WWE are reportedly ready to offer what have been described as “competition killer” contracts to independent wrestling talents, as a behind-the-scenes battle is said to be brewing between the WWE and ITV in the United Kingdom, according to a report from The Wrestling Observer Newsletter as ITV recently sent all their talent for the World Of Sport series an amendment to their contracts that would not allow anyone appearing on those shows to do television on other major stations.
The report notes that those contracts would not prevent the ITV talent from appearing for other companies around the world, nor would it stop them from appearing on iPPV or other streaming services for other companies, only that the contracts would give ITV the first option on the talents, similar to that of TNA Wrestling and that there is already talk of ITV doing house shows with the World of Sport series if the first season is a success, meaning that ITV would have the right to book the talents on their shows and that if the talent would have made other bookings globally on those dates, that they would have to cancel.
The report goes on to note that WWE are starting to offer unique contracts to key United Kingdom wrestlers who are considered marketable or have some name value that do not already have deals, with the contracts described as different from anything that the company has ever done in the past as the contracts will not be main roster deals, nor will they be developmental deals and that they are low-dollar guarantees which would allow the talent to stay in the United Kingdom and be allowed to continue to work the independent scene, but would now give said talent a small cushion, with the key point for WWE being that they would be able to lock the talent down to where said talent can’t work for the ITV’s World of Sport series or promotions like What Culture Pro Wrestling or anything with a streaming service and would give the WWE the right to approve or disapprove of said talent’s independent dates.
The report also states that while some of the names offered deals are fairly well-known in the United Kingdom, there are others that have no name value at all and that a major percentage of those who tried out a few weeks ago at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland were offered the new types of deals which would enable the talent involved a cushion and that the company have already asked for their names and started background checks, informing those talents to clean up their social media accounts, before they have even offered the physical contracts and that there are other ideas hinted at, including a potential television show featuring contracted UK wrestlers airing in that market only. The report also notes that several of the key promotions in the United Kingdom have had contact from both FloSlam and WWE regarding being part of their streaming services and that neither service have reached a deal with any of the key promotions in the United Kingdom, but notes that WWE did work together with both PROGRESS Wrestling and Revolution Pro Wrestling to host qualifying matches for the WWE Cruiserweight Classic earlier this year and that those promotions might look towards working with WWE again in the future if they wished to allow their product to be available on the WWE Network.
The idea amongst several talent in the United Kingdom was that the WWE do not want you and that they just do not want anyone else to have you.