one point was released from the promotion after a dispute over the ban, but returned to the company the following year.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including WWE’s new Twitch deal for talent and what it entails, RAW ratings for Monday, your full NXT TV report, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
WWE Superstars will reportedly be back on Twitch shortly.
According to a report from Fightful Select, WWE and the video game streaming platform reached a deal that will allow WWE talent to broadcast on the platform with “almost no restrictions.” However, one restriction that does exist is that WWE talent would need permission to bring performers from other companies onto their streams.
Revenue earned will be split three ways between WWE, the talent, and Twitch with the talent and Twitch receiving the majority of what is generated.
WWE banned its performers from using third-party platforms such as Cameo and Twitch in the fall of 2020. This led to a public spat between the company and Zelina Vega, who was released by WWE that November. She would eventually return in July 2021.
A report from Fightful in April 2022 stated that WWE talent were informed they would soon be able to monetize content on third-party platforms again. However, it took until just recently for an agreement to be reached with Twitch.
With the launch of a new YouTube membership service, Impact Wrestling will no longer be streaming on Twitch.
impact Wrestling announced today that they’ve started a YouTube subscription service called “Impact Wrestling Insiders.” Impact Wrestling will discontinue its presence on Twitch, with last Thursday’s Impact being the last episode of the show to air on the platform.
“Part fan-club and part digital subscription service, members of IMPACT Wrestling Insiders get access to a raft of premium content, brand new shows and exclusive perks not available anywhere else,” Impact Wrestling wrote.
Impact Wrestling Insiders is a two-tiered service. The level one tier costs 99 cents per month. Those who subscribe will receive on-demand access to new Impact episodes every Thursday. Impact premieres on AXS TV on Thursday nights.
“Level one, IMPACT Insider, is priced at only 99cents (USD) per month and gives fans access to fan loyalty badges that identify them as members, exclusive community posts and – each and every Thursday – the promotion’s flagship two hour television show, IMPACT,” Impact Wrestling wrote.
The Impact Ultimate Insider tier costs $4.99 per month. Those who subscribe will “get all the above plus access to much more exclusive content including new Originals featuring The Good Brothers, Josh Alexander, Sami Callihan and Dlo Brown, every Pay-Per-View in TNA/IMPACT history, access to IMPACT Wrestling’s ‘Big Four’ Pay-Per-View events just 30 days after they take place, exclusive merchandise offers, exclusive live chats with IMPACT wrestlers and more.”
Here are the full details for the two subscription tiers:
LEVEL 1: IMPACT WRESTLING INSIDER (99c USD per month)
Impact! Weekly Episodes On-Demand
pro-wrestling’s fastest-paced weekly show, premiering every Thursday
Loyalty Badge
appear next to Member’s name in comments and live chats
Exclusive Community Posts
fan polls, insider pictures and the latest news direct from IMPACT
LEVEL 2: IMPACT INSIDER: ULTIMATE ($4.99 USD per month)
All ‘IMPACT Wrestling Insider’ perks plus:
Hard To Kill + Rebellion + Slammiversary + Bound For Glory
IMPACT’s annual ‘Big Four’ available just 30 days after live Pay-Per-View events
Monthly Special Events
The biggest stars on wrestling today collide in must-see match-ups.
The Impact Wrestling Archive
From Kurt Angle to Abyss and Sting to AJ Styles, relive every legendary Pay-Per-View from the last two decades of TNA/IMPACT history.
Brand New Impact Originals Shows
including Callihan Uncensored
Discounted Impact Merchandise
exclusive offers not found anywhere else
Exclusive GIFs
to use when chatting with wrestlers and other Ultimate Insiders
Regarding a discussion on last night’s Wrestling Observer Radio about WWE talent believing that they could not have hashtags and/or photos that would, in a sense, advertise products as part of the new social media guidelines the company has given regarding Twitter and Instagram, WWE has clarified its position.
The new policy, which they say is not dissimilar to policies they have had for the past several months, is that talent is banned from monetizing their Twitter and Instagram by working with third parties. The company had already had this policy with Twitch, Cameo and other social media channels but had not specifically included Twitch and Instagram.
The example on WOR that myself and Bryan Alvarez discussed about taking a photo casually in front of a make of car or restaurant would not be punishable offenses unless the talent was making money from promoting those things. Again, the post would have to be monetizing the accounts.
WWE is going on the guise that the contractual ownership of the likeness of its performers includes all social media accounts regardless of whether they are listed under their stage names or real names.
