Swerve Strickland has a new contract, and many assume Daniel Garcia to have one. The ensuing situation led to much discourse on Friday.
Fightful Select reported after AEW All In that Swerve Strickland's was one of the biggest in AEW and all of wrestling. Wrestling Observer reported Friday that WWE sources expected Daniel Garcia to remain with AEW. Fightful's AEW sources are also of the belief that he's remaining with the company, though it's not confirmed.
On Friday, Wrestling Observer also reported that WWE perceived the offers to both as "bad for the sport" because they're over what WWE viewed Garcia and Strickland's market value to be.
Fightful reached out to WWE in both an official and unofficial capacity and did not hear back from the company at that level. Within AEW world had traveled backstage among several that top WWE execs felt this way, with some pointing the finger at one particular name that we're working to verify. Fightful has yet to hear the sentiment echoed within WWE, but that doesn't mean it wasn't said.
We spoke to one WWE talent that said "I myself haven't heard that, but whether or not it was said, anyone thinking wrestlers will take less money is out of their minds when new TV deals are being announced, sellouts and record numbers are being bragged about."
We can't speak to the nature of Daniel Garcia's contract, but with Swerve, he is said to be in the neighborhood of top wrestlers in AEW, including Okada and Mercedes' recent deals. Those contracts are also near what many long-time WWE veterans made on their last deal, though AEW's have significantly less dates that end up being applied.
As far as talent, as one can imagine, it's been universally positive, with support from those we've spoken to across every major company and the independents. Many contracts have also changed in structure for both companies since AEW started, with higher guarantees being handed out both in 2019, and in 2024 when many deals came up.
It's worth noting despite the weird tribalism associated with WWE and AEW, the companies are operated in much different manners. WWE is larger and obviously has more revenue, and has a duty to maximize profits within reason to satisfy shareholders as a publicly traded company. AEW is privately owned, and answer to investors, networks and advertisers, and what they deem a success financially is relatively unknown. It is expected that the company would be profitable after landing a new TV deal.
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