The pro wrestling rumor mill never stops, especially on the weekend of WWE Backlash. Let’s see what today’s rumors are all about.
Top Rumor of the Day: WWE pay cuts
The Observer describes these wrestlers as follows: “They were not the high end players and were people that creative had tabbed little interest in going forward and thus the idea is they could remain under contract while their in-ring aspect of their career would be phased down.”
As far as the New Day’s release is concerned, WON says they were “on the list of those without significant future plans” in WWE. They had just signed a five year deal with WWE in 2025, but decided to leave after WWE asked them to restructure the deal for less pay. PW Insider adds that there is “a lot of excitement in AEW circles” about the New Day potentially signing with the promotion.
The Observer also confirmed an earlier report that “at least one major name wrestler agreed to a 50 percent pay cut.” The type of WWE wrestler who would accept such a massive pay cut is someone “who would not fit in AEW and are making…in excess of $2 million per year, who simply couldn’t earn anywhere near $1 million elsewhere, so the leverage isn’t there.”
To put some of the numbers in perspective, the Observer claims that “the total compensation of just five of the top executives with TKO in 2025 was just barely under the total salaries for all in-ring talent in the company.”
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