First reported by Wrestling Inc., WWE announced a new policy regarding Twitter and Instagram where any monetizing of those properties by talent and not by WWE would be subject to a warning on first violation, a fine on a second violation, and a suspension on a third.
CM Punk talked to Renee Paquette regarding a variety of wrestling subjects, including unionization, Twitch, and a possible return to the ring.
Punk talked to Paquette on the latest episode of her podcast, Oral Sessions. When asked about potentially returning to the ring, Punk stressed that it was about finding the right scenario.
“Without wanting to insult anybody on any either side of the fence, any WWE talent or any AEW talent, it would take – above all – an interesting scenario. A story that would be fun to tell,” he told Paquette (H/T Cageside Seats). “Also, just the stupidest amount of money. But they could just save themselves a whole lot of money if they just presented, like, a fun storyline.”
He also expressed interest in an AEW run as opposed to a WWE one, citing the desire to wrestle new faces.
“I think there’s more interesting people on the AEW side of things for me to wrestle, but that’s just because I’ve never wrestled them before. Young Bucks, Kenny Omega. Talking about your husband. I look at that and I go, ‘Well, I wrestled him already.’ So it’s just less interesting than something new. And on the WWE side of things, I don’t know that there’s anybody there currently that I haven’t wrestled that I would be interested in wrestling.”
When asked about wrestlers potentially forming a union, Punk expressed doubt that it would ever happen. “No, and just because there’s no such thing as ‘the boys’”, he responded. “It’s a trope. ‘Oh, we’re on the road, and these people are our family,’ and like I said, once you’re out of the bubble, you don’t hear from anybody anymore. Those people don’t pay your bills. There’s always gonna be a handful of people that will undercut everybody else just to get ahead a little bit. There seems to be a lot of people that not only by nature, are bootlickers – they just love the taste.”
When it came to Twitch, Punk compared the situation between Zelina Vega’s release for keeping her Twitch account and Xavier Woods becoming a host for the G4 Network’s upcoming revival with WWE’s blessing.
“I don’t know what’s going on with his Twitch channel so I don’t want to speak out of turn on that,” he said. “I just saw he was petitioning to get a job with G4. Why is it ok for him to do that but Zelina Vega can’t have a Twitch?”
Punk and Paquette were co-hosts on WWE Backstage, a studio talk show. The show was cancelled in June.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Dave Meltzer and myself, Garrett Gonzales is back.
We start off talking about the WWE Q3 financials, which Dave wrote extensively about in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer. We also dig into the news of the Vince McMahon documentary and wonder if Dave will be asked to be in it.
We look at the sports/TV landscape as it relates to WWE, including the idea that WWE Network content is for sale according to Nick Khan. We talk about the latest with WWE talent and Twitch, Sting’s deal, NXT not being involved at Survivor Series this year, Pac, the latest on Khabib according to Dana White, and the upcoming obituary on Tracy Smothers.
Timestamps:
Start: WWE financials
27:52: Vince McMahon documentary announced
37:10: More on financials
45:44: WWE-Twitch
49:31: Sting’s licensing contract
51:25: NXT not in Survivor Series
55:47: AEW vs. NXT ratings
1:04:48: PAC resurfaces, WALTER/Dragunov match
1:07:40: Dana thinks Khabib won’t retire
1:10:48: Tracy Smothers
An in-depth look at WWE finances and the company going forward is the lead story of the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Our lead story not just looks at the investors call this week, but goes through financial details and what they mean from the call, and looks at the landscape as well as things said that were misleading.
The new issue also covers:
TV ratings, streaming, value of the Thunderdome setting, Nick Khan’s debut on the call and his main comments, Vince McMahon talks his new management team, WWE numbers, new programming, plight of furloughed employees, company market value, cutbacks in expenses, Saudi Arabia, costs going up next month, how many people view the free tier of the WWE Network, Vince talks ratings, network subscriptions in the U.S. and abroad, how much money the company makes from television, and unique notes about merchandise sales.
Daniel Bryan’s statements regarding his career, how much longer he wants to do this, what he’s said about his own athletic ability, where he can be valuable and Roman Reigns’ opponens.
Hell in a Cell, a look at Survivor Series, changes from last year, the top of Raw, Money in the Bank, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
Khabib Numragomedov’s last fight, Dana White talks if he will retire, Khabib says he will, plus UFC 254 with match-by-match coverage and poll results.
