Huge Update on WWE Drama Created By TKO’s Poorly Managed Payroll Slashing

WWE was tasked with cutting millions from its payroll over the past month, and the way those cuts were handled has generated significant frustration across the wrestling industry. Fightful Select has published an extensive report detailing the scope of the financial reductions, the pressure placed on talent to make quick decisions, and the broader implications for how wrestlers will approach contract negotiations with TKO going forward. The cuts drew immediate criticism from within the industry, in large part because of the timing.

TKO executive pay packages were made public around the same time as the releases and pay cut requests, with the stock also hitting record highs. As Fightful Select noted, most people in the talent and agent worlds accept that releases are a reality of WWE’s direction under TKO, but asking talent to take pay cuts of seven figures per year while executives received substantial compensation packages was widely criticized and scoffed at. Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods — known together as The New Day — were among the talent approached about pay cuts on the day of the mass releases.

Both were given two days to make a decision and fairly quickly determined they would rather leave the company than accept the reduced offer. Despite the decline, the duo still walked away with millions of dollars remaining on their deals over the next four years. Fightful Select also noted that several talents were approached during overseas dates in recent years with new contract offers, sometimes well before they expected to be in negotiations.

Some within the industry viewed this as an attempt to get talent to sign before their representatives could properly review the terms, though that was characterized as an opinion rather than a confirmed strategy. The report also referenced Killer Kross as a separate example of compressed decision timelines, with Kross claiming he was given just one day to decide on his contract offer last year. Industry Backlash and Concerns About Future Negotiations Credit: WWE The broader fallout from this round of cuts is already shaping how talent and their representatives view future deals with TKO.