Several members of the WWE roster have taken a pay cut following recent negotiations.
Over the past weekend, news broke that Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston were released by WWE as they did not want to take a lower salary as part of company’s restructuring. Speaking about the exit on Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez stated that multiple wrestlers have agreed to the cut, adding that there will likely be more in the future:
“I’ve been told there were several people who were asked to take pay cuts and they took them. I don’t know how many. I don’t know who. Obviously the New Day was asked and they did not want to renegotiate and so they have gotten their release. Apparently there were some others who did end up renegotiating, and probably as time goes on there will be more of these. In fact, there definitely will be.”
Dave Meltzer added that a prominent star in the company also agreed to a substantial pay cut. Meltzer noted that the star in question could have gone to rival promotion AEW and would have made a lot of money in that company:
“I know one guy in this situation, he could go to AEW and he could make a lot of money in AEW, but he did take a pretty big pay cut to stay… The reason you would be asked to renegotiate 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. 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. It’s still a lot of money, you could say that.”
WWE Stars Take Pay Cut Ahead Of Financials
The news of the releases and pay cuts comes just a couple of days before TKO Holdings is set to report its Q1 financials to shareholders, which will also be made available to the public. Although the business has seen a downturn in sales with less sellouts and a decrease in WrestleMania tickets sold, the company remains in a strong financial place.
According to a recent SEC filing, TKO CEO Ari Emanuel’s pay has risen by 272% from $18 million to $67 million. TKO President and CCO Mark Shapiro saw his payout increase by 33% from $32 million to $43 million, while WWE President Nick Khan’s compensation increased 304% from $6 million to $24 million.
H/t to Cultaholic for the use of transcripts.
Featured image: WWE