WWE talent and Twitch and comments by Paige, update on Thunderdome location after the end of November and why they have to move, we update the latest COVID outbreak in WWE, why Matt Riddle got a name change, brutal WWE match this past week, where wrestling stands in sports ratings, Canadian and U.K. ratings, donors to Trump and Biden’s campaign,why little was announced ahead of time for Smackdown, new names for lots of WWE talent, what former wrestler is WWE trying to keep from using his WWE name, and the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.
Impact’s Bound for Glory. We look at the situation with Kylie Rae, the injuries, Ken Shamrock in the Hall of Fame and his relationship with Dwayne Johnson, Mick Foley and Bret Hart, Shamrock’s background plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings.
TripleMania press conference, the matches announced, the unique new promotional tie-in with Marvel and the first show announced with no date and why.
Detailed look at the television business, with ratings breakdowns in every segment for Wednesdays and every category for other shows, looking at stats not available elsewhere to get the deepest read into how shows are doing, what categories are doing well and how shows compare with previous weeks and one year ago.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
Garrett Gonzalez and I will be up tonight talking WWE finances, the landscape of wrestling going forward, TV ratings this past week and more with Wrestling Observer Radio.
Regarding WWE talent leaving Twitch, several talents are talking to Andrew Yang about this but most are just grumbling about it. Given the timing of the election, the feeling is that if Trump loses that this was the worst timing for Vince McMahon to make this call.
Smackdown tonight has the continuation of the Roman Reigns/Jey Uso storyline, plus Survivor Series qualifying matches with Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens and Daniel Bryan vs. Jey Uso.
UFC tomorrow on ESPN+ starting at 4 p.m. Eastern time
Kevin Natividad (134.5) vs. Miles Johns (135)
Dustin Jacoby (204) vs. Justin Ledet (205.5)
Cole Williams (175.5) vs. Jason Witt (170.5)
Sean Strickland (185.5) vs. Jack Marshman (187.5)
Adrien Yanaz (135.5) vs. Victor Rodriguez (133)
Chris Gruetzemacher (155.5) vs. Alexander Hernandez (155.5)
Thiago Moises (156) vs. Bobby Green (155)
Greg Hardy (264.5) vs,. Maurice Greene (250)
Kevin Holland (185.5) vs. Charles Ontiveros (182.5)
Bryce Mitchell (146) vs Andre Fili (146)
Uriah Hall (186) vs. Anderson Silva (184)
Williams missed weight by 4.5 pounds and Marshman by 1.5 pounds. Hardy missed at first but came back later and made weight. He would have become the first heavyweight to miss weight in UFC history.
This has been talked about as the final fight of Anderson Silva’s career, but he hasn’t been as firm on that as it appeared.
New Japan at 10 p.m. on New Japan World:
Logan & Sterling Riegel vs Clark Connors & The DKC
Blake Christian vs. Karl Fredericks
David Finlay & PJ Black & Alex Zayne & Misterioso vs. KENTA & Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Hikuleo
MLW Fusion will return with new episodes on 11/18 on YouTube and Fubo Sports Network.
The ROH Pure title tournament ends on this week’s TV show with Jonathan Gresham vs. Tracy Williams, plus EC 3 makes his ROH debut teaming with the Briscoe Brothers against Shane Taylor & Kaun & Moses,the Soldiers of Savagery.
WWE
Sting’s merchandise contract with WWE has expired as has the final date where they can sell his merchandise so everything has been pulled.
WWE captured a SPORTEL Award recognizing the best in sports photography, videography and graphical presentation. They captured the Digital Prize for the WWE Thunderdome along with The Famous Group (TFG). WWE developed the concept for the look and The Famous Group and WWE worked together to create the live virtual fan experience.
Rampage Brown has signed a deal with NXT U.K.
Ringkampf, the Austrian/German group headed by Walter, Timothy Thatcher, Axel Dieter Jr and others has stopped selling that line of merchandise.
MISCELLANEOUS
A&E will be doing a career documentary on Bret Hart.
Dave Bautista has joined the cast of Universe’s Most Wanted, a sci-fi fantasy adventure movie from Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios.
Ken Kraft, a wrestling coach and announcer who was voted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1997, passed away on Tuesday. He received the Hall of Fame’s Order of Merit award in 1994, and a Lifetime services to wrestling award from the Illinois chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2011. He was 85. Kraft coached wrestling at Northwestern from 1957 to 1979. Kraft started the Midlands tournament in 1963, and if you know anything about wrestling, that was considered the toughest tournament for wrestling each year. It was later renamed the Ken Kraft Midlands tournament. He announced wrestling at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics as well as for ABC, ESPN and FOX.
