WWE recently released a statement regarding Vince's new ban on talent's third party streaming and side money gigs.
Pretty much confirmed the whole issue revolves around money and them wanting full control over what their talent do during their free time if its associated with the company in any way (ex. using ring names for Twitch channels).
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Originally Posted by Observer
Based on a statement WWE sent out today, it appears it refers to individuals making monetary deals on their own which would make it impossible for WWE on its own to market exclusivity in that platform. In many ways this is similar to when UFC would no longer allow companies to sponsor fighters individually during fight week (although they were allowed to have individual sponsors on their own, something WWE talent seemingly can't have) so UFC could market exclusivity to its own sponsors.
We were told that the key thing that brought this on were talent being on Twitch using their WWE characters and Bang Energy endorsement deals.
WWE's statement regarding the letter sent out today said "Much like Disney and Warner Bros., WWE creates, promotes and invests in its intellectual property, i.e. the stage names of performers like The Fiend Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns, Big E and Braun Strowman. It is the control and exploitation of these characters that allows WWE to drive revenue, which in turn enables the company to compensate performers at the highest levels in the sports entertainment industry. Notwithstanding the contractual language, it is imperative for the success of our company to protect our greatest assets and establish partnerships with third parties on a companywide basis, rather than at the individual level, which as a result will provide more value for all involved.”
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In regards to the earlier stuff about WWE also trying to claim ownership of their talent's real names for outside stuff, Meltzer reported that the basis for it was from what talent were initially told by WWE's director of talent relations Mark Carrano.