Backstage Update on TKO Asking WWE Talents To Take Pay Cuts & Reaction to New Day’s Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston’s WWE Departures

As noted before, New Day’s Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston departed from WWE this past Saturday following a mutual decision from both sides over New Day not accepting a new restructured deal offer to stay in the company. WWE and their parent company TKO Group recently have been asking their talents to take a pay cut with one “pretty majorly pushed” name talent believed to have taken around a 50% pay cut in order to remain in the company.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that TKO demanding pay cuts from their talents drew immediate criticism from within the wrestling industry due to issues with the timing of it. This revolved around TKO executive pay packages being made public and TKO’s stock hitting record highs around the same time as the recent wave of talent releases and pay cut requests.

It was reported that most people in the talent and agent worlds accepts that the talent releases are a reality of WWE’s direction under TKO’s ownership but widely criticized asking talents to take pay cuts of seven figures per year while executives received substantial compensation packages.

In regards to Woods and Kingston’s departures from WWE, it was reported that both were among the talent approached about taking pay cuts on the day of the recent mass releases. Those spoken to reportedly stated that Woods and Kingston were given two days to make a decision and both fairly quickly determined that they would rather leave than accept the reduced monetary offer. It was reported that despite the decline, both Woods and Kingston still walked away with millions of dollars remaining on their deals over the next four years.

It was reported that several talents were approached during overseas dates in recent years with new contract offers and sometimes well before they expected to be in negotiations for new deals. Some within the wrestling industry reportedly believe this was an attempt to get talent to sign before their representatives could properly view the terms but something that isn’t a confirmed strategy by WWE and TKO.

It was also reported that Killer Kross, former Karrion Kross in WWE, was another example of a talent being given a compressed decision timelines with Kross claiming he was given just one day to decide on his contract offer last year.

In regards to the fallout of the recent wave of talent cuts, it was reported that within the talent and agent communities, there is currently now very little confidence that the large, life-changing contacts for wrestlers have run their full course. It was also reported that the current concern is that WWE may continue to approach talent mid-contract with reduced offers and undermine the security those deals were supposed to provide for them.

It was also reported that Santos Escobar and others who had signed new deals with WWE in the past year without engaging AEW or other companies now find themselves cut from the company or facing pay reductions with reduced leverage for future deals as a result. Those spoken to reportedly stated that cutting those talents also diminishes WWE’s competitive advantage since forcing AEW to spend more money on those same performers would have been a stronger strategic play for the company.

In regards to New Day’s Woods and Kingston’s wrestling career futures, it was reported that numerous people within AEW have pushed internally for the team to be signed.

In regards to the online rumors of Woods returning to WWE under a new digital-only deal, it was reported that those spoken to denied the rumors and stated that such an agreement would actually prevent him from working for AEW and would cost him millions over the coming years.

In regards to the backstage reaction over New Day’s release, one source within WWE spoken to stated their disgust over the company did not publicly acknowledge The New Day’s contributions upon their departure. Another source within WWE reportedly spoken to stated that the company did privately express its appreciation and that a joint statement announcing the departure had been expected but the reason why it didn’t materialize is not known.