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WWE is pushing forward with plans to take over talents' revenue generating third-party social media platforms, according to a report from WrestlingInc.com that came out last night.
WrestlingInc.com is reporting that talents were reminded this week that they have 30 days to hand the control of their Twitch accounts over to WWE. WWE would control the accounts going forward and the talents, who previously would have been paid directly by Twitch, would instead be paid a percentage of the Twitch revenue by WWE itself, with those earnings going towards the talents' downside guarantees.
PWInsider.com had been researching this story before WrestlingInc's own independent reporting and can confirm their story lines up with what we had confirmed talents had been told in recent weeks. Representatives from WWE's Talent Relations department had been contacting talents over the last few days to push them to sign their accounts over to the company, espousing the idea that the talents would conceivably make more money through Twitch under the WWE umbrella.
There are talents who have made a great deal of money independently of WWE, under their real names, via Twitch fan subscriptions, tips, etc. even after Twitch takes a sizable percentage off the top. The fear among talents that we have heard from in recent weeks is that if they sign their Twitch channels over, they could conceivably lose a significant amount of revenue during a period of time that they are no longer making bonuses due to the lack of live events, merchandise royalties being down, etc.
Sources on WWE's side have downplayed those fears, pointing out that since talents are not on the road, their road expenses are down and pointing out that last year, pretty much the entire roster across the board signed new deals with higher downside guarantees so that even if they are making less than expected, their guaranteed downsides are higher to begin with compared to a few years ago.
Needless to say, there has been quite a tug of war privately over the matter for the last several weeks.
On 9/4, WWE sent an edict out from Vince McMahon via demanding talents sever relationships with "third parties" if the company deems that the talents are using their “name and likeness in ways that are detrimental” to WWE by Friday 10/2 and if they do not, they risk fines, suspension or termination going forward. Once that edict was received, a number of WWE talents, including Mia Yim and Paige, among others, changed their social media platforms to reflect their real names, as opposed to their WWE personalities. While talents were initially under the belief this made them exempt from the pressure to drop or sign over those third-party accounts, that has not been the case, with some stories even making the rounds that WWE has informed talents that even if they keep those accounts independent of WWE, WWE would be expecting a percentage of those earnings.
PWInsider.com has learned that the bigger issue at play here is that WWE is going to relaunch their Twitch presence in a major way and doesn't want anything that could run opposite of their strategy going forward. We have confirmed with sources at Twitch that there are plans for a big push for WWE's own Twitch channel going forward, likely launching within the next 4-5 weeks, which fits the timeline of WWE wanting to take over the Twitch accounts.
A number of WWE personalities are, as of 10/2, shutting down other third-party relationships with outlets like Cameo and Pro Wrestling Tees due to WWE's edict several weeks ago. Some WWE sources have pointed to the timing of new WWE President & Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan, who came to the company from Hollywood powerhouse CAA in August, as likely being behind many of the recent changes, theorizing that Khan could be repositioning the company as an in-house management firm for all talents, resetting parameters so all third-party opportunities flow through WWE itself to maximize those opportunities.
WWE Hall of Famers Mick Foley and Kevin Nash publicly knocked WWE's decision to force talents to shut-down their third party relationships last month with Nash pointing out that WWE performers remain independent contractors who receive 1099s at the end of the year, not employees. Former Democratic Presidential candidate Andrew Yang has also come out against the situation and in response to WrestlingInc.com's report, stated last night on Twitter, "This would be infuriating to me if I had spent time building up my social media channels only to have WWE take them over from their ‘independent contractors.’ People are angry and rightfully so."
WWE has not commented publicly on the Twitch situation, but last month issued the following statement to PWInsider.com about WWE's stance on talents' third-party relationships:
“Much like Disney and Warner Bros., WWE creates, promotes and invests in its intellectual property, i.e. the stage names of performers like The Fiend Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns, Big E and Braun Strowman. It is the control and exploitation of these characters that allows WWE to drive revenue, which in turn enables the company to compensate performers at the highest levels in the sports entertainment industry. Notwithstanding the contractual language, it is imperative for the success of our company to protect our greatest assets and establish partnerships with third parties on a companywide basis, rather than at the individual level, which as a result will provide more value for all involved."
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