Pro Wrestling Contract Season

[RedTwoster]

3 hours ago, 2Xtreme_lives said:

Curiously didn't William Regal have a similar clause when he left AEW. He couldn't be an on screen talent for a year. Which is why he didn't do the wargames stuff or was seen at all during that period when he left 

I think that’s correct, but I feel slightly different about that given that he made an agreement allowing him to leave his AEW contract early to take up a new job with another wrestling company, so it didn’t restrict his ability to earn within the wrestling industry.

CM Punk is probably a more relevant comparison for Andrade at least. While it’s true that Andrade chose to sign the contract with WWE that would have stipulated this, the fact this is something they’re building in to contracts when they’re making the kind of money that they are seems very unfair. 

EDIT: I should have specified that I meant TKO/WWE, when I said ‘they more making the kinds of money that they are!

Edited October 22, 2025 by RedTwoster

[Arch Stanton]

8 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

CM Punk is probably a more relevant comparison for Andrade at least. While it’s true that Andrade chose to sign the contract with WWE that would have stipulated this, the fact this is something they’re building in to contracts when they’re making the kind of money that they are seems very unfair. 

What do you mean by this part? It sounds like you're suggesting they don't get paid well, but they have never been paid better in WWE. They are on crazy money compared to ten years ago. 

I heard Matt Cardona talking about this recently, saying that the guys over there now earn something like double the money, for half the dates, compared to the contracts he was on during all his years there. 

[RedTwoster]

7 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said:

What do you mean by this part? It sounds like you're suggesting they don't get paid well, but they have never been paid better in WWE. They are on crazy money compared to ten years ago. 

I heard Matt Cardona talking about this recently, saying that the guys over there now earn something like double the money, for half the dates, compared to the contracts he was on during all his years there. 

I should have been clearer - I’m referring to TKO when I say ‘they’! Losing an individual wrestler - bar a few notable exceptions - makes little difference to them, and gaining a WWE wrestler makes limited difference to the competition, so it’s not a clause that protects them in that sense, although it may dissuade wrestlers to leave early, which may be the intent. 

[DavidB6937]

I assumed he meant the company making record amounts, and therefore they don't need to be complete dicks in their contracts.

[Carbomb]

39 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

the company making record amounts, and therefore they don't need to be complete dicks

This could be applied across the entire board of Late Stage Capitalism, to be fair

[Chris B]

1 hour ago, Arch Stanton said:

What do you mean by this part? It sounds like you're suggesting they don't get paid well, but they have never been paid better in WWE. They are on crazy money compared to ten years ago. 

I heard Matt Cardona talking about this recently, saying that the guys over there now earn something like double the money, for half the dates, compared to the contracts he was on during all his years there. 

I think that's more a point about how bad things were 10 years ago rather than how brilliant things are now.

[Hannibal Scorch]

4 hours ago, 2Xtreme_lives said:

Curiously didn't William Regal have a similar clause when he left AEW. He couldn't be an on screen talent for a year. Which is why he didn't do the wargames stuff or was seen at all during that period when he left 

That whole situation was stinky. HHH was doing his recruiting drive to AEW talent. Regal called up Tony whilst he was visiting his mother in hospital and asked if he could be let out early. But as Red said, he was allowed to start with WWE immediately, he just requested him to not be an on air character for a year. I don’t think it’s comparable to the Andrade situation. 
 

My tinfoil hat theory was Regal was a Psy-op, knowing he’d be hired by AEW and Regal was there to report back to the backstage goings on. I just wouldn’t put it past them.

[LaGoosh]

Powerhouse Hobbs is off to WWE and The Rascals are AEW bound.

I'm not familiar with The Rascals - any good?

[Infinity Land]

Shame about Hobbs. The recent Hangman match was a reminder there's more that could have been done with him over the years. No clue how it will work out for him in WWE, but he was someone that probably needed a new challenge after bumping against a ceiling. 

[RedTwoster]

26 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Powerhouse Hobbs is off to WWE and The Rascals are AEW bound.

I'm not familiar with The Rascals - any good?

What a shame, but I understand exactly why, Hobbs showed no signs of ever moving up the card even when it made sense to give him that chance. He probably will do better in WWE.

As for The Rascalz, they’re excellent.

[TheBurningRed]

26 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

I'm not familiar with The Rascals - any good?

Dezmond Xavier was in WWE recently as Wes Lee. Teamed with Zachary Wentz in NXT before Wentz was released. I enjoy them as a high flying tag team. I've never seen the other two though. But the other two are good.

Isn't Hobbs still Trios champ?

[BarryOVega]

Following on from the name talk in the other thread, what will be Hobbs’ name? I’d go for Hoss Boggs but that probably isn’t weirdly normal sounding enough so it’ll be something like Tim Kasabian

[Infinity Land]

50 minutes ago, TheBurningRed said:

Isn't Hobbs still Trios champ?

Hadn't thought of that, but haven't seen tonight's show yet. If he hasn't lost them there's always the Freebird Rule, comes full circle since he was originally a late replacement for Hook. 

[abucalves]

Gutted about Will Hobbs. It seems he hit a ceiling so it is fair enough, but it does feel like he never reaches his full potential on AEW, which obviously isn't all down to him.

 

[RedTwoster]

4 minutes ago, abucalves said:

Gutted about Will Hobbs. It seems he hit a ceiling so it is fair enough, but it does feel like he never reaches his full potential on AEW, which obviously isn't all down to him.

 

It’s a big shift in culture from what we’ve historically been used to, but it seems to be much more challenging for larger wrestlers to make it big in AEW - I’m hoping Brody King bucks that trend, but we’ll see where his current run of squash matches takes him.

1 hour ago, TheBurningRed said:

Dezmond Xavier was in WWE recently as Wes Lee. Teamed with Zachary Wentz in NXT before Wentz was released. I enjoy them as a high flying tag team. I've never seen the other two though. But the other two are good.

Isn't Hobbs still Trios champ?

I was very surprised when WWE parted ways with Wes Lee, and he’s the kind of wrestler I could see doing a Swerve Strickland in AEW, becoming a really big star for them.