As reported by PWMania.com, Andrade’s contract situation with AEW has been a significant topic of discussion in recent weeks.
WWE released him in mid-September due to what was reportedly a disciplinary issue. Following his release, Andrade signed with AEW and made his return during the October 1 episode of Dynamite.
However, Andrade has not appeared on AEW television since that episode because WWE is enforcing a non-compete clause. This clause allows them to prevent him from working with any wrestling company for up to a year, as his termination was classified as being with cause.
Former WWE star and lawyer David Otunga recently shared a video on his YouTube channel where he discussed various topics, including WWE’s non-compete clause.
Otunga said, “Andrade, who was released from WWE is now in some hot water as he appeared on AEW and WWE is pulling the 90 day non-compete. So they have sent a cease-and-desist letter to AEW saying that Andrade is still under that 90 day non-compete. And not to mention, they also have a clause in their contract that could prevent Andrade from performing a a rival promotion for up to one year unpaid. Now, is this legally enforceable? We’ll get into it.”
On his own 2017 WWE contract:
“So I found my 2017 WWE contract, which will be a whole video in and of itself, if not multiple videos. But for today we’re just focusing on the non-compete clause. So WWE’s non-compete clause, it’s called a covenant not to compete. And it states, ‘During the term worldwide and in the United States for one year after the expiration or termination of this agreement for any reason whatsoever, talent shall not perform or provide any services for or on behalf of any professional wrestling organization or entity, not owned or controlled by WWE, or any affiliated or subsidiary company thereof. It goes on, but it basically says that one year after termination, there’s a non-compete clause that’s in effect. Now why we’ve never heard of this or seen this enforced before the Andrade situation, I’m not sure. But it appears that this non-compete has been in these contracts, at least back to 2017.”
On the important part of the independent contractor clause:
“The important part of this [clause] is that it says — so talent, they’re making talent represent themselves as an independent contractor and not an employee. So that is very clear. But then the very next sentence, it says that ‘talent shall have the sole control of the manner and means of performing his work.’ Now, wouldn’t that mean that the talent could perform his work at another wrestling promotion that’s not WWE? Because I mean, that’s what an independent contractor is, and that’s written into WWE’s contract. However, it is quite vague and that’s the problem with a lot of the clauses and this contract. There’s so much to be left open to interpretation. There’s just a lot of vague clauses in here. The contract is a lot of contradictions, and this is one right here. The whole independent contractor part just, it just doesn’t seem legally enforceable to me, if I’m being honest.”
On the venue being Connecticut:
“So of course the jurisdiction, the venue here for this contract if any legal issues arise, is Connecticut, which is very business friendly. So WWE is trying to lean things in their favor. It’s not like this contract isn’t already heavily weighing on their side.”
On WWE’s 90-day clause in practice:
“So now what happens in practice is, traditionally talents will be terminated and WWE will give them a 90 day non-compete period in which they’re still being compensated. So that’s 90 days where these talents are still being paid. They just can’t go to a rival company. And this is WWE just in essence ‘being nice’ and not trying to enforce the full force that they’ve written in this contract with the one year unpaid, non-compete. So the fact that WWE traditionally gives wrestlers a 90 day non-compete and pay them during that time — that’s not actually WWE being nice. That’s WWE being smart, because they’re trying to keep these disputes out of court. They don’t want talent to take them to court and challenge this because a judge would likely just rule this invalid on its face. The fact that you’re preventing somebody from working to support themselves in their given field for an entire year and you’re not compensating them? So that right there, we can go back to Contract Law 101. It has to be equal on both sides, or where you’re giving up something in exchange for something else. But in this situation, that talent would be giving up their right to earn a living in exchange for nothing, because they wouldn’t be compensated by WWE. But it’s different when WWE pays them something because now they have a little bit more leverage for the contract to be seen as somewhat reasonable. But the argument can still be made. However, when WWE is not compensating the talent. I don’t know how they can enforce this.”
On the possibility of Andrade taking WWE to court:
“In this situation with Andrade, he has been given a one year non-compete that is not compensated. If he were to take this to court, I think a judge is very, very likely going to rule in his favor and just throw out that entire clause of the contract. Because you can’t prevent somebody from earning a living for an entire year.”
On why WWE is enforcing it on Andrade:
“But then the better question is, why did WWE decide to enforce this now and on Andrade? This clause has been in their contracts for a long time, and I’m sure there’s guys who’ve had — well, I know there’s guys who’ve had way more heat with WWE than Andrade, but they never did this. So why, of all people, are they choosing to make an example out of Andrade right now? Is this worth it to WWE to go and battle Andrade in court about this, when they’re likely gonna lose? I don’t know, Jerry McDevitt, I don’t know about this one. What other reason could there be for WWE to hold up Andrade like this? Like this is unprecedented. This has never happened before. And a non-compete is really supposed to be based on preventing trade secrets from being spilled, and I really don’t think there’s any trade secrets at this point that Andrade carries with him. What’s their game plan? What could they be getting out of this? Which makes me think about strategy. Because WWE? They have a very good business strategy and everything is done for a reason. I wonder what that reason is this time. Is it possibly they’re trying to gain leverage on AEW for something?.”
On his theory:
“So hear me out. Now this might be wild, it might not be. But what if WW is doing this to Andrade to get to AEW to try to put pressure on them to then allow Edge to come back to WWE to battle John Cena one last time? What if that’s it?. Actually, that would be pretty dope because if it is — all right, look, we could let them slide with this contract nonsense for right now, just for that. Eventually they’re gonna have to clean up this contract situation. But if they get us Edge to come back and have one more match with John Cena? Hey, I’m here for it. And Andrade just happens to be a pawn in this chess match.”
You can check out Otunga’s comments in the video below.
