WWE Comments On Having Talent Cease Third-Party Deals

It was reported on Friday that WWE was cracking down on their talents' affiliations with third party media companies, such as Twitch and Cameo.

This led to an outcry from many fans, journalists, and former WWE personnel (as well as one-time US Presidential candidate Andrew Yang), in regards to the company not allowing "independent contractors" to make money off of side ventures, and the possible legal ramifications.

On Saturday, WWE released a statement regarding the decision to order talents to disassociate themselves from these platforms

The statement reads, “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.”

The initial report of the company order claims that talents have 30 days to end their engagement with these outside ventures.

A letter written by Vince McMahon to WWE talents read, “Some of you are engaged with outside third parties using your name and likeness in ways that are detrimental to our company. It is imperative that these activities be terminated within the next 30 days (by Friday October 2). Continued violations will result in fines, suspension, or termination at WWE’s discretion.”