Citing a report from Fightful Select , Sportskeeda has reported that WWE has offered new three-year contracts to the members of Retribution, with the exception of Mustafa Ali. The deals are also believed to be worth $250,000 each, which is a “significantly lower” figure to other extensions offered to superstars in the last two years.
As of this writing, there has been no confirmation as to whether the Monday Night Raw stable members have accepted the terms offered to them and signed on the dotted line. It’s also unclear whether they intend to re-negotiate the terms, given that they won’t be making as much as some of their peers in a similar position on the roster.
A source told Fightful that the current pandemic has made officials reluctant to offer big-money deals for now. As The Inquisitr previously documented, Rey Mysterio was a temporarily a free agent after management reportedly refused to give the legendary luchador a pay rise. Several performers and employees were also released earlier this year in an effort to cut costs.
Per the report, recent NXT call-ups were told that they could re-negotiate their contracts when the company’s financial situation stabilized. However, it’s currently unknown if this courtesy was offered to the wrestlers in the upstart faction.
Of course, it’s also worth noting that the promotion’s finances haven’t been too affected by the current global situation. As The Inquisitr previously pointed out, WWE profited during each quarter of 2020, which made their officials’ decision to cut costs even more controversial.
Another reason why management could be offering lower rates now is due to AEW no longer being considered too much of a threat in Vince McMahon’s eyes. The chairman offered very prosperous extensions to some people on the roster when the rival corporation first came along, but his attitude has reportedly changed since then.
As Wrestling World noted, McMahon supposedly stopped caring if released WWE stars joined the competition in 2020. He also released some performers — Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Mike Kanellis, et al — who were given huge money to seemingly prevent them from going elsewhere.
However, officials will likely be keen to keep Retribution around. Despite being subjected to stop-start pushes and inconsistent booking since they formed last year, the group has featured heavily on the red brand’s weekly show for months.
The rumored deals they’ve been offered could also be an indication of the types of contracts that will be offered to their peers moving forward.