WWE's Twitch and Cameo situation continues to unfold.
A month ago, Vince McMahon informed WWE talent that they'd need to cease third party relationships that were deemed detrimental to the brand.
Last week, Fightful obtained an email from Vince McMahon to talent that read as follows:
"Just a friendly reminder that this Friday, October 2 is the deadline for severing any unauthorized business relationships with 3rd parties. As was mentioned in my September 3 message, continued violations beyond this deadline will result in fines and may result in suspension or termination. If you need further details, please contact our EVP of Operations, Brad Blum. Thank you. Vince."
Last week, a message came through to many Performance Center trainees from higher ups, asking them to shut down or make their Cameo pages unbookable. It was mentioned in that message that details would be coming soon about a WWE/Cameo partnership that would reopen them. It didn't take long.
Another message came in to talent that inquired, letting them know that WWE has finalized an agreement to keep wrestlers on Cameo and instructed the performers how to "opt in," noting that the payments will now be required to go through WWE.
Fightful spoke to numerous wrestlers about the situation, as outlined on Fightful Select last week. There were responses and reactions all over the map for WWE's third party policies.
One prominent WWE Superstar on the main roster told us they weren't too concerned about the policies as WWE takes care of them financially and their schedule hadn't really allowed for Cameo to begin with. However, the wrestler did understand the concern others felt.
Numerous WWE wrestlers said that with the new changes, they likely won't see any additional money. Many other basic payoffs for shows have been cannibalized by the fact that so many wrestlers have higher downside guarantees than in previous years.
Another top name said that while they don't stream, they want to be involved with other projects that friends or family want to promote, and they aren't sure how the new rules will affect them. The top star said that there is a lot of frustration from those they work with because the services were not outlined in their contracts.
All across the roster, varying bits of information are being sent to talent at different times, which is much different than in the past when they'd get the news universally on the internal talent relations app.
Almost all talent that we spoke to said they wouldn't bother signing a new deal or "opting in" if that was presented to them. Nobody that we spoke to on the main roster thought that anyone would end up getting fired as a result, and nobody we've spoken to yet has been "forced" to sign a new contract.
This article first appeared on our premium service, Fightful Select. Subscribe to get exclusive wrestling news before anyone else. It aslo appeared in our Fightful Wrestling Weekly feature.
