It’s a New TKO Day: Pay Cuts, Releases, and No Job Security in TKO-Ran WWE

I honestly didn’t think I’d be writing about this so soon. It was only two weeks ago that we had the WWE mass release day. And now we find out that Tonga Loa, JC Mateo, and The New Day are also gone. With rumors that even more names have been cut, and just not announced yet, it’s an unsettling time to be a talent under contract with the WWE.

Coupled with the job insecurity is the creative control Ari Emanuel has shown he has over the product. You never know when the head of the company may decide to change things up. You could go from a good position to the bottom of the card and out of a job. All on the whim of one of two men with no wrestling knowledge.

Contract Restructuring

The biggest news coming out of last week was the release of Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston. Two men who were thought to be lifers within the WWE system. The New Day has been a huge part of the WWE for 12 years. They have the record for most WWE-branded Tag Team Championship reigns and the longest Raw Tag Team Championship reign. Yet, Woods and Kingston, who just signed new deals last year, were asked to take pay cuts to stay in the company.

And kudos to them both, as they chose instead to gamble on themselves and walk away. You have to respect anyone who knows their worth and refuses to settle. And I say that with no disrespect to the ones who agreed to pay cuts to stay. We don’t know the reasons behind the decisions that they chose to stay for less money.

The contract restructuring seems to be coming from TKO. The wording in the news articles has been about putting talent under TKO contracts. We don’t know what those deals entail. Or what the pay cuts are, though some rumors are saying 50%, which is staggering. Especially when Shapiro and Emanuel each made around $42.6 million last year, which was a 33% increase over 2024. Add to that, it was just announced that Nick Khan is getting a raise starting next year as well.

When Roman Reigns is only making 10% of what the executives get paid, and the company is making record profits, why are you asking talent to take cuts? Without the talent, you don’t have a show. Did the WWE overpay when signing talent? Possibly, but you eat that cost and then offer a new deal when the new one is up

The Alternative

Rumors are that talent is only given two days to agree to the new deal. This puts them in a high-pressure situation and can prevent their agents from reading the new deal. If this is the new normal for WWE under TKO, more talent may be looking at their alternatives. The issue is that the biggest alternative is AEW, and their roster is already overcrowded. And it’s been reported that they are being a lot more selective in who they bring in.

If you are The New Day, you can probably guarantee that you’ll have a job there. But for other talent facing a pay cut? It could be less certain. Anytime you walk away from guaranteed money, you are gambling on yourself and your ability to walk into something quickly. I can think of a handful of talents who can easily walk into an AEW job. People like Finn Balor, Rhea Ripley, Bayley, Dominik Mysterio, and Sami Zayn.

For everyone else, your options are either going to Japan or working for TNA or MLW. Which means you might be working for less pay than you would if you took a pay cut. For wrestlers who are just outright cut, TNA isn’t a bad choice. It keeps them on TV, and if they want, they could work their way back into the WWE. But if your option is to take a pay cut or go work somewhere else for even less, a lot of talent might take that cut.

I can’t blame anyone who takes the cut because I don’t know their personal situation or career aspirations. The WWE is still the biggest game in town, and the talent have to weigh their options carefully before walking or staying.

Paul Levesque is Just a Cog in the Machine

Recently, it was announced that Paul Levesque signed a new contract to remain in his position as Chief Content Officer. This is very telling about his position in the WWE; he is just another employee, which means he is Expendable. If Nick Khan, Ari Emanuel, or Mark Shapiro decide he isn’t doing the job they want, then he is out.

He was involved in the decision of who to cut. It was because an order came down to cut the budget by a set dollar amount. He then had to make the hard choices of who to keep and who to let go. I’m also going to make it clear that I’m not trying to absolve Levesque; he doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to his own ego. And based on his work in NXT and before 2025, I think CCO Paul Levesque is not the same as pro wrestler Triple H. He seems to care about the product and the talent working for him.  And unfortunately, thanks to Vince McMahon, he is just an employee with bosses above him dictating his budget, and at times, creative.

The Corporate Nature

If TKO doesn’t step back and let wrestling people run their wrestling company, we are going to just keep seeing stuff like this. I think McMahon kind of figured this would happen. He watched it happen with WCW, once Ted Turner was out of power, it was the beginning of the end for WCW.

TKO is cutting costs, meddling with creative, and pushing for celebrity involvement. If things continue this way, they will severely devalue their top-earning product.

And with Paul Levesque just being a contracted employee, there is an intriguing chance he could leave and start his own thing. It would be interesting to see how that would go if he ever decides to leave or gets fired.

But for now, the best we can hope for is TKO realizing they are harming the product and taking a step back. I doubt it will happen, but one can hope.