Reports surfaced on Friday that WWE allegedly told performers that they would no longer be able to use third-party platforms such as Cameo or Twitch to promote themselves. The company reportedly informed the performers of the change during a Wednesday phone call and then sent cease and desist letters on Thursday. The performers reportedly reacted very strongly and not in a positive manner.
According to sports reporter Tom Colohue, information from the company is that the performer’s reacted negatively to the new edict. He used the word “hostile” to describe the situation and said that WWE is believed to be close to “open warfare” with one of its top stars. Additionally, Colohue said that many other WWE performers are unwilling to cooperate with the new instructions and would rather refuse to comply. He did not specifically name anyone.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Colohue’s sources also indicated that WWE wants the performers available during “working hours” in order to make appearances on the company’s streaming channels for media appearances. He explained that these appearances would potentially clash with the performer’s streaming times on Twitch or their schedules for filming Cameo videos.
Additionally, with the WWE current preparing and arranging virtual meet and greets, the WWE’s intention is to capitalize on the success of streaming services by becoming more involved in them entirely under their own jurisdiction. I am told that a WWE Twitch channel or a WWE Cameo account, where you would request the talent you would like to speak to, are currently under consideration. This however would remove a direct line of income to the talent, who would instead get a limited cut of the action as it were.
Colohue did speak to multiple performers directly and received a varying degree of responses. He said that some planned to make cosmetic changes to their channels in order to comply with the new edict. This is what WWE star Paige did when she changed the name of her Twitch channel to “SarayaOfficial.” Others, however, reportedly found the requirements particularly insulting.
Several professional wrestlers have popular channels on third parties, including Twitch’s “The Sweetz,” which features WWE’s Tyler Breeze and Baron Corbin playing games with AEW’s Shawn Spears. Another example is Xavier Woods’ “Up Up Down Down” on YouTube. He uses his name, Austin Creed, on the channel, but other professional wrestlers appear to play video games and use their stage names. Past guests include Becky Lynch, Cesaro, and Seth Rollins.
