David Otunga shared his thoughts on WWE’s contract rules and why he believes the system is flawed.
Otunga appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show, where Ariel mentioned about Andrade’s WWE release situation because of legal issues. Otunga said WWE contracts technically allow the company to enforce a one-year unpaid non-compete, even though they usually use a paid 90-day version.
He noted that WWE forced Andrade to sit out the full unpaid year, which shocked many because it’s not common. He said, “So WWE says that wrestlers are independent contractors, which means they can work anywhere, right? So if a wrestler is fired from WWE, they should be able to go work for AEW.”
“Now, if this was an employer–employee relationship, that’s a different story because then there could be a non-compete. However, WWE can’t have it both ways. They’re saying wrestlers are independent contractors but treating them like employees. That’s the issue here, and it could easily be challenged in court and likely, you know, you would win.”
When asked why no one has challenged WWE legally, Otunga admitted most wrestlers don’t understand what they’re signing. “I forgot most people aren’t lawyers and don’t know what’s in their WWE contract.”
“And so when I made a video about this, I’ll be honest, I was shocked by the reaction— that it blew up and people were really surprised by this. And I’m like, there’s no way I’m the first person to have talked about this or mentioned this. I guess it just wasn’t widely known. I guess a lot of talent sign that contract and never look at it again.”
“But for me, I was always doing a lot of things outside of WWE, and the contract is very restrictive. So I was always asking for their permission to do something else, or sometimes I would go do something else and then let them know after the fact or after I booked it, and just beg for forgiveness.”
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