Report: WWE Telling Talent They’ll Double Offers by Other Companies
With talent acquisition becoming a hot topic in wrestling, things got very interesting as news came out today about WWE’s willingness to put money on the table to keep their own stars. Competition has always brought out the best in wrestling, and WWE is definitely taking their competition seriously.
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer [H/T Cultaholic’s Ross Tweddell], WWE is willing to double offers made to their talent by other wrestling promotions. Meltzer wrote:
"After the Bandido situation, WWE has made it clear, at least for certain people, that they will beat anyone’s offer for talent, although they did not do so in the case of Chris Jericho. WWE has told people if you can show on paper an offer from another company, they’ll beat it, even double it on the spot provided you sign immediately."
We’ve seen news swirling as of late with signing both by WWE and other companies. Just yesterday, news broke about Rush signing with ROH and The Revival’s potential desire to leave the company.
The wrestling industry thrives on competition. As far back as the 1990s and the time of the Monday Night Wars, it was the competition between WWE and WCW, and to a lesser extent ECW, that kept the industry growing.
That era created some of wrestling’s most beloved and memorable stars but also pushed wrestling further into the mainstream of pop culture. We’ve seen names like Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks become pop culture icons without WWE, even going as far as getting their merchandise into Hot Topic stores across the United States.
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More than ever before, WWE seems to understand they’ve got real competition. The changing landscape of content consumption has seen companies try innovative approaches like Impact Wrestling’s move to broadcast live on Twitch for free in the US.
As other companies rise, including the newly formed All Elite Wrestling, it’s no surprise that wrestlers struggling in WWE are looking elsewhere for greener pastures. The biggest thing about AEW, as exhibited by this news, is that they’ve got proper financial backing.
When we spoke to Impact Wrestling’s Sami Callihan last week, financial backing was the first thing he brought up about All Elite Wrestling.
"“They actually got someone to put money in that can actually make a change. That’s the biggest thing. There’s a lot of great minds in professional wrestling all over the world, and they always have great aspirations and big aspirations on like “let’s change wrestling,” but it’s getting somebody in a power position to actually sign on the dotted and give you the funding to be able do what you have to do.”"
With AEW able to make offers comparable to those WWE have put forward, it’s changed the playing field and WWE is responding by doubling their offers. The extra important aspect of this is that AEW has committed to equal pay for women.
If WWE’s offer to double contracts extends to their female superstars, we could see several women using a competing offer from All Elite Wrestling to get the deal they’re deserving of within WWE.
Next. Details on Rush's ROH Deal and Andrade's Warning About WWE. dark
There is still the looming question of whether or not WWE’s willingness to throw money at their current struggles to keep talent will really fix the problem, but that seems to be their current plan of action. Only time will tell if the move works to WWE’s advantage, but some wrestlers have now gained a valuable bargaining chip when it comes to contract negotiations.