More on Kevin Owens Signing New Contract with WWE

As noted before, Kevin Owens recently signed a new contract with WWE for three years in length. Owens’ new contract is currently set to expire in January of 2025.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources within WWE stated that the reason for the reported high monetary amount for Owens’ new contract was due to WWE wanting to put it at a high enough level so that AEW would not be willing to match.

Meltzer reported that there was some recent talk within the industry of how high WWE would be willing to go in order to keep Owens based on the rumored $2-$3 million per year figures that was being tossed around. One WWE source spoken to reportedly stated that the monetary value of Owens’ new contract is in line with what someone at his star level would be currently making in the company.

Meltzer reported that Owens had actually signed a new deal earlier than was initially reported by Fightful and this was the reason for his current main event level push and increased television time on WWE’s RAW brand.

Meltzer also reported that his sources stated that Owens’ new contract does not contain a no-cut clause nor was he able to get more money during negotiations. One high level source spoken to stated “It’s in line with what I heard. Someone in his position, who can come in and out of the main events, upper mid card, will make that level at this time. But he won’t get the 90-day clause waived. He wasn’t going to get more money. The 2-3 million a year range is so blinding to people, they sign, not realizing it’s a 90 day contract that renews every day at WWE’s sole discretion. It’s how they `got’ Windham Rotunda. He was going to get 3 mil, 3 year term. They went to a 5 year term. He held. They inched up towards 4. He jumped at it. But it’s still a 90 day contract. And with the higher number, it takes less and less to trigger the release.”

In regards to AEW, Meltzer reported that sources close to the situation stated that Owens was interested in the idea of joining the company but wanted to listen to offers from both WWE and AEW first. Owens reportedly perceived that AEW would not match WWE’s offer which resulted in him deciding to stay in WWE.