There is another Bellator show on Thursday on CBS Sports Network headlined by Melvin Manhoef vs. Corey Anderson.
A Go Fund Me has been set up for Tracy Smothers, who passed away. It is for memorial costs. There have been major donations by Scott D’Amore, Chris Jericho, Cody Runnels, Jim Cornette, John Thorne, Colt Cabana, Blue Meanie,Brian Last, Chase Owens, Swoggle and many others at
AAW from last night in Merrionette Park, IL: Ace Romero won four-way over Travis Titan, Cody Lane and Brayden Lee, Skye Blue b Sierra, Manders b Ace Perty, ACH d Fred Yehi over 20:00, Matthew Justice b Jake Crist, Black Christian b Stephen Wolf, Ace Austin & Mad Man Fulton b Gringo Loco & Angel Dorado to keep the AAW tag titles, Hakim Zane (Rohit Raju) & Karm b Mance Warner & Jake Something. (thanks to Case Lowe)
Former KSW welterweight champion Roberto Soldic (17-3) moves to middleweight to face former champion Michal Materla (29-7) in the main event of the KSW 56 show on 11/14 from Lodz, Poland. Also announced is Ivan Erslan (9-0) vs. Tomasz Narkun (17-3) and Mariusz Zaromskis (22-9) vs Andrzej Grzebyk (17-3).
Reinier de Ridder won the ONE middleweight title via choke over Aung La N Sang today at Singapore Indoor Stadium. Christian Lee beat Iuri Lapius to keep the lightweight title and Thanh Le beat Martin Nguyen to win the featherweight title.
Adam Brooks vs. Five Star Flash and Mick Moretti vs. Ricky South have been added to the FWA show on 11/7 in Sydney.
The city of Melbourne, Australia is easing into a second lockdown which means it is unlikely there will be any shows for at least a month or longer in that area (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
Pearl Gonzalez vs. Erin Blanchfield and Emily Ducote vs. Montserat Ruiz are the top fights on the 11/20 Invicta show on USA Fight Pass.
Matt Tremont, Alex Colon, Samantha Guerrero, Crissy Scafiro and others are putting together a non-profit organization called the Danny Havoc Creative Arts Foundation. The mission is to provide art supplies to schools, local communities and individuals who may not have the means to purchase or acquire them. The first fundraiser will be at the H20 Pro Wrestling show on tonight and tomorrow night in Williamstown, NJ at the H20 Wrestling Center. Fans will be able to purchase artwork from wrestlers and the proceeds will be the first donors to the foundation.
One of our good friends, Jay Dumont, is looking for any kind of part-time work or even the ability to work for a charity cause. “So on 10/28 at 10am EST, I had a phone call with my cardiologist regarding my health and future. For those that don’t know in April I was given about 6-9 months due to my myriad of heart conditions (10% operational heart).I moved on 9/15 to a much better place to live out my next X-months (more below), but kept my cardiologist. Since the move I have had 2 hospital stays including ICU and the staff was in contact with my team. Long/short: unless I go electronic (life-vest, etc) I am on borrowed time because I am regressing. I am doing everything right but when you only have 10% heart to work with, you get tested every heartbeat and every breath. My choice is I do not want to live my life on machines. I know some will dislike that choice, but everyone close to me understands/respects and supports me. If I had a child I wanted to see grow up, etc., I might feel differently, but it is just me and I would HATE living like that. Now if that wasn’t bad enough. I am still fighting to get Disability. It would only be a bit over $800 a month but my current rent is $860 so doable. I have only survived this far due to others generosity and for that I am brought to tears with how grateful I am. I have about $600 of November rent (mainly due to two very nice people in the community helping), but NO IDEA from that point on. I tried finding a PT job (as well as donating my time to charity) to no avail. Obviously I am limited and can only work from home and need to be somewhat flexible due to possible hospital stays. If anybody knows ANYTHING, please contact me through www.TheGreatFowler.com
Several prominent WWE stars have already shuttered their Twitch accounts with more likely to follow even after a final effort to change Vince McMahon’s mind and before a Friday meeting in which they expect to be given more details on what is happening.
Among that group that suspended their accounts this week: AJ Styles, Aleister Black and his wife Zelina Vega, Mia Yim, and Cesaro.
