Update on Andrade’s contractual situation with WWE, AEW
An update is available regarding Andrade’s contractual status.
During an interview with Deportes published on Wednesday, Andrade said he is working with WWE on an agreement to get out of his one-year non-compete clause with the company. He also said WWE only activated the clause after he appeared on AEW programming. Before then, Andrade believed he was completely free of his deal.
“My lawyers are already talking with WWE’s lawyers, and they’re reaching an agreement. I don’t know the exact date,” Andrade said during the interview (translated from Spanish).
He also addressed his Wellness policy violation in WWE that ultimately led to his departure.
“I got a warning because there are many medicines or supplements in Mexico that you can use, but over there you can’t,” he said (translated from Spanish).
Andrade’s comments to Deportes were addressed on Thursday’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio with our own Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez, who mentioned that he’d been told WWE felt activating Andrade’s non-compete clause was up to their discretion.
“I would be very skeptical of some of it,” Meltzer said about Andrade’s interview. “He basically said that his non-compete is worldwide and that he expects it to be settled in less than three months. And I was kind of told when this thing went down that they had the one year non-compete but they probably weren’t going to enforce it for the full year. They might. I think they felt it was up to their discretion.”
Meltzer added that he believes a WWE non-compete of this length would not hold up if Andrade took the matter to court.
“If there was a court fight that was threatened, they would probably have to stop, because there’s no way that they could keep him from wrestling for a year and not pay him. And have the thing be worldwide, it could never hold up in court. But there’s no indication he’s taking them to court but he is saying that they are in talks.”
“His claim is that he didn’t know that there was a non-compete when he went to AEW, that he was under the impression that there wasn’t. And then when he went on, then WWE contacted him and said hey, you’re on a non-compete.”
Alvarez asked Meltzer if Tony Khan put Andrade on AEW programming without having him under contract.
“He may have signed a contract for all we know without the knowledge that he couldn’t sign a contract. He obviously told Tony that there was no non-compete,” Meltzer answered.
The full episode of Wrestling Observer Radio with Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez is available for subscribers here. Andrade’s interview with Deportes is available below.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.