WWE News: CM Punk’s Lawyer Sent A Letter To WWE Demanding Royalty Money For Punk
In a huge story, it seems that CM Punk wants his money and he wants it now. CM Punk walked away from the WWE back in January, which was not good for the company as they planned to use him in a major way at WrestleMania 30. Fans have chanted Punk’s name at every single TV event since he has left. WWE has continued to try and bring him back to the company but he refused. WWE Chairman Vince McMahon himself even tried to get him back.
Punk’s deal was set to expire back in mid-July. So Punk went a good 6 months without working and the break he took was far from approved. WWE tried giving him time, but they could never get him back.
Now it seems that CM Punk wants all the money he can get, as his lawyer sent a 22-page letter to WWE regarding his client not getting royalty checks for using his name and likeness. Specifically, the WWE 2K15 game was mentioned. Punk wants to get royalties for his likeness being used there, as Punk has a big part in the game. However, WWE has stopped sending Punk checks all together.
It is said that WWE stopped because they feel he breached his WWE contract. The royalty payments are outside contract deals a lot of the time, especially in Punk’s case. If WWE feels that he breached his deal, they’d obviously feel Punk may not be worthy of being paid anything now and that they paid him more than they should have while he was gone. Also, the WWE 2K15 roster was set months ago.
The potential lawsuit to be paid royalties seems to be a bit moronic, seeing as he was paid by WWE for months without being with the company. He refused to work, and WWE tried over and over again to get him back. Clearly, the video game has not come out yet. So sales for the game that might give royalties due to Punk’s name being in it will not go to him right now.
WWE does not seem to be selling any CM Punk merchandise since his contract officially expired as well.
WWE also can do something Punk may have not thought of. They have a right to extend any WWE contract they chose to if a talent misses time. Punk took a 6 month break. WWE can extend his contract through December if they chose to. That means they can use his likeness if they want if they decided to extend the deal. However, there is a time period they have to do that.
Punk claims he will never return to WWE, and he has every right. However, claiming he should be paid for this might be a bit much seeing as WWE could do a reverse lawsuit on him for breach of contract. Inner feeling here, this will be settled out of court. If it gets there, that’s a lot of stuff to deal with. Imagine how AJ Lee must feel, being Punk’s wife and a current WWE Diva. The true rock and a hard place situation.
[IMG Credits: WWE.com, BleacherReport]