In a message to his subscribers, Styles thanked them and acknowledged “WWE is making some changes regarding streaming. We will see what the future holds in that regard” and that he was suspending the account for now. He emphasized that it wasn’t a permanent closure but rather just a pause. Similarly, Yim tweeted Thursday that this wasn’t a goodbye but a “see you later”. The others gave similar messages on their final streams this week with former in-ring talent Paige giving an emotionally powered address in which she aired her frustrations with WWE.
PW Insider reported Friday that several talents recently met with the WWE chairman in an attempt to change his mind on the recent edict that talents not work with third parties like Twitch and Cameo. It didn’t specify who met with McMahon. Black and Vega said Thursday in their farewell address that a meeting is going to be held Friday about what the future holds, but that a lot is still unknown.
The news broke in early-September that McMahon and WWE issued an edict that all third party partnerships must come to an end but didn’t specifically state what partnerships were being restricted and why. WWE then released a statement attempting to clarify their reasoning without specifically saying which partners, saying they were looking to protect their intellectual property like Disney or Warner Bros. would. Talents were then told they could maintain Twitch and YouTube accounts under their real names and not their gimmick names. Talents were reminded of the impending deadline in early-October.
WWE’s decision drew the ire of former U.S. presidential candidate and wrestling fan Andrew Yang who promised to push the issue if Joe Biden is elected president due to the controversial independent contractor tag that WWE talents have to work under.
It’s believed that WWE will enter into a partnership with Twitch (and perhaps Cameo) where talent will receive a percentage that will count against their downside guarantee, something our Dave Meltzer reported earlier this month that talent were “livid” with.
In conjunction with WWE’s decision to get more control over how their talent uses third party social media platforms that can also generate them personal revenue, the company will be taking over control over their talent’s Twitch accounts over the next four weeks.
The story was first reported by Wrestling Inc. and confirmed by Dave Meltzer.
While WWE will have control over those accounts, those individuals will get a percentage of the revenue generated which will count against their downside guarantee.
In early-September, it was learned that Vince McMahon held a late-August meeting with talent in which he discussed a reinvention of the product and that Senior Director of Talent Relations Mark Carrano said the company owns their real names of talent in addition to character names. That was followed by a letter instructing talents that they had 30 days to stop engaging with third parties where they had deals or else face fines, suspensions, and even termination.
As reported, it was unclear to talent what third parties it was specifically referring to, considering many wrestlers have their own Twitch, YouTube, and Cameo accounts. Meltzer reported on this confusion and the WWE statement defending their actions that was released the day after the news broke.
As of now, there is still some confusion whether WWE owns the rights to those real names and some wrestlers have already started changing their social media handles until it’s made more clear.
Wrestling Inc. also reported Thursday that McMahon sent a reminder email to talent that they have until Friday to discontinue those “unauthorized business relationships” with third parties.
The wild card is that this situation got the attention of former U.S. Presidential candidate and wrestling fan Andrew Yang who said that if Joe Biden is elected president, he will push to discuss the “ridiculous classification of WWE wrestlers as independent contractors while controlling their names and likeness for years, even for something as benign as Cameo.”
Thursday night, Yang tweeted, “This would be infuriating to me if I had spent time building up my social media channels only to have WWE take them over from their ‘independent contractors.’ People are angry and rightfully so.”
WWE has relaxed some of the vague rules regarding social media marketing put forth in the letter it sent to talent on Thursday.
At Raw today, it was clarified that talent will be able to maintain both YouTube and Twitch accounts, but would have to do so using their real names as opposed to their WWE ring names. They were told they would have to inform the company of YouTube and Twitch accounts using their real names.
Previously talent was told by people in the company that they could not market themselves with usage of their real names.
Nothing was made clear of exactly what won’t be allowed although the belief was that Cameo wouldn’t be allowed but we were told that was still super vague.
WWE had issued a statement on Saturday regarding talent third party deals: “Much like Disney and Warner Bros., WWE creates, promotes and invests in its intellectual property, i.e. the stage names of performers like The Fiend Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns, Big E and Braun Strowman. It is the control and exploitation of these characters that allows WWE to drive revenue, which in turn enables the company to compensate performers at the highest levels in the sports entertainment industry. Notwithstanding the contractual language, it is imperative for the success of our company to protect our greatest assets and establish partnerships with third parties on a companywide basis, rather than at the individual level, which as a result will provide more value for all involved.”
