Over the weekend, Tom Pestock (Baron Corbin in WWE) made headlines by giving his take on the AEW-Rey Fenix situation.
Fenix reportedly had injury time added to his AEW contract, keeping him in the company despite not being on television since July 2024.
In multiple replies, Pestock wrote on social media, "If you sign a contract you honor it. Would it have been okay if Tony [Khan] didn’t pay him while he was hurt or out of action? The answer is no bc Tony signed the contract as well. You can’t switch teams after getting what you want and signing the contract. Everyone who gets hurt gets injury time. Doesn’t matter if it’s WWE AEW or TNA. That’s part of it. And maybe fénix doesn’t want to work. Only him and Tony know that. Having a contract doesn’t mean you are guaranteed TV time or matches it simply means you can’t work for another company. It sucks for both sides. But we have no idea what has been said or done behind the scenes to make it this way."
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Pestock explained why he replied to the situation.
"I was starting some stuff on Twitter because I was delayed in the airport. Sometimes, I just like to fire people up. If I'm going back and forth, I'm bored. I need something to do. People were like, 'Oh, you're begging for a job.' No, I don't need a job. I'm home with my kids. I take my daughter to school five days a week, I play with my other daughter during the day and make up for time lost being gone," he said.
Speaking on the contract situation, Pestock said, "It's not a difficult concept. I'm not saying that one side or the other side is correct. I'm just saying simply that's how they work. I've signed NFL contracts. I've signed five WWE contracts. It's the nature of the beast. It's the same in any industry. They may not be the greatest contracts when you start out. They are unfair. You're fighting an uphill battle sometimes in a contract. The music industry, 50% of your money is gone like that. It's a contract. You're a band, you're trying to make it, you've gotta do it and sign the paper and get through it. Then, you can start to negotiate terms. They are there to protect both sides. Usually, they benefit the person giving the contract a little bit more than the other side, but at the end of the day, those people arguing over contracts; number one, everybody that is commenting on social media, including myself, we don't know the inside thing that is going on. There could be bad blood. There could be things one side said to the other. Nobody has a clue except for those people in that small circle. You can't say one person is right and one person is wrong. Nobody actually knows the answer to that question. What I do know is how contracts work and how unfair they may be. Nobody is forcing you to sign it. Every contract that has ever been put in front of me, I've never been forced to sign it."
Pestock's contract with WWE was not renewed at the end of 2024, making his a free agent.
Fans can read Pestock's comments on his WWE departure by clicking here.
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