WWE talent booking contracts have become almost commonplace online, thanks in large part to WWE’s own filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As a public company, all of World Wrestling Entertainment’s executive officers need to have their contracts released in SEC filings. Since WWE has multiple executive officers who also happen to perform for the company, that means that their talent contracts are all public and we see the current WWE contract whenever they re-sign. Older contracts have also come out in lawsuits over the years, as well, along with other internal pay documentation.
But one thing that I don’t recall seeing before is an official WWE termination letter. In one of the ongoing series of concussion-related lawsuits from wrestlers and their families represented by lawyer Konstantine Kyros, one was filed by WWE last week. Specifically, it’s the 2008 termination letter for Nelson Frazier Jr., then known as Big Daddy V, also known as Viscera and (King) Mabel. WWE outside counsel Jerry McDevitt filed a motion where one issue covered was Frazier’s place of residence, so he filed Frazier’s termination letter to show where he lived when the two parties ended their relationship. Here’s the full letter, minus personal information that I redacted:
There are a few key takeaways here beyond just the curiosity of seeing one of these:
- This is a notice of his termination being effective three months later. It’s tricky to figure out precisely how that relates to the conventional wisdom that there’s a 90 day “non-compete” period, as what WWE allowed during that period has changed at times. Here, it’s pretty clear that there are still 90 days left that the wrestler is still under contract and there’s nothing about being allowed to work elsewhere. These days, wrestler can usually pick up non-televised indie bookings while still being paid his or her WWE guarantee for 90 days, which can be fairly lucrative. One unique example is Daniel Bryan, who was re-hired before the 90 days were up after his abrupt firing in 2010.
- The wrestler being told to pay “particular attention” to the “promoter intellectual property” section of their contract is essentially telling them not to use their WWE names. In the case of Frazier, page 25 of his 2007 contract says that the WWE intellectual property is Viscera, Vis, Big Vis, Mabel, M.O.M., Men on a Mission, Ministry of Darkness, Corporate Ministry, and The World’s Largest Love Machine.The previous page says his IP is just his real name.
- Wrestlers must return “any tangible property” of WWE that they took possession of during the course of working for the company, “including, without limitation, costumes, accessories, inventions, and any title belts.” Since the wrestlers buy their own costumes, it’s hard t figure out what any of those could be other than the title belts.
Overall, though, there’s nothing too surprising here. It just helps demystify the inner workings of WWE a bit, and that’s always fun.