Vince McMahon’s edict that still has talent unsure of what it means, stating talent can no longer engage with outside third parties, led to a huge amount of criticism from former talent in the company publicly and privately among current talent.
It also included a number of tweets by former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who indicated that if Joe Biden wins the election and he’s not Secretary of Labor, he’s pretty confident he’ll have the number of the secretary of labor to talk about the “ridiculous classification of WWE wrestlers as independent contractors while controlling their names and likeness for years, even for something as benign as Cameo.”
Other talent usually loyal to WWE complained about this on Twitter, most notably Mick Foley and Kevin Nash, as did a number of former talent including Maria Kanellis Bennett, Gail Kim and Karl Anderson.
Talent does not know in specific what is and isn’t allowed, when it comes to YouTube, Twitch, Cameo or other platforms as the letter was vague. Attempts by us to get the company to define what this means also were not answered.
Another thing going around that confused talent was that Mark Carrano told talent that the company owns the rights to their real names, which presumably meant that they couldn’t revert to using their real names for platforms and usage that WWE would ban them using their stage names for. Saraya Bevis, better known as Paige, changed an account from Paige to Saraya of late which may have spurred that statement. Some felt that meant WWE was claiming the talent no longer owned the rights to their own names, but that would make no sense, although based on contract wording, WWE may be able to prevent the talent from marketing themselves on platforms the company doesn’t want while still under a WWE deal.
Based on a statement WWE sent out today, it appears it refers to individuals making monetary deals on their own which would make it impossible for WWE on its own to market exclusivity in that platform. In many ways this is similar to when UFC would no longer allow companies to sponsor fighters individually during fight week (although they were allowed to have individual sponsors on their own, something WWE talent seemingly can’t have) so UFC could market exclusivity to its own sponsors.
We were told that the key thing that brought this on were talent being on Twitch using their WWE characters and Bang Energy endorsement deals.
WWE’s statement regarding the letter sent out today said “Much like Disney and Warner Bros., WWE creates, promotes and invests in its intellectual property, i.e. the stage names of performers like The Fiend Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns, Big E and Braun Strowman. It is the control and exploitation of these characters that allows WWE to drive revenue, which in turn enables the company to compensate performers at the highest levels in the sports entertainment industry. Notwithstanding the contractual language, it is imperative for the success of our company to protect our greatest assets and establish partnerships with third parties on a companywide basis, rather than at the individual level, which as a result will provide more value for all involved.”
Talent was upset noting that with the pandemic, those without large guarantees from prior deals are earning less due to no house show pay and lower merchandise pay, and now the company, while still claiming talent as independent contractors, is taking away an outside way to make income that does not affect their WWE performances or work with other promoters. The independent contractor classification has been weird because WWE controls all bookings, interviews, when people work, their work schedule and even how they work and what they say.
The feeling is that because they now have far more time off with the cutback in arena events and travel, that they can use that time to both make money and also market themselves in other platforms as stars which also helps the company with stars being seen in different platforms.
The belief is that YouTube shows are not part of this ban, but that has not been explained in specific. One thing that has been brought up by many is WWE personnel doing podcasts where they get paid that seems to be okay, but other forms of social media where the talent gets paid seems to not be okay.
Live for our Twitch subscribers shortly after the conclusion of tonight’s WWE SummerSlam, join Bryan Alvarez and Vince Verhei for a live Bryan & Vinny Show~!
For non-Twitch subscribers, the audio will be uploaded as a podcast per usual and the video will be up for our YouTube premium subscribers shortly afterward as well.
Featuring regular Bryan & Vinny WWE PPV post-shows, Tom Lawlor & Mike Sempervive UFC PPV post-shows, and Bryan Rose playing various video games, our Twitch content is growing by the week and is easy to access.
Join Bryan and Vinny Sunday night for their live SummerSlam post-show!
Recorded live on our Twitch feed, check out former UFC light heavyweight and future PFL competitor “Filthy” Tom Lawlor join Wrestling Observer Live’s Mike Sempervive for our UFC 250 post show.
For an hour, Tom and MIke discussed UFC women’s featherweight champion Amanda Nunes’ dominant victory, the intrigue at bantamweight with Cody Garbrandt, Sean O’Malley, and Aljamain Sterling all picking up impressive wins, Conor McGregor’s retirement, and the rest of the card.
Here’s all the details on how you can watch Wrestling Observer Live every day free on our Twitch stream.
