Jim Ross says WWE is ‘not stupid’ when it comes to talent contracts and out clauses
Former WWE commentator and sometimes man for AEW in the booth Jim Ross recently discussed the cuts to the WWE roster following WrestleMania 42 this year. The former WWE Head of Talent Relations noted that while a lot of talents are signed to ‘5 year deals,’ these are not literally ‘you’re signed for five years’ deals, there is (by default) always a cut clause in them.
Speaking on the latest episode of his Grilling Jr podcast, JR would note: “I think probably most of them [the recently released talent] probably got a 90 day out, meaning they get paid for 90 days and they’re free to go where the hell they want. So essentially when you sign those five-year deals, a lot of them have outs, all of them have outs of some sort, and if they don’t? You’re stupid…and WWE is not stupid.”
Jim Ross on 5 year WWE deals
JR also clarified that these ‘5 year deals’ that a lot of talent reportedly signed back in 2024 don’t automatically mean you’re around for the full 5 years: “Just because you got a five-year deal, it doesn’t mean you got five guaranteed years to pay at this particular rate. If I’m a talent, I like the five-year deal, cause it gives me a little bit of security, but it’s not guaranteed unless you negotiate that in your deal, that “I got five years guaranteed and my contract ends in 2032 or something.”
Usually WWE releases have a 90-day no-compete clause if they were main roster contracted talent. NXT talent will usually have a 30-day clause where they cannot appear on another televised competing product.
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