One of the many men who was released from WWE this past April was Brian Meyers, better known to most as Curt Hawkins. He made his return to Impact Wrestling following his release. Now he’s become the first to speak on WWE’s big contract extensions, something he got just before being fired from the company.
Curt Hawkins On The ‘Please Don’t Go To AEW Contracts’
While on David Penzers ‘Sitting Ringside’ podcast, Hawkins would be asked about WWE offering talent huge money to not jump ship to WWE. Hawkins would make the following public knowledge.
“Yea, it was astronomical. Once someone said no, then it went up for everybody. It kept happening, it wound up being what it was, which was too good to be true. It was more money than I ever imagined making in this business. The big thing for them was the years. Everybody’s contract was 5 years. The boys were calling it the “Please don’t go to AEW contract.” I was thinking I’m very comfortable here. I enjoy it. I’m set up for some post in ring stuff. I’m more than fine with signing this.”
Prior to signing this extension, Hawkins was getting groomed as a backstage producer. He fell to a hernia in 2018, and while on the shelf was offered a chance to establish a closer working relationship with Vince McMahon himself. This makes his release all the more baffling.
Hawkins was both a good hand in the ring, a solid underdog when needed, and had gotten some experience working behind the scenes. Yet, he was still cut from WWE as a cost saving measure, showing how expendable he was in the end.
AEW Existing Is A Net Gain For Professional Wrestling
Regardless if you’re a fan of their product or not, it’s hard to deny that All Elite Wrestling didn’t have an instant impact on professional wrestling in America. After years of WWE being nearly untouchable, they finally had competition with a major TV deal right out of the gate. These contracts show that WWE tried to best to keep talent from leaving to go there, giving people huge raises in the process.
Giving wrestlers another option to sign with to make it big alone was a huge gain, but it would even benefit those who are already with WWE. It became easy leverage when contracts started to come up, seen by Randy Orton teasing a jump to AEW before resigning with WWE last year.
Do you think WWE is wise to lock down their talent for 5 years to prevent them going to AEW? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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