Back when the first wave of WWE cuts were revealed a week and a half ago, few likely predicted it would lead to talk regarding WWE wrestlers taking pay cuts. But that’s exactly what happened after New Day’s Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were released by WWE after declining to negotiate new deals on a reduced salary, followed by reports that other WWE wrestlers had been asked to take as much as a 50% pay cut, with some accepting the reduced offers.
Discussing the situation on Tuesday’s “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Dave Meltzer talked about how pay cuts weren’t anything new to WWE, though this was the most prominent example of them in some time. While Meltzer believes no top names have been offered a pay cut, he revealed one prominent star had been and took it, despite having more options available. He used this unknown star as an example for what WWE hopes to accomplish with these pay cuts.
“I know one guy who, in this situation, he could go to AEW and he could make a lot of money in AEW,” Meltzer said. “But he did take a pretty big pay cut to stay [in WWE]. And [he’s] someone who’s career was pretty much, you know…the reason you would be asked to re-negotiate is because the contract you signed was when they perceived you as being far more valuable than they perceive you as being now.
“That’s why they would renegotiate a contract. And in the case of the person, it’s someone who would fit into that category. And the reason was not that he’s not good, or not that he’s not great, but that they creatively didn’t take advantage of what they had, I would say is the best way of putting it. But he accepted it. He didn’t take the risk or whatever it is of going elsewhere. And look, it’s still a lot of money. You can say that.”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Wrestling Observer Radio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
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