After more than two dozen releases from the WWE roster in recent weeks, reports surfaced that there was a concerted effort from TKO to cut the budget, which will ultimately yield a higher profit margin for the next conference call to report Wrestlemania earnings to investors. As I wrote about when the initial rounds of departures were announced, the annual purge of talent after Wrestlemania is an unfortunate tradition, and merely a part of the business to make room for the call-ups to the main roster. As much as it’s disappointing that someone gets fired from their dream job, a wrestler had to get cut from their contract before that to make room for those same performers. Shuffling of talent is simply the nature of the beast when it comes to sports entertainment, and in some cases, being fired from the WWE provides the silver lining of an opportunity for a talent to reinvent themselves. Drew McIntyre was cast as a secondary comedy figure before time away allowed him to reignite his career to eventually become one of the top performers on the roster.
However, The Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez reported that not only were several talents cut to reduce costs, but at least half a dozen talents so far were asked to restructure their existing contracts to take a pay cut in an effort for the corporation to pad the profit margin.
As we know, The New Day, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston, were among two of the stars that declined to restructure their deals and were released. In the time since their exit, reports have surfaced that Xavier Woods, who has established a video game Youtube channel outside of the realm of WWE, might be offered a contract similar to that of Tyler Breeze a few years ago that would keep him under the WWE umbrella for appearances surrounding social media content, but he wouldn’t be an active member of the roster. This might have something to do with the WWE 2K video game series, which is a major revenue stream for everyone involved so it makes sense to have an ambassador of sorts, or this could also be a way to keep him away from AEW with the potential for relatively easy cash from WWE. As of this writing, there’s no indication if Woods will ink a new deal or go elsewhere.
Budget cuts are a part of any business, it goes along with the peaks and valleys of any industry. As a market shifts, it’s only the wise move to adapt to those trends, and if there’s a dip, it can be key to respond according.
The task to cut the budget within sports entertainment isn’t anything new, either. Infamously, the WWF took the water coolers out of the Stamford office in 1996 when business was still in the slump of the mid-90s, and WCW began to take a measurable portion of the market with the addition of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to the roster. The latter era of the Memphis territory was known for some lean years. When “Stunning” Steve Austin still sported blonde hair in his rookie year, he ate raw potatoes at a time when he made $40 a night at the Sportatorium, the same famous venue where he watched the legendary Free Birds/Von Erich feud years earlier. When Eric Bischoff became the executive producer of WCW in 1994, he eliminated house shows and began marathon tapings at Disney to save as much money as possible. When there was an uptick in business a few years later, house shows and live Nitro every week were a regular part of the business model.
The major difference between when promotions cut costs to survive a downturn in business, and the WWE of today is simple, TKO already has record-setting profits from the media rights deals. They aren’t firing dozens of performers to keep the lights on, it’s an example of corporate greed to add a few more numbers to the page. As we’ve established, wrestlers getting cut is a part of the process, but given the economics of the situation, the company isn’t going to get any sympathy since these were cuts made specifically to bring in more money for the corporation, not a business move that had to be made to be realistic about payroll. In fact, Mark Shapiro, Nick Khan, and a few of the other TKO executives were given millions of dollars in raises while the athletes that risk injury are left without a job.
Don’t get me wrong, WWE is still the place to be, and in many respects, the merger with the UFC a few years ago put so much media muscle behind the machine that it’s going to be tough to sway talent away from WWE being the goal. But, it’s also possible that some of these business practices might jump the shark to the point that some of the talent consider working for the other billionaire in the industry. This is where the laundry list of mistakes from Tony Khan don’t help the situation, but the fact that he’s almost unanimously praised as a great guy might make the decision a little tougher for talent that could work for him or the conglomerate that will cut payroll when there are already record profits.
The WWE had a hot period, at least by the standard of serving its audience a few years ago, but when some of the fan favorites are fired, while the audience knows the those endless commercials only translate to more money for the corporation, there’s a risk of souring the audience. It goes without saying that TKO is cemented as a media empire, there’s not much debate about that, but if they continue to erode the goodwill with the audience, there could still be a potential downturn in business. In some ways, it could be reminiscence to WCW in 1998 when the group essentially overplayed their hand, assuming anything that they put on screen would translate to revenue. The Wrestlemania ticket sales proved that the audience has already become more hesitant from a financial perspective, it’s not too much of a stretch that it could extend to other portions of the product if corporate greed becomes the narrative of WWE. Sure, the audience will still pay for Summer Slam, but maybe they skip the other pay-per-views that aren’t considered “must-see” because of a dissatisfaction with the corporate spin on the product.
As far as the talent itself, the top-tier guys that actually move the needle, and there are very few of them that can truly do that, will be paid more than enough to be content within the TKO bubble. No, despite the rumors, Roman Reigns wasn’t one of the talents that were asked to take a 50% pay cut. Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Rhea Ripley, Randy Orton etc. are those that will be a priority for management. In short, it’s someone of that level isn’t a part of the discussion of those that will have to take a pay cut to continue to work for WWE. Of course, it’s possible that some of the other names with star power could become discontent with TKO and decide to explore their options, but it’s doubtful that it would make a major difference in the big picture. The reason being is that we’ve already seen a slew of former WWE stars make the jump to All Elite, and there was ultimately a ceiling as to how far it boosted the company. This isn’t a situation where someone with the cache of Macho, Hall, or Nash will make the jump to the competition. Again, that level of talent is being paid more than enough to want to stay under the TKO banner.
Despite how blatant the corporate greed is with wrestlers getting fired while TKO management gets a raise, the debate between wrestlers and promoters over cash has been around as long as the business itself. Vince McMahon offered Bret Hart a 20-year contract in 1996 to keep him from signing with WCW until he told the former WWF champion that he couldn’t afford the deal the following year. The 2026 equivalent of that is TKO restructuring contracts, partially based on the more limited schedule of the modern era. It goes without saying that TKO doesn’t need to restructure contracts to afford them, but it will be interesting to see if more talents decide to exit the company rather than take the pay cut.
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Until next week
-Jim LaMotts
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
