It would appear that the era of WWE talent using Twitch, Cameo, YouTube, and other third parties to make extra income and build names for themselves outside WWE is coming to an end.
Vince McMahon sent a letter to talents on Thursday, saying they have 30 days to stop engaging with third parties or else face fines, suspensions and even termination at WWE's discretion.
It's unclear what "third parties" means, however. Several wrestlers operate successful Twitch and YouTube channels where they interact with fans while playing video games or other activities.
The letter comes following a Sunday meeting with talent about the "reinvention of the product" where it came up that WWE owns the real names of talent in addition to their character names.
WWE wrestlers are independent contractors, so there is a legal question of what WWE can mandate and what they can/do own.
From the letter: "Some of you are engaged with outside third parties using your name and likeness in ways that are detrimental to our company. It is imperative that these activities be terminated within the next 30 days (by Friday October 2). Continued violations will result in fines, suspension, or termination at WWE's discretion."
McMahon wrote that these actions are necessary as part of WWE's rebuilding process as they "enter the next phase of growth at WWE."
What about talent appearing on shows of other companies they have a working relationship with? THAT, is also a third party booking. But I bet when it comes to that McMahon will conveniently side step that obvious fact.
Paige and Mia Yim have changed their official names on Twitter and Twitch. We are told that other talents will also be changing their user names on those platforms to remove any direct reference to WWE or their WWE character names with the belief that once they do that, they have satisfied WWE's requirements.
One source within the company stated that Twitch and Cameo certainly fall under the auspices of WWE's edict. We are also told that Pro Wrestling Tees would fall under the umbrella of WWE's criteria, so if there are any talents with PWTees stores that you've been waiting to purchase shirts from, now would be the time as those stores may not be there come 10/2. There is no word yet whether talents with YouTube channels would have to shut them down as well.
There is a fear among some talents that should they not shut down Twitch or Cameo, that the company might request a portion of those earnings. PWInsider.com has not been able to confirm whether those fears are valid.
As noted yesterday, a number of talents have launched channels online via Twitch and YouTube to make additional revenue during the pandemic when there are no live events. It should be noted that the same source that confirmed Twitch and Cameo were indeed within the parameter of WWE's edict also pointed out that while talents are not on the road, they are theoretically being paid the same on their downside to perform less and have lowered road expenses since there are so fewer dates for them to work. The same source also pointed out that last year, the company gave raises to a huge swath of talents during the time period AEW was forming and preparing to debut on TNT, which would have offset any losses.
WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley came out against WWE's edict last night:
