WWE Reportedly Offered Pay Cuts To ‘Less Than A Half Dozen’ Talent

WWE reportedly offered pay cuts to a small number of talent, with most set to be cut if they didn’t accept.

After it was indicated by F4WOnline that The New Day’s shock WWE departure was due to TKO attempting to restructure their contracts, news emerged that multiple talent had been asked to take pay cuts in order to remain with the company. With speculation running wild, more has emerged on how many people were contacted by WWE to potentially reduce their deal.

According to Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it’s believed the number of people asked to take a pay cut is ‘less than a half dozen’.

“While there have been talks of large numbers asked to take pay cuts in WWE, those in a position to know have said that the number is less than a half dozen, and they were people who would have been cut had they not accepted it. 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.”

-Dave Meltzer

Meltzer also notes that everyone who was either going to be cut or offered a reduced deal in order to stay with the company have now been informed, meaning fans shouldn’t expect much movement with regard to more names coming out. As it stands, 29 wrestlers have departed WWE since they first began their talent cuts on April 24.

In terms of why WWE and TKO opted to hold a round of releases shortly after WrestleMania, reports have indicated that the recent departures could be linked to change in time slot for Friday Night SmackDown. You can read more on the possible reason behind the cuts here.

As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the recent WWE cuts as soon as we hear more.