It appears that WWE has clarified its stance regarding the ability of its talent to use some third-party platforms under certain guidelines.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported that WWE clarified talent could continue to operate their YouTube and Twitch streams if they didn’t use their WWE names. This follows several performers changing their profiles on various outlets from their WWE names.
Meltzer also reports that talent will have to notify the company if they operate either platform under their own names.
The only third-party outlets listed in the report are YouTube and Twitch and it is unknown if other outlets will be allowed under the same provisions.
After an initial report from Raj Giri of Wrestling INC regarding WWE’s new restrictions, the company issued the following statement explain its decision:
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.
POST Wrestling has reached out to WWE for confirmation on this new development regarding YouTube and Twitch.
You guys brought up the idea of unionizing again and talk about WWE being able to withstand the financial burden of making the wrestlers “employee’s”.
But you guys seem to be ignoring the real issue with Unionizing in Wrestling. And that is the significant pay cuts all the talents will take. As a result of it. WWE most likely will ease the financial burden as much as they can for supplying the wrestlers with benefits. Of course the Wrestlers pay will be the first item of on their hit list. Thats the real issue. Are all the talent willing to cut their pay just for health insurance? I don’t think so.
This is also the number 1 reason why MMA has been slow to unionize.
Just wanted to bring that up since I don’t think I’ve ever heard you guys talk about that much.
That’s why I keep saying that these wrestlers are being paid a lot to forego these other benefits. Unfortunately the way these stories get talked about is as if these wrestlers aren’t paid well and they don’t get these other benefits. I guess it’s a bigger and more dramatic story that way.
I think the larger issue is the top stars. They get paid huge and can use their own star power to set their contract. In a union that is less the case. Without those top performers joining it it is really hard for the bottom who might benefit to unionize.
Do some research on collective bargaining and what athletes in other major sports with a PA are entitled to with those deals, then make the argument that WWE talent is being paid what the market bears.
At no point did I say that collective bargaining doesn’t work. If they unionise they will likely get more benefits. No one has disputed that so let’s not pretend they have.
The point about them being paid a lot can’t be disputed either when you compare the other options they have. People talking about these issues with the mentality of “the wrestlers deserve a bigger cut of the pie and more benefits” is very different to the reality of people having the mentality of “WWE wrestlers are barely getting by” when these discussions come up. The framing is disingenuous.
John I have to disagree with you here. We can’t be comparing WWE,UFC, and even AEW to other Major Sports.
The other major sports like MLB, NBA, NFL, etc. Are a group of Billionaires who own different teams and share in the finances in running those leagues. While the latters are owned and operated independently.
Not giving them an excuse. But it is comparing apples to oranges.
I disagree. You telling me Lebron James makes equal amount of money or power as everyone else in the NBA? Come on now. That is always going to be the case in every profession. The most valuable people will always be paid more and have more leverage than everyone else. Regardless if there is union or not. We aren’t living in a communist country here. As for the WWE even the non top stars are making significant money. FTR admitted themselves they were offered a ton of money just to stay and they were hardly Top Stars. So I don’t know if you can make the case that the lower stars are not benefiting.
I agree that comparing WWE to the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL is difficult for the reasons you gave.
I wonder if a better comparison would be SAG. At the end of the day, while WWE is presented like a sport on a fictional level, its performance art, its not a sport like the four above. If all the wrestlers in the world decided to form a wrestling union that represented all of them that would then be a part of negotiating deals with all the major promotions (or at least promotions in the US), I wonder if that would be a better solution and more realistic. I’m not sure, its tricky. Either way, it will never happen.
I’m not in a union, so the the following may be incorrect. But even with autoworkers (in Canada) is there a “Chrysler union”, “GM union” or “Ford union”? Or is it all CAW?
It makes sense to me, I dont get why wrestling is not included with every other scripted show on television. They are literally on TV every single week and are asked to act (not saying good acting lol), but they are acting.
Maybe their mistake is comparing themselves to sports (which they are not). Maybe if wrestlers identified as actors they could get those benefits.
Comparing them to say the NFL is so hard. NFL has a PA, but also you have teams within the NFL which all have separate owners trying to compete with each other within a capped system. Totally different. Plus, in the NFL you are graded/paid based on statistics and performance. Wrestling being scripted has a pay system based on drawing power, again, same thing as a TV show.
Think about it, wrestling really is like a network TV show. If NBC has a new sitcom, they have to independently negotiate with with each performer and offer a contract accordingly. That actor has the ability to act in other projects depending on whats in the contract (just like wrestling). Some TV personalities are allowed to act on other networks, some are restricted to a certain network (again, just like wrestling).
If wrestlers did join SAG and wrestling got recognized as a scripted show in the same way any regular drama or sitcom is, it could make a lot of wrestlers lives a lot better.
We aren’t comparing the structure of the leagues to an enterprise like WWE, we are comparing the function of a player’s association to whatever a WWE or industry equivalent would be.
In the '80s and '90s, the major revenue source was pay-per-view, and the talent was entitled to a % of that based on their contribution to the show, and a formula was designed to make those payoffs. Today, the primary revenue generator isn’t PPV, it’s television revenue and talent is not cut into anything. If you had a protection method in place (ie: a PA, association, or piggy-backing off SAG or any other entity), you would never have a situation like 2014 where the WWE Network was launched and talent was left to wonder what would happen to their pay-per-view revenue.
Sponsorships, television revenue, etc. would be areas that would need to be bargained with a PA or union instead of mandated of what talent is and is not entitled to, and allowed to do.
It’s the basis of Project Spearhead that is attempting the same thing in MMA.
That isn’t the case with lots of unionized industries, many pay based on seniority, experience or other factors not value. Lebron is under paid for his relative value in part because mandatory minimum salaries exist for other players, salary caps were negotiated etc. Further it can impact individual players ability to negotiate their own contracts. Beyond a that team sports have more competition for those players. If wrestling unionized it is WWE competing against who for top salary? AEW isn’t even close to what top guys are paid outside of maybe the elite guys who have front office jobs,and those kind of benefits are harder to negotiate in a unionized environment. I’m not saying everyone will get paid the same, I’m saying the top guys probably will make less and have fewer perks because the money and perks will be spread around more and standardized.
In the US most unions are not “brand based”. I am not in a union (I was many years ago when I was a teacher, and that was a National Union the AFT) but I work in the u Timothy industry where many of our workers are in unions (AFL-CIO and IBEW) both are larger than just our